The Adorable and Super Incredible

Meet Danny. This super talented little guy was one of Rebecca's students at Miss Stephanie's Montessori School in Pohang. As part of their graduation ceremony, the kids had to perform a monologue. This video was taken by Anna G. and I had to share it. Oh and I forgot to mention his father is a "successful sexual businessman".


It's me, Danny!

AND the super incredible Mr. Frank Lee! If he doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will!


Mr. Frank

And so concludes ...

We got back from the DMZ feeling pretty exhausted. The DMZ was not the dismal affair I thought it would be, but I was still tuckered out. However, I quickly mustered up some energy for an abbreviated run on the treadmill in the hotel gym. I have a strange penchant for hotel gyms. In fact, I love them.  I detest gyms in general but hotel gyms are different; they’re just better. I’ll leave it at that. We only had a short while to collect ourselves because one of my  good chingus from back home (also teaching in Korea) was making a special trip up to Seoul to see mom during her visit. The thing you must know about Hai … is that her love of food and appetite for eating is larger-than-life. A thing that I have learnt from our relationship is that often times we (people) deprive ourselves of the things we relish.  When you have a friend like Hai, the word deprivation suddenly has no meaning. I have found that indulgence (in the aftermath) is way less painful with a mate. At any rate, my inner fat person was giddy with excitement even before seeing Hai in the lobby of the hotel.  Hai had picked up some warm walnut bread (little nuggets of warm dough with custard and walnuts inside) and sticky buns for Mom and Janis. If I remember correctly, the sticky buns were already half eaten and I think Hai and I managed to polish off the walnut bread.

For the sake of our travelers, we decided to take mom and Janis to a less risky dining place – Korean rice porridge. Rice porridge has been the closest thing to comfort food for me here. I’m quite fond of it. Mom and Janis had chicken sans noodle soup-ish porridge with a large ginseng root for a garnish and Hai and I shared a pumpkin porridge. It was blistering hot (shocker) but very yummy. After supper, mom and Janis decided to take the rest of the night to journal and take a rest (as Koreans would say). Hai and I wandered the underground subway and eventually made our way to the train station looking for dessert. It went something like this – 2 scoops of gelato (mediocre), McDonalds french fries (not exactly dessert but quelled our salt craving…and in Korea you can’t get salty without a little sweet), some kind of giant caramel nut pastry thingy. Yum! After eating like Lords, we managed to roll ourselves back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next day Mom and Janis packed up their stuff and had to say goodbye to queen-sized beds with actual linens and soft plush pillows and proper showers because we were going to Chungju after spending the day at the Korean Folk Village.  We headed towards Seoul station, luggage and all, to jump on the Mugunghwa train to Suwon. We arrived in Suwon and left our luggage in lockers and took a taxi to the Korean Folk Village. The village is like a huge outdoor museum, reenacting  Korean traditional life and culture. We had Prairie Days in 3^rd grade. My entire 3^rd grade class loaded onto buses and drove across the highway to a nearby field (the prairie) and the whole day was dedicated to showing us what real life on the prairie was like (including beef jerky and Indians and teepees, for accuracy sake of course).  The Korean Folk Village puts Prairie Days to shame.

The Folk Village is a neat little time machine that gives you a glimpse of traditional life in a Korean village.  We spent the day meandering our way through it, viewing restored houses of commoners, farmers and noblemen and seeing various folk performances, including a tight rope walker who had to be pushing 60 if not 70, keeping his balance with a single fan in his hand. Apparently acrobatics on a tight rope dates back to the Three Kingdom Period – entertaining like court jesters .

It was a good day but all good things come to an end and we had to say farewell to Hai. Mom, Janis and I hopped on a bus to good ol’ Chung(not Cheong)ju. After a frustrating bus ride home (I mistakenly purchased the stop-at-every-dinky-farm-town-along-the-way bus ticket), we eventually got home. By this time I was dying of hunger. I took the ladies to Shabu Shabu. Our second meal on mats on the floor. It’s basically a sizzling pot of broth (let’s just call it beef broth). Thin slices of beef are dipped into the broth. Similar to fondue but, different.

The next day we added a member to our travel party. Moo is an excellent guide and it’s not because he can speak Korean, altho it helps. We took the KTX (super high-speed fast train) to Gyeongju. Gyeongju has been one of my favorite places in Korea. The city was the capital during the Silla Dynasty. A colossal number of historical sites and ancient relics are within the confines of this city. Gyeongju cannot be experienced all in one day. These were some of my favorite shots of the day.

Time is such a funny thing. I waited for so long for my momma to get here and then with a snap of a finger it was time to say our goodbyes. It wasn’t fair. It hadn’t been enough. The visit was marvelous and the time we had was so intensely fulfilling but I wanted more. At least our next reunion would be half the time we waited for this one. Thank you momma and Janis for the uncountable memories. It was grand.

To see the trip video go here

Korea's odds and ends

The eccentricity that is Korea needs to be documented (in words – I started a photo documentation on FB of “stuff that happens in Korea” but it needs to be explained in words). Tho too difficult of a task to do in a succinct narrative, this will likely just be a running list of random oddities. This is long overdue and so it goes.

1.       At the grocery store:  the assortment of cheeses can be counted on one hand however there are roughly (I say roughly because there are likely more) 60 different varieties of rice to choose from. Same goes for Ramen.

2.       Drinking piping hot things: Koreans like all things scalding. I will be returning stateside with barely a taste bud to call my own. I partly blame the water coolers which only have 2 options – cold and blistering. Water coolers seem to be a standard “appliance” in every household and likewise, every place of business. So when you’re being served a nice hot bowl of yukgaejang, more than likely the water came from the water “cooler”.

3.       Random English words: Words and phrases translated in English pop up everywhere. Their random placement can be found in shop windows, on signs, t-shirts, etc.  Often times it's a literal translation and the result is a nonsensical hodgepodge of words. For example, a few weeks ago I saw above a coffee shop (Café the Park) these words:  “sometimes…memory origins space…maybe, it’s Park”. Another example, I was helping my South African co-teacher sign-up for a cell phone. The two guys working in the store did not speak English but lucky for us they had an English translation program on the computer. There was one last transaction that needed to be resolved before Steph was to be a proud owner of a Korean cell phone. While one of the guys went to the back room to fetch some cookies (?) the other was typing frantically into the computer. As the guy returned from the back room and handed us a bag of cookies, they motioned for us to look at the message on the computer screen. I can’t remember word-for -word but it went something like this “please take our cookies that give you tax and purchase hand phone if you need to change your bed sheets…”. Um yeah. Who knows what they were trying to communicate to us. Steph and I were killing ourselves laughing on the floor and the two guys were staring at us, dumbfounded at the whole thing.

4.       Men walking together: Men walk together with their arms linked. In public and very often.

5.       Men walking with purses: Men walk with handbags. In public and very often. The handbag belonging to their wife, girlfriend, mother, etc. is carried so effortlessly. Let’s not make any hasty judgments tho. Remember, the likes of Kanye West and Snoop Dog? They were/are no strangers to Louis Vuitton hangbags.

6.       Asians come in all shapes and sizes: I know it comes as a shock but not all Asians look alike. I’ve seen some of the tallest people while being in Korea and some of the shortest. Everyone's facial structure is totally different. It's also not uncommon to see a Korean having an uncanny resemblance of a person I know back home. I now believe everyone has an Asian counterpart.

7.    Drunk people in Korea: like nothing you've ever seen.

8.    Witnessing drivers in Korea: it's like watching your life flash before your eyes on a daily basis. The delivery scooters are the worst traffic offenders. I've never seen a stop sign ever and the red lights are merely suggestions.

9.   Asian (South Korean) work culture: This one is deserving of its own posting. Very very strange.

D M Z

It’s funny. Coincidentally the day we picked to go to the DMZ was also the day the Earth was to come to an end (predicted end). Every living creature was to be wiped off the planet. Doomsday, if you will. A detail that I thoughtfully told mom before dozing off to sleep! 

We had to get up early to take the subway to the USO office. While waiting for our buses to depart at Camp Kim, Janis and I found a landline phone with a sign that said “free international phone calls”. Yeah , I know. Big deal, right? Well, when you go away to the other side of the globe for a year, you start to miss things like, oh I don’t know, the freedom to pick up a phone and call any of the 500+ people in your phone contacts anytime you please (I don’t have 500 contacts btw). At any rate, I was excited at the opportunity to phone home and FREE to boot, which quite honestly had me doubting the whole thing altogether, so naturally we had to put it to the test.  Janis phoned home in hopes to reach her daughter. First, I called brother #2. Or maybe I tried brother #2 after a failed attempt to reach brother #1. Drumroll. Ladies and gentlemen, the phone in the waiting room of the USO office at Camp Kim does indeed make free international phone calls.

We boarded our buses and were Northbound. Advancing towards enemy lines; it sounds so ominous, except it wasn’t.  In truth, I was more worried about what was to be served for lunch.  First world issues folks.  Not to stray from the topic of convo, but Korean food (some)– is like nothing you’ve ever seen on God’s green Earth. To say it bluntly.  I don’t want to give off the impression that I have a lack of regard for “the most heavily fortified border in the world”. On the contrary. I’m quite fascinated with the whole thing. I am also, sometimes, in matters such as these, a realist. There have been debates surrounding the on-going tension between the two Koreas with some “experts” claiming that at any given time, there are enough artillery and missiles, sans nuclear weapons, pointed directly at South Korea’s capitol to “flatten” it. Did I mention, within the first 30 minutes of the attack, no less. While that is all super impressive and stuff,  it begs the question, how much is enough? What is the likelihood of said event actually “going down”?  The truth of the matter is, this would undoubtedly be a suicide attempt by an entire nation. So yeah, you would have to be a few tacos short of a combo plate and completely off your rocker to pull a stunt like that. However, it doesn’t hurt to keep one’s finger on the pulse in the off chance that someone, not mentioning any names, may one day decide to go off the deep end. Now that brings me to the point I was trying to make. There are currently over 27,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The border between North and South has the strongest U.S. military presence that I have ever experienced, which is likely the reason why my uneasiness gradually dissipated as we approached the border.  Never mind that same presence has a lot to do with the arbitrary construction of said border. Korea was victorious at the end of WWII, in that it managed to survive 35 years of repression and enslavement by the Japanese all the while keeping their language and culture intact. Kudos Korea. Korea probably would’ve fancied some independence following Japanese surrender, but better yet, two benevolent  concerned leaders kindly agreed to temporarily occupy the country as sponsors instead (nearly all Koreans objected to this).  However, maybe the Soviets and the US confused “sponsorship” with “ownership” (easy to do as they both end in ship) because what transpired next was a re-occupation of the area by the two sides. With both sides fearing the other side would gain complete control, the US came up with a genius idea to divide the country essentially in half at the 38^th parallel (38 degrees north latitude) which coincidently was the same line that Japan proposed to Russia prior to their occupation; like divvying up candy among siblings after a successful night of trick-or-treating. At least the US and Japan were on the same frequency about something. Likewise, did anyone even ask if they (the Koreans) wanted to be 2 nations, divided for all eternity? This same line now slightly curved, serves as the military demarcation line (DMZ) between North and South Korea that was drawn after the Korean War. The two Koreas are technically still at war.

We were greeted by US military personnel upon our arrival at Camp Bonifas (located approx. 400 meters south of the DMZ border). There is a par-3 golf course at the camp which is also surrounded by mind fields and has been dubbed “the most dangerous hole in golf”.  Clever. We were given a quick briefing, including the do’s and don’ts of the area and then preceded to sign a disclaimer form which kindly reminded us that we were now about to enter hostile territory and possible injury and/or death may be a direct result of enemy action. We boarded military buses and were escorted to the JSA (Joint Security Area). This is the only area along the DMZ where North and South come face-to-face, either to exchange death stares between soldiers on a daily basis or to exchange dialogue regarding diplomatic mumbo jumbo on a sporadic basis. I was a bit nervous at this point because mom was suffering from a sudden giggle fit as we were walking up the steps to the courtyard. How was I going to explain to family back home that the reason our mother is currently being detained is for … um, making monkey faces at the North soldiers. Luckily we pulled ourselves together before entering the courtyard.  It was…..well, it was fairly uneventful. We looked at North Korean soldiers and they looked back at us. We spent about 20 minutes snapping a few photos and then were on our way to the Bridge of No Return. This bridge connects the North and the South and was used after the Korean War to exchange prisoners between the two sides. The prisoners were given a choice to either cross the bridge or remain in their captive country. Whatever the choice, they would never be able to return. On either side of the DMZ are small villages. On the North side, Kijong-dong. Known in North Korea as “Peace Village” but known in the South as “Propaganda Village”. We could only view the village from an observation deck using binoculars. The village is supposedly uninhabited and used as a façade, with only cement shells, no windows and lights on timers. There are however, massive loud speakers blaring propaganda directed at the South running constantly. Hence the name Propaganda Village. On the South side, the village is named Daesong-dong where some 40 residents have remained since the division. This may be the most heavily guarded community in the world. The community is under a tight watch including a strict curfew. Ironically the village is known on the South side as “Freedom Village”. The North and South had a “flag-pole war” in which the South built a 323 ft. flag pole waving the Korean flag in the center of the freedom village. The North Korean government responded and built a taller flag pole reaching 525 ft. in the center of the neighboring propaganda village. These antics were just the beginning and continue on to this day. The almost ridiculousness that is the DMZ had me chuckling throughout the whole tour and made for a less grim experience. We ended our tour with a walk down one of four tunnels discovered by the South which runs under the border. The North denied building the tunnel and then later said it was for coal mining. Tho no evidence of coal has ever been found in the tunnels.

It was a rather thought-provoking trip and humorous at times. 
A tender moment worth mentioning - our USO tour guide approached mom and I during the tour to say that she had heard about “our (adoption) story”. She gently placed her hand on mom’s arm and leaned over to me and said “I think your mom is very good”. I nodded and proudly said “Yes, I think so”. On the return ride back to Seoul, she walked back to our seats and handed mom and I each a small keepsake.

P.S. pictures documenting this day will follow at a later date as I was without a camera and we had to rely on Janis to be the photographer!

Hiatus

Holy moly, I fell off that blog train (wagon? whatev) pretty hard. A staggering 3 months have passed  since my last post. Suffice it to say that I have A LOT of catching up to do. I believe I left off with the first part of Mom and Janis do Korea, which I will get to, but first I need to share this video.

Students are going into a solid 3 weeks of exams and I felt it was my moral imperative to show this video to my classes to get them pumped....err as much as a student can (for 3 excruciating weeks of testing). Let alone a Korean student. I have taught these students for a little more than a year now and try as I might to understand what it is like to be them, I cannot. My only option is to sympathize.  And I do. Tho I can remember being their age and having teen angst on top of various other pressures, the experience was so vastly different from theirs. I had the freedom to make choices. American teenagers would not stand a chance in this extremely unforgiving and rigid education system, where academics and competition is everything. I dimiss my last class at 9:55 p.m. After that, they go home and finish their homework. When they are not studying, they are cleaning the school or practicing some discipline of the arts. The suicide rate among teens in South Korea is inconceivable. 

http://youtu.be/TFjLMrI5hZI

Mom and Janis do Korea!

So it's not a big deal or anything but my momma and our good friend Janis came to Korea for a visit. When mom first told me she was planning the trip abroad, I was ecstatic and a little in disbelief. The idea of us in Korea together was something we always dreamt about so it never completely sunk in until she was actually on Korean soil, calling me from Incheon Airport telling me they had landed safely. They arrived on Monday but unfortunately because of my teaching schedule I was unable to meet them until Thursday evening, which gave them an opportunity to explore Seoul/Korea on their own for a couple days. However, I think I nearly peed my pants a few times waiting in anticipation, having not seen my mom (or any family for that matter) in nearly 10 months and knowing she was in Seoul made for a painstakingly long week of classes. Everyday my students asked me "teachah mom in Korea? Teachah happy?" and with a big grin, nodding "Yeps, you have no idea kids!". I finished my last middle school class on Thursday and bribed a co-teacher of mine to cover the last 40 minute block so I could rush to the bus terminal in time to catch a 9:10 bus to Seoul. I met mom outside Lotte Hotel. I think we must have been crying and hugging for 5 minutes, while a group of businessmen were on our left side parting ways, forever taking turns bowing to each other. Western and Eastern saying hello and goodbye in our own cultural way. I found it amusing. It was almost midnight but mom and I were too excited to call it a night so we grabbed some coffee and lemonade at Tom n Tom’s and sat and chatted for a while.

“Oh, the weather outside is weather”. Actually, the weather outside did not look promising when we woke up on Friday morning. Drizzly with a better chance of rain later in the day. So, we decided it was a good day to visit some indoor(ish) sites around Seoul . However, mom and I had some business that we needed to take care of first. Eastern Child Welfare Society. This is the agency that arranged my adoption.  I’ve been in contact with them since beginning “my search” (my journey to locate my birth family is for another post) but I had not visited them, as of yet. I knew the general area where they have their administration building so we decided to just “wing it”. There is a Montessori (“Biblical) School within a mile radius of the agency so when we walked by, mom couldn’t resist a quick drop-in. We were greeted by a woman who spoke only a few words in English but graciously gave us permission to observe a small classroom of little kiddies no older than 7 or 8. Aside from the matching sweatpants/sweatshirt outfits on all the kids (not very Montessori but very Korean), it had the look and feel of a Montessori classroom (including of course the revered Pink Tower!). The Montessori philosophy and Eastern philosophy seem to challenge each other in certain ways so it was fascinating to see Montessori being exposed to these children. I’m sure Mom would have liked to stay longer but we felt we were intruding on their environment so we showed our appreciation and said goodbye. We had found the school with zero difficulty but finding the agency proved to be a bit more challenging. It was like being in an episode of the Amazing Race.  Wandering around Hongdae on foot trying to read signs in Korean, a dry cleaner in the alley and 2 taxi drivers later, I finally resorted to using my “call a Korean (friend)” card. Won Moo saves the day once again! Within 2 minutes of Moo speaking to our 2^nd taxi driver, we were being dropped off outside of the agency building. We followed the signs to post adoption family services where we were met by a woman who informed us the former Chairman had passed away that day so there was unfortunately no one to assist us. We were however, able to walk through the facility and viewed the infant room where roughly a dozen baby girls and boys were being cared for. I thought I was going to need to check Mom’s purse for small Asian babies before leaving. I’m pretty sure she didn’t walk away with one.

It was approaching noon so we headed over to Gyeongbokgung Palace (“The Palace of Shining Happiness”), which is the largest of the Five Grand Palaces built during the Joseon Dynasty. You could spend half a day just walking the palace grounds and touring both museums within the palace walls. We ate lunch inside the Palace Museum. I think this was Janis and Mom’s first taste of Mandu and I think it’s safe to say it was love at first bite. After touring the palace we headed to Seoul Tower. Taking our taxi driver’s advice, we took the cable car up the mountain to the tower. The fog was so thick at the top that we could barely make out the tower needle but it was good fun walking around and admiring the “Locks of Love”, which has come to symbolize the promise made by sweethearts to ensure their eternal love for each other. So sweet.  

We took the subway back to Lotte Hotel. Can I first just say that I was/am impressed by how Janis and mom were able to manuever through the subway stations. You would think they had been doing this everyday for a year. High-fives all around. After getting back to the hotel and taking a short rest, we walked across the street to a Bulgogi restaurant, on the recommendation of a hotel worker. It was a good ending to a good day but we needed to rest up for our tour of the DMZ the following day. Mom and Janis do Korea to be continued ...  

Spring has sprung in Korea!

Spring literally happened overnight. Finally. It's like everything just suddely woke up out of their deep Winter slumber. On my walk to school I could see the first signs of budding on the trees and by mid-afternoon, some trees were exploding with white flowery clumps. I remember as a child sitting next to one of mom's Hollyhocks and waiting patiently for one of them to blossom. I think I must have sat there for at least 4 hours but I can now say with great satisfaction that I have been a witness to a Hollyhock flower open it's petals (I realize this moment is likely to be underwhelming and unimpressive to most, however I thought it was pretty freakin' GREAT) . Flowers have an amazing ability to make people smile and just downright friendlier.

The Cherry Blossoms bloom just once a year around this time. Last weekend we joined thousands of others to marvel at this once-in-a-year phenomenon in Seoul. Here are a few hilights of the festival.