When they stop building roads

Sam and Erika Get Married April 8, 2012!

2012-05-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here is all the information you need to know! We'll update these pages as we get more information!

Guest Information
Ceremony and Reception
Things to do in DC!
Registry

Registry

2012-01-11T23:16:00.000-05:00

All of you have given us such a gift through your many years of love and support. While your being a part of this meaningful day is the most important thing to us, we have selected a few gift options that make us smile.

We are registered at:

Both Erika and Sam feel strongly about the following nonprofit organizations and would be honored if you helped to support their essential work. Please make all contributions in honor of Erika Barry and Sam Edelstein so we can properly thank you!

In late 2008, The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region launched the Neighbors in Need Fund to help critical safety net organizations (like the one Erika used to lead) provide the basics—food, clothing, and shelter to thousands of families and individuals across the Washington, DC region.

Upstate New York, and the community that Erika's grandparents chose to retire in, is a place that we find both restorative and beautiful - plus it is one of Marley's favorite places! And Syracuse is close by, too! Protect the Adirondacks!, Inc (PROTECT) is a grassroots, membership organization dedicated to the protection, stewardship and sustainability of the natural environment and human communities of the Adirondack Park and the New York State Forest Preserve for current and future generations.

We are excited to formally celebrate and recognize our love for one another and hope that someday everyone will have the same opportunity, as well as the many civil rights critical to daily life. Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

Things to do in DC!

2012-01-03T23:58:00.001-05:00

The wedding is in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival which honors the donation of cherry blossom trees from the Japanese to the United States. This year is the 100th anniversary of that donation. For information about events taking place around the weekend of our wedding, click here.

The organization Sam works for, Cultural Tourism DC, has a huge amount of information about events, history, and culture in Washington, DC. Visit the website or sign up for the Weekly Events Update (which Sam is responsible for creating each week) to get information about what will be happening that weekend.

Part of Cultural Tourism DC's work is to detail history of DC's neighborhoods. You can find information about all 12 of the trails here. There are five audio tours to go along with the U Street and Downtown Heritage Trails. The African American Heritage Trail is spread throughout the city, and information about those sites can be found here.

For those looking to see all the monuments and memorials, click here for a great interactive map created by the National Capital Planning Commission.

For those that are mobile-inclined, download the SCVNGR app for both Android and iPhone and head toward the National Mall. There you will find scavenger hunts created by the Smithsonian and the National Archives.

Guest Information

2012-01-03T23:46:00.003-05:00

Hotel Accommodations:The Churchill Hotel - 1914 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008

We have booked a block of 20 rooms for Friday night and 30 rooms for Saturday and Sunday nights.

Call the hotel (800-424-2464) to make a reservation and mention that you are with the Barry-Edelstein wedding to get the discount. There are several different price levels for rooms:

King $109.00
Jr. Suite Double $139.00
Jr. Suite King $149.00
Deluxe Suite $229.00

IMPORTANT! These rooms must be booked 6 weeks prior to the wedding - by February 24, 2012! If you do not book by then, you will miss out on the group deal and there is no guarantee that rooms will still be available at the regular price!

Airports:
You can fly into any of the three airports near Washington, DC:

Reagan National Airport is closest to the hotel, and easiest to commute using the Metro
Baltimore-Washington International Airport may have the cheapest flights
Dulles International Airport is the most difficult to access DC from, but might have the most flights

Click here for information on transportation into DC from each airport.

Ceremony and Reception

2012-01-03T23:32:00.002-05:00

Date: April 8, 2012
Time: Afternoon
Location: Woodend Sanctuary - 8940 Jones Mill Rd., Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Click here for directions to the Woodend Sanctuary

More location information:

View Sam and Erika Wedding - 4/8/2012 in a larger map

Additional Information
A bus will be provided to and from the Churchill Hotel to the Woodend Sanctuary.

Attire:

Marley Howls!

2011-09-30T19:07:00.002-04:00

Marley does the funniest thing when a fire truck passes by with its siren on. She howls! Here's a video (sorry it is sideways):

Earthquake!

2011-08-24T13:35:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure you have heard (or felt), most of the East coast experienced an earthquake yesterday. Its epicenter was about two hours away from DC, so we were close!

I've never been in an earthquake before, and certainly it is not the first natural event I'd expect in DC, so when it started I was really confused. In our apartment, when a big truck drives by on the road, we can feel the building shake a bit. So when the earthquake started, I thought nothing of it. After a couple seconds, though, I got concerned. As it got more violent, Marley was clearly unhappy and ran into the corner. A couple things fell off the shelves, but not too much damage occurred (unlike at the National Cathedral, and supposedly the Washington Monument).

I hadn't had any earthquake training when I was in school (I've learned procedures now!). I know how to deal with a tornado and a hurricane, but not an earthquake. My first instinct was to get outside, which turns out to be the opposite of what to do. By the time I grabbed my shoes, keys, and Marley though, it was over.

I was listening to the Kojo Nnamdi show on NPR, which is based in DC. He mentioned something happening in the studio, so I knew it was bigger than just the apartment. After the shaking stopped, I get online and checked Twitter, which immediately had reports from people anywhere from DC to Syracuse. I asked my former roommate Eric, who now lives in NYC if he felt anything. He had, and was surprised I did as well (NYC didn't get hit as hard).

Afterwards, I walked outside, and the whole neighborhood was outside discussing the day's events. Luckily, I didn't have to take the Metro home yesterday, which was a nightmare with long waits (although no damage was done to the system).

Erika also obviously experienced the earthquake, and was initially concerned about the students in school - everyone was fine. We discussed after that it was just very disconcerting to have the ground moving under us. You can escape from a tornado, not from an earthquake.

I'm happy everyone was safe. In retrospect, I guess I'm happy I've been through an earthquake once in my life. I don't feel the need to do it again!

MLK Memorial Unveiling

2011-08-22T12:41:00.001-04:00

One of the coolest parts of living in Washington DC is that a lot of high profile events happen all the time. Before we moved to Korea, Erika and I had the opportunity to take part in celebrating Obama's election and Inauguration. We also have easy access to the National Mall. Today, after waiting for a long time, a memorial dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. was opened to the public. Tomorrow is the official unveiling, which originally was meant for only DC residents, but now is for anyone. This weekend is the official official opening, where Obama will speak, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin will sing, and supposedly up to 200,000 people will attend.

I decided to get there sooner than all the official openings, and it paid off. I arrived about 45 minutes before they opened the memorial, and I believe I was within the first 100 people there. There were a lot of media outlets interviewing people, and I was interviewed by a Korean TV station! 감사합니다!

As with anything in this city, there were protesters. The memorial was designed by a man from China, and the stone the memorial was carved from also came from China. The people protesting were stonemasons who were upset that the work was not done by Americans.

In any case, the memorial is really nice. Plenty of room, and the statue of King is surrounded by many of his quotations. I'm not a huge fan of what the actual statue looks like, but the overall ambiance of the area is great. Here are some pictures:

MLK Memorial Unveiling

Our new apartment!

2011-08-18T23:35:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since we posted, mostly because we were getting settled in to our new apartment! This included carrying boxes up to the fourth floor, unpacking those boxes, then moving everything away from the walls to paint, unpacking more boxes, and then putting everything in its proper place. Oh, and there was a lot of donating and throwing things away, too!

When we first saw the apartment, we knew it needed a paint job. We came to an agreement with our landlord that we would paint, but we could paint whatever color we wanted. Initially the walls were a creme color, and one corner was a darkish red. We wanted brighter. After many trips to the nearby Home Depot, we picked the perfect colors! Two types of grey, one with a bit of a blue tint, and another with more of a purple tint, and a green! Sam did most of the painting since he was home, Erika did a lot of the touch up when she had time. All in all it took about a week. It was tough work.

Below are the pictures:

Before: Kitchen

Before: Bathroom

Before: 2nd bedroom

Before: Master Bedroom

Before: Breakfast bar and soon to be dining room

After: Kitchen

After: Entrance

After: Dining Room

After: Bathroom

After: 2nd bedroom

After: Marley's spot

After: Master bedroom

After: Master Bedroom

After: Entrance to two bedrooms and columns

Back in the District!

2011-07-19T18:09:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since we've posted, because our lives have been a bit chaotic in the past month or so! We have officially moved back to Washington, D.C. Before we describe life back in the nation's capital, let's review what has happened since we got back to the United States.

As usual, we've done quite a bit of road tripping. Here is a map of our travels:

All told, Google Maps says we drove at least 7,400 miles. Don't forget, this is just road trips, and does not take into account my trip to Israel and our trip to the British Virgin Islands!

During our trips, we've celebrated three weddings, in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Bloomington, Indiana, and Newark, New Jersey. We visited friends in Miami. We went to Erika's parents' apartment in Cocoa Beach, Florida, we saw Sam's family in Evanston. We visited the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York and saw Erika's aunt, uncle and cousins on that same trip. We spent time in Edinburg again, and got to enjoy starting a garden, going on walks and bike rides, and enjoying the small town surrounded by endless nature.

Finally, Erika and I caravanned down to Washington - Erika drove the car with Marley, I drove the UHaul. We moved into our apartment in NE DC, a few blocks south of Catholic University. The first couple of days were rough since our air conditioning was not working, and we had to move all of our stuff up to the fourth floor with no elevator. But finally the A/C was fixed, and we are now enjoying our new home!

We'll post pictures and tell more about our new life here in the next few posts.

Kuala Lumpur

2011-05-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

We were able to fly around the world so cheaply because of an Asian budget airline known as Air Asia. They offer routes throughout Southeast Asia, but also to Melbourne and London. Almost all flights with them go through their hub in Kuala Lumpur. This meant that early on in our trip, we were in KL a lot, but just didn't get much time to actually see the city. Fortunately, we had a few days before flying to Europe to tourist around.

Turns out, we loved it in KL, too! Again, tons of delicious vegan food. We kept on going back to one restaurant called Fatt Yan. They had great food, including buns filled with different mock meats and other veggies. The people who worked there were also incredibly welcoming. They recommended food, talked to us about the history of the restaurant, and even directed us to a bookstore that had vegan cookbooks, with specific focus on Asian mock meats (including chicken feet and intestines).

We also got a chance to hang out at a couple of rooftop bars. They looked out to some of the iconic architecture in the city, including KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers. The drinks were mega-expensive, but it was worth the cost to have a nice evening out with a cool view.

We went to the Batu Caves, which are right outside of KL. These caves are amazing. A big staircase leads to the entrance, and all along the stairs, monkeys roam and relax. It was fun to watch them eating fruit, jumping from place to place, and interacting with each other. Inside the caves are some temples and paintings. It was interesting to see the natural wonder with man-made buildings inside.

The street food in Kuala Lumpur was great, too! Normally if we go to an Indian restaurant in the US, an order of two samosas (pastry stuffed with lentils and potatoes) would cost a few dollars. In KL, it cost 1 ringgit (30 cents) for about 5 or 6. We also got delicious juices, and of course a lot more fruit!

Leaving KL was a little strange because we were leaving the Eastern Hemisphere for the first time in over a year. Our Asian adventure was coming to an end. We had an incredible time getting to know the people, culture, and places. We were incredibly fortunate to have had the experience.

Here is the video of our trip to KL:

Langkawi

2011-05-24T17:02:00.003-04:00

To get to Langkawi from Penang, we needed to take a ferry, which lasted about two hours. We got to the island and first searched for a place to stay. We needed to split up from Jeff and Sonya because no hostel in our price range had two rooms available. Luckily, we found two places right next to each other with rooms.

The first night, we met a couple other travelers named Marc and Amanda. They had been traveling around Southeast Asia, but actually started their trip in Korea. So we got to talk about their impressions of the country.

The beach on Langkawi is beautiful. But it is not quite as amazing as Boracay's beaches. We recognized that we might have spoiled ourselves in the Philippines since now we were slightly underwhelmed by Langkawi. Looking back at pictures now though, we realized we got to spend time at some incredible beaches.

Langkawi is also known for its waterfalls. One day Jeff, Sonya, Marc, Amanda, Erika, and I rented scooters and drove to Seven Wells waterfall. I'd never rode or driven a scooter before, but with Erika on the back, we successfully made it, though I was holding on pretty tight the whole time! It was fun but also nerve-wracking!

The waterfall was a ton of fun. You can walk right into the waterfall, which immediately drenches you. There are also rocks to dive off of into the water. We had to strategically place our jumps to make sure to hit the deep parts of the water, and not the shallower rocks. Next we walked up to the top of the waterfall and found the seven wells. These pools of water all lead to the waterfall. Since the water rushes over the rocks, it has eroded and smoothed the rocks so we could slide down with the water. At the bottom of the rock slide, we would plunge into the pool of water.

On the way to the waterfall, we bought some fruit to eat. We left the fruit sitting while we were in the water, and to our surprise, a monkey stole the bag of fruit and ran away! We had seen other monkeys around, but were shocked at how quick and sneaky he was! Luckily he took fruit, and not our cameras or wallets!

On the way back we stopped at a stand that served cendol. Cendol is a Malaysian snack that has coconut milk, ice cubes, beans, and slimy green noodles. It is really sweet and delicious! A picture is to the right:

Langkawi was a lot of fun, and alas was the final beach destination on our trip. Here's video of our time there:

Pulau Pangkor and Pulau Penang

2011-05-23T12:21:00.002-04:00

We went from Borarcay to Manila and spent one night at a hostel before an early flight to Kuala Lumpur. Once we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we took a bus up to Pulau Penang and met our friends Jeff and Sonya. Pangkor was really relaxing! It is a small island and we were one of the few people at our hostel, which also had a great roof top deck. The kitchen staff was happy to make us lots of spicy veggie dishes, and we were happy to eat them!

We also celebrated Thanksgiving in Pangkor by renting a couple kayaks and paddling to some nearby islands and around the coastline. We ate a very non-traditional, but delicious Thanksgiving dinner, played Bananagrams, and sat outside during a HUGE thunderstorm! At one point, lightening actually struck the hostel. A huge bang, flash of light, and then confusion, but all was ok!

From Pangkor, we took a bus and ferry to Penang. Penang is the Silicon Valley of Malaysia. It is also an awesome place for food. People form India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia all live in the country. Penang's Little India sat right next to Chinatown, meaning all kinds of different foods were available, and sometimes the cuisines even mixed a bit.

We visited many of the stores in the area which had spices and other goodies for sale. In the streets we could hear Bollywood music playing all over. For dinner one night, we went to an Indian restaurant, and basically cleaned them out. I think we ordered everything on the menu that was vegan between the four of us. When the cashier rang us up, he did a double take at how much we had ordered and started laughing. We ended up with about 15 dishes, which cost 50 ringgit, or about $20.

One of the highlights was the self described "worst cover band in Malaysia." They performed at the first hostel we stayed at in Penang. They were truly horrible, but the cheap beers helped make it all better. Here's some video:

Here's the video of the rest of our time in Penang and Pangkor:

Boracay

2011-05-19T13:12:00.000-04:00

From Manila we went to the island of Boracay. We had to take a plane from Manila to Kalibo, then a bus to a boat, and then a boat to Boracay. The hostel we reserved offered to send someone to meet us, which we thought would make things easier. Instead, it ended up being us paying for an extra traveler, he didn't help us much. We got to our hostel, and it was in an alley. The room was hot, and the toilet didn't work. We spent a night there and then decided to find out how much some of the nicer hotels were. We checked out a few rooms and found a beautiful place that was more expensive, but still worked for our budget.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous. We loved relaxing on the beach, taking walks, naps, and relaxing some more. For lunch, we had fresh fruit every day. Lancones, mangoes, pomelos, and more. So delicious!

One day we hired a sail boat to take us around the island to another beach. On the way, we went snorkeling and saw some amazing fish, and a blue starfish! We brought some bread along with us to feed the fish, and they flocked around us.

Dehydrated Apples!

2011-05-18T13:58:00.001-04:00

Erika got me a dehydrator, and we've recently been using it a lot to make delicious snacks! Here's the process in video form:

Manila

2011-05-18T13:08:00.001-04:00

From Sydney, we flew back to Melbourne and hopped on a flight that went first to Kuala Lumpur and then to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. We had to stay one night in KL because of the flight schedule. Clark Air Force Base is about two hours north of Manila, so we hopped on a bus and headed to the city. Despite the bus driver's assurances, we weren't entirely sure of where they were going to drop us off in Malia - and we knew how big the city is! Our stop was basically on the side of a highway. Luckily we had several maps and we figured out where we were - although it was at least a mile from our hostel. We had a long walk with heavy bags in the strong sun, but we got to see the city a bit.

The area of Manila that we were in was the business district. There was a fancy mall (we hadn't been in a mall since leaving for Korea). We found a great vegan restaurant, along with other American chain restaurants. The Philippines was not great in terms of food for us (other than the fruit!) so these places came in handy.

We were able to see a lot of the city, travel in a Jeepnee - war era vehicles that have been turned into buses, and see the reaction of locals to boxing champion Manny Pacquiao's most recent victory, which was cool!

Visiting the Philippines was important because it allowed Erika to see her brother and sister's home country for the first time. A powerful experience indeed!

Sydney

2011-05-17T18:38:00.000-04:00

Our next stop was in Sydney. After we got off the road from the Great Ocean Road, we had been camping for four days. There hadn't been too many chances to wash off, so we were in need in a shower. Luckily, one of the gyms in Melbourne allowed guests to take showers, so we got clean. Then we took a long, overnight bus ride to Sydney.

Sydney was a really cool city. The food was great, the skyline was impressive, there's a big garden in the center of the city, and then of course, the harbor (or harbour in Australian-speak). We spent a good deal of time sitting on a bench, looking at the Opera House and the bridge, talking and relaxing. If it weren't so far away, Sydney is definitely a place I would like to go often!

Great Ocean Road

2011-05-16T18:03:00.008-04:00

The Great Ocean Road runs along the southeastern portion of Australia. It was built as a dedication to the casualties of World War I. The coast is really incredible, as you'll see in the video. Soft, limestone rock, is easily eroded away, creating amazing arches and boulders.

Before we reached the coast, though, we drove through some national parks, saw amazing wildlife, and slept in a tiny tent!

Melbourne

2011-05-15T17:07:00.000-04:00

After a long break, we're back, ready to begin posting again! Videos are complete, so we'll be sharing them here over the next couple weeks. Even though we're done traveling internationally (for the moment) we will be posting about our domestic adventures.

The first video is from our trip to Melbourne. Like everywhere else we went, we loved this city. It was definitely a "foodie" town, so we got plenty to eat! We also enjoyed exploring the city on long walks and on the city's trolleys. For that and more, here's the video!

Melbourne from sam edelstein on Vimeo.

Koalas!

2010-12-31T13:57:00.000-05:00

Stories, pictures, and videos will be coming in periodically. Here is a video of some of the koalas we saw while on the Great Ocean Road. These koalas were at Otway National Park. Koalas typically sleep about 18 hours per day, but these few were definitely active!

Back in the States

2010-12-17T12:36:00.000-05:00

After an amazing 6 week trip, and of course an incredible previous 13 months, Erika and I are back in the United States. We have literally thousands of pictures to go through, but they'll be posted, with stories, in the coming weeks!

Boracay

2010-11-17T00:08:00.000-05:00

After leaving the hustle and bustle of Manila, we finally made it to Boracay, home of white beaches, clear blue water, and hot sun. It is gorgeous here. The hotel we booked before coming had some issues, so we decided to upgrade to a little nicer place, right on the beach! We'll be here for the next five days enjoying the sun, massages, tropical fruit smoothies, and sunsets.

Erika will have a lot of photo editing to do when we get home!

Manila

2010-11-14T00:10:00.001-05:00

After a crazy travel day that took us from Sydney to Melbourne then to Kuala Lumpur for an overnight layover, we finally flew into what was formerly Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. A two hour bus ride into Manila showed us the countryside along with the vast expanse of the city. We finally made it into Makati, the business district and settled in. We ate delicious vegan food, saw a movie for about $3 each and then passed out. This morning we visited a market near our hotel that had amazing fruits and other food. We also saw people watching the Margarito v. Pacquiao bozing match at the market. Manny Pacquiao is Filipino, so understandably they are excited. We are currently sitting in an internet cafe while the other people in here are watching the fight streaming online, yelling and screaming at all the good parts.

Pretty cool.

Great Ocean Road

2010-11-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

We had an AWESOME drive on the great Ocean Road! Driving on the other side of the road - and the other side of the car - was interesting at first, but we got the hang of it.

If you like koalas, kangaroos, beautiful coastline, and curvy roads, you should go to the Great Ocean Road.

Pictures and video to come later!

Quick Post from Melbourne

2010-11-04T22:39:00.000-04:00

Making a very quick post from the Melbourne Library. This city is amazing. The food is incredible, the culture is great. We've walked a ton around the city, eaten at a restaurant where you decide what your food is worth, and seen so many people just seeming to be enjoying life at coffee shops and markets. Spring has definitely arrived here in Melbourne!

We'll spend the rest of the day here, then hit the road tomorrow to drive on the Great Ocean Road. Wish us luck while we try to master driving on the other side of the road!

Teaching in Korea Part 3- The Good, the Bad, The Ugly

2010-10-31T20:26:00.009-04:00

Teaching as a profession: People occasionally ask me whether this experience makes me want to teach again back home in the USA. It's difficult for me to answer this question because I don't know how many of my frustrations are endemic to the teaching profession as a whole or simply related to the cultural setting. Regardless of where they teach, I know other teachers struggle with onerously restrictive curriculum requirements, unmotivated colleagues, bureaucratic administrations, lack of supplies, etc. There are things I loved about my job, and things that I definitely found lacking (see following). I think that while I would definitely be open to teaching again in the future, under different circumstances, it's not something I would pursue full-force right now.
Things I enjoyed about being a teacher: having my work be people oriented; getting to know the individual personalities of my students; helping my students grow and develop; getting to have a more micro focus, rather than being responsible for all the macro-goings on; getting to be extroverted and even silly; not having a lot of oversight or micro-managing; having a job that I could largely choose to leave at the office at the end of the day. (This last quality I know is a result of my particular situation here, the fact that I had at least 2-3 free period for planning each day. I also wasn't allowed to assign homework or give tests and therefore had no work to grade). Although Sam found the lessons repetitive, I enjoyed the change to get better with each successive attempt at the topic material, working in the most effective examples or structuring classes in the most compelling ways.
Things I struggled with as a teacher: having to teach a book and cover curriculum on a schedule that I couldn't choose or define; large 40-student classes that made it difficult to attend to individual needs of students; lack of collaboration or problem-solving with peers; lack of social interaction and community with adults; having my opinions or skills ignored or discounted by my coworkers; not having any say in the larger, macro-aspects of the school or class structures; and not getting any guidance, feedback, or appreciation. After having been able to set my own schedule and priorities tasks based on my own interests and inclinations at the moment, it was an adjustment to have a rigidly set schedule. If I was feeling sick or having a rough day, I couldn't simply close a door to my office and do quiet desk work. I always had to be "on."
Other trials and tribulations: It was also difficult to feel like I cared more about the kids or the job than my coworkers, who came late to class or didn't show up and didn't care if the students wrote on the desks and walls, slept in class, hit or teased each other, or failed to understand the lesson. A month or so ago, when a string of very difficult classes reminded me of the professional, personal, and physical pitfalls of not having a co-teacher in the classroom (as contractually and legally required), I tactfully brought this up with my boss. I told him that the district representatives I'd spoken with had reminded me I was not allowed to teach alone, and that if a co-teacher didn't show up I would be forced to show movies or give out word searches. Even knowing that their absence would cause the students not to cover the lessons that would be on the midterm the following week, my coworkers and boss would fail to show up, or make only sporadic and unpredictable appearances in the classroom. This left me forced to decide whether to teach, against regulations and with great difficulty when complicated topics of phrases were being introduced, or to not teach, which I felt was unfairly punishing the students who wanted or needed to learn. This was bad for my morale, and sucked away at my motivation to go above and beyond per usual.
The kids are such a handful! In middle school, we truly teach mini-adults. This means that although some students still unselfconsciously clamor to play silly games, kindly help out a friend, or earnestly try to learn the lesson, all of the generally unsavory qualities of adults are present as well. Moreover, these qualities are also amped up by hormones, a closed-bubble social strata, the stresses of discovering and articulating one's Independence, and the exhaustion that comes from being sleep-deprived on a daily basis. There are many days when the students are downright rude, disrespectful, and completely infuriating. They will mock other students for being slow or fat, talk back to me and try to rile me up, chat nonstop while I'm speaking, laugh at a display of clumsiness, etc. Regardless of how awful they behave (running around in circles drawing on the walls, climbing out of windows, hitting or flipping each other the bird), I am always more upset at myself when I find that my patience has waned and my frustration has become apparent. As much as I ask of them, I rightly ask more of myself.
The kids are so sweet! Some days, even after I've had a difficult day in the classroom, I will be walking around the campus or will be on my way home and will be greeted by students who are genuinely thrilled to see me and speak to me. Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious. One of the best things I've done as I wrap up classes is have the students write me final notes. This has been a great way for each individual student to give me feedback. It's clear that despite my strict expectations for behavior, disciplinary efforts, and occasionally mediocre lesson results, they understand that I am fair, well-intentioned and caring. I realize that they have been just as accepting of my good days and bad days and personality quirks as I have been of theirs. Their affection and gratitude is truly touching, and far more than I deserve.

Traveling After Korea

2010-10-31T12:52:00.001-04:00

We are sad to be leaving Korea, but excited to get back home. First though, we'll be traveling. Here is our schedule:

Australia - November 3 - 11
Philippines - November 12 - 22
Malaysia - November 23 - December 2
Italy - December 4 - 12
England - December 13 - 16

We probably won't get a chance to make any posts here, but we will have plenty of pictures and videos when we return to the US in mid-December!

Teaching in Korea Part 2- Lessons Learned

2010-10-31T12:30:00.008-04:00

Routines pay big dividends. So does spontaneity. When we first arrived, and again after the new semester began, I invested a fair amount of time in establishing classroom routines, communicating rules, setting up English names and seating charts, etc. While this is time-consuming in the beginning, it proved enormously helpful to me and my students. I was able to learn the English names of many of my students, and could easily tell if someone was sitting in the wrong seat. This made it easier to keep order in the classroom and to call on students to answer questions. Having a routine in the agenda also helped my students understand what I was saying and predict what I was expecting of them at any given moment. I also used the same hand motions each time (for example, to accompany directions such as "eyes on me" or "stand up") to reinforce understanding and provide a familiar context. Once the class structures were in place and my students knew what they could and could not get away with, I was freed up to be less formal, joke around more, and make spontaneous changes to the agenda. When students are expecting some sort of bookwork, and I announce a game instead, they are much more appreciative and excited than if class always seemed random.
Be willing to revise expectations and set clear goals. When we were first searching for jobs in Korea, we were told our jobs would be to improve the conversation skills of our students, working on accent and ease of speaking. Once in the classroom, it was clear that our students had very disparate abilities and that more advanced conversational work would be premature for many. Moreover, we were expected to teach grammar and writing, two things that were very difficult for our students and much harder to explain in a foreign language. Second semester, I was able to convince my department to allow me to focus on speaking and listening, areas in which I knew I could most help my students. My goal for structuring my lessons became trying to create as many opportunities for speaking as possible, so it was guaranteed that each student was forced to speak English at least once each class. With a clearly defined and limited goal such as that, I was able to be have reasonable expectations for what I would be able to accomplish with my time and to focus my efforts. While I encouraged students volunteering answers, I also chose students to answer questions or read dialogues based on their skill level, ensuring that the more talented students were appropriately challenged while the less-advanced students were given surefire opportunities to be successful. I know that students spoke more English in my class than they likely ever before, and their listening skills greatly improved as well.
Ways in which I changed as a teacher: I definitely grew in my abilities throughout the course of the year. Although I felt comfortable standing in front of my classes from the beginning, by the end I inhabited my role as a teacher completely natural and confidently. I was able to learn, with the visual reminder of my trusty seating chart clipboard, the names of a great percentage of the 680 students I saw each week. I was able to build the confidence of some of the shyest students and gain their trust. I learned to think on my feet, read the students, and assess the class as it unfolded. This enabled me to spontaneously tweak the lesson plan or change course as needed. I learned to sense which reward and discipline methods worked better for each class or for different students, and was able to adjust accordingly.
What I am most proud of: how I managed to win over the most difficult and troublesome students. I turned several of the most bratty, chatty girls and nearly all of the most attention-seeking, sullen, or irksome boys into my biggest allies in the class. This was done in several ways. First, I preempted any desire to act-out in class by calling on certain students to speak or answer questions. This provided them with positive ways for them to have the eyes of the class on them, as they desired. This also provided an incentive for other students to keep quiet, as it was all but assured that would call on any students who were talking during other students dialogues or while I was teaching. Second, I established myself as a fair and consistent disciplinarian and caring teacher--I made sure to uniformly enforce expectations, but when I had to punish students I made sure to communicate to them it was their behavior I had a problem with, not them as students. As much as was possible with a communication barrier, I tried to make sure they knew I liked them and cared for them and was looking forward to the next week when we would have a clean slate for them to do well. Third, I made sure to avoid purposely embarrassing students who struggled, instead providing them with opportunities to participate that would be a surefire home run. Thus, rather than giving them a reason to act-up so they would be sent out of class and avoid exposing their ignorance, I helped them enjoy excelling in English class. Fourth, I worked to get the natural, organic class leaders (and class clowns) on my side through humor, flexibility, and creativity. For instance, during one class a student named "Beckham" was interrupting me and feeding answers to other students I called on. Since he was clearly engaged, but was infringing on my role, I deemed him "teacher" and called him to the front to help teach the lesson. A natural performer, he really enjoyed writing on the board and calling on his classmates (my students all learned each others English names) to answer questions. Not only did this positively engage him, but it energized the class as a whole, as they were also excited and amused by watching Beckham play teacher. Being able to think on my feet to resolve the situation rather than getting increasingly frustrated was evidence to me of how I had evolved as a teacher.

School Festivals

2010-10-31T12:29:00.000-04:00

I gave a preview of our school festivals earlier. Here are some videos from my school and Erika's school.

Ichung Middle School (Sam's School):

Hyo Myung Middle School (Erika's School):

Reflections on Teaching in Korea

2010-10-28T00:23:00.001-04:00

As promised, part one in recap of my teaching experience:

No two teaching situations are the same. While we definitely have shared themes, Sam and my schools, students, and overall teaching experiences are different. They are even more different than those friends of ours who teach within the same province or even the same town. One's experience teaching in Korea depends not just on individual temperament, but on one's apartment, one's previous professional background, one's coworkers, one's boss, one's support network, one's city, whether one teaches at a private academy versus a public school, and whether one works with elementary, middle, or high school kids. For example, my school has been relatively flexible in allowing me to occasionally leave early (after classes have finished) if I feel sick or need to go to the bank, while Sam's school does everything "by the book." Sam's co-teachers were almost always in his classes, helping to discipline but sometimes impeding his creativity and flexibility or undermining his authority. My co-teachers only came to about 25-30% of my classes each week, if that. While this gave me the sole burden of discipline and left me struggling to explain more amorphous concepts to classes with lower comprehension, it allowed me more freedom and independence. While I know there are many things about our experience that are common to the education system here in general, I am very hesitant to generalize our experience too broadly.

Korean work culture: At one point during the year, I told Sam that it seemed like everything I had ever learned about social interactions, particularly professional norms, no longer applied. It often felt like I was navigating blind, or at least without a road map. While there were definitely great things about the customs here, such as lots of teacher-bonding activities (soju-infused dinners) and spontaneous sharing of food (tangerines, rice cakes, candy), there were also lots of stresses that came from being unable to predict how our bosses or coworkers would act or react.

Some things I've never completely gotten used to: 1) Discipline through hitting: Starting off my day watching teachers gleefully, capriciously, or carelessly use sticks (or baseball bats) to punish students puts me in a horribly foul mood and lessens my respect for my peers. 2) Last minute changes to the plan: While some of this is due to my outside status and the language barrier, it also became clear that some of this was simply par for the course. For example, the administration decides on Thursday that the teachers will now teach afterschool classes to a third of the students starting Monday. I find this out on Friday. No roster of students or curriculum is provided. Monday, I find out I'm no longer teaching the classes starting that day because on Saturday, the teachers complained and the administration revised the schedule. While I definitely get the short end of the communication stick, there are many times when the other teachers seem to have been given as little notice as me. 3) Being on a need to know basis (and apparently not needing to know much): This is an offshoot of the previous complaint. I confess that my personality inclines me to want to understand the "why" behind a sudden schedule change, a deduction from my paycheck, etc. Here, I am only told what directly and immediately affects me, with little explanation given. While this too is likely partly because of the language barrier, I have learned by observing my young, female peers that this happens mostly because in this culture, lower status people are just expected to assent and go along without any expectation of being told "why." While I have learned to be more "go with the flow" and not expect to have my superiors' reasoning for a sudden decision shared with me, I still find it annoying and frustrating.

Acupuncture

2010-10-27T23:34:00.000-04:00

One of the English teachers that works at Erika's school, named Eun-Ah, suggested that we try going to an acupuncture clinic with her. It sounded like fun, so we agreed. Normally, people covered by Korean health insurance would only have to pay 7,000 won per visit (under $7!). Unfortunately, our Korean insurance expired the day before, so we had to pay 20,000 won (still a great deal!).

First, we needed to have a consultation with the doctor. He talked to me first and asked where I had pain. Recently my right hip has been sore and hurting (most likely because of the way that I sleep). He pressed on different parts of the surrounding muscles and asked me where it was sore. Then they wanted me to loosen my pants so they could feel lowed on my hip (like on my butt). Eun-Ah was really embarrassed! She was in the strange position of doing some translation, but also trying not to look at my butt, it was funny. The doctor told me that the muscles were really tight.

They asked if I wanted traditional acupuncture or a more intense session that would help me more. Eun-Ah said she had the more intense kind one time before and she screamed because it hurt so much. I said, "sign me up!" I figured more pain now would mean more happiness later!

They brought me into a room and I had to lie on a heat pad for about 20 minutes to help warm up my muscles.

Then the doctor came in and showed me two different sets of acupuncture needles. The first kind were the traditional kind that are as thick as a sewing pin. Then he showed me the kind he would use for my session. They were as thick as pencil lead. Next thing I knew, I was on my side, and they jammed the pin through my skin and sort of rotated it and hit different parts of my muscles. They did this eight different times. By the end, I was bleeding and needed band-aids! It was painful and felt really strange. The doctor left though and said I was very brave because I didn't make a sound.

At this point, I wasn't sure how much more I could take. The next thing I saw though was a nurse with fire. I sort of freaked out, but the doctor said nothing would hurt. The nurse heated up what were almost shot classes, only more globe shaped. Then she stuck them to my skin, and they sucked onto me. They left me there for about 15 minutes with these things on me like leeches. One of them actually fell off and broke. By the time that was over, I had six huge marks on me along with the band aids. These are pictures of my back and hip.

Next, I lied back on a heated pad for about ten minutes, and then the doctor gave me the traditional acupuncture. The stuck five needles on my abdomen which were meant to help increase circulation and help my hip and lower back.

By the time it was over, I was a bit sore. The doctor was really nice and explained everything to me. He gave me some herbal teas, which taste absolutely disgusting, but should help relax my muscles. I would definitely do all of it again in the future.

Erika had acupuncture on her neck. She had a little bit different experience. She had the traditional session.

First, she changed into a strapless top and lied down on a hot pad.

Then they put her face down with a pillow under her chest and touched her neck and shoulders to find out where it hurt.

When they used the needles, she said it sounded like a little hole punch and made a mild pinch. But then it felt like they moved the pins deeper. She said it felt like they were "in her neck" right on a nerve. This was uncomfortable and "crazy." Then they went to she shoulders and the more meaty parts of her neck, which was not as uncomfortable.

She was then left alone for 15 minutes, which was followed by a machine that felt almost like a stapler, making very quick staples on her lower neck and shoulders.

Finally, they hooked her up to a suction machine that made her muscles involuntarily twitch and move.

Today her muscles are sore, but don't hurt.

It was a fun experience. It takes a lot of patience and we'd have to go regularly to really get the full benefits. We were happy to get the opportunity and only wish we had learned about it sooner!

Osan Air Force Base Trip - Video

2010-10-27T21:52:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I wrote about the field trip to Osan Air Force Base with my students. Here is the video!

Awesome News From School

2010-10-27T18:46:00.000-04:00

Our final teaching day was Tuesday, but I got closure on my year on Wednesday.

For the whole year, one of my students, named Sandra, had come to talk to me nearly every day during lunch. Sometimes we'd talk about school, sometimes we'd talk about her, sometimes me. She's in 3rd grade (9th grade in the US) and has to apply to go to high school for next year (all students do). A couple months ago, she started telling me that she was excited to apply for an international high school in Suwon.

Normally, Sandra sounds down and pessimistic about life, which is tough to hear from a 15 year old. It was really nice to hear her getting excited about something for a change. She is one of the best English speakers in the school, and apparently has some of the best grades overall.

Then one day, she came in, looking dejected, and told me she wasn't going to apply to the school anymore. I asked her why and she said her homeroom teacher told her that her grades were not good enough and she wouldn't get accepted, so she shouldn't apply. She looked really said, I got upset.

I asked her if this was a school that she wanted to go to. She said yes. Then I asked why she wouldn't apply. She said she would get rejected. I asked her how she knew. She said she didn't know. So then I told her the only way that she would know is if she tried. She protested and said she would be said if she got rejected. I said, imagine how happy you would be if you got accepted, though. I also guaranteed her that she would not be accepted if she didn't apply. I told her that even if she was rejected, at least she would know, and it would be a good lesson for her to learn so she would try hard in high school to prepare for college. She nodded, and after about 30 minutes of telling her she was a great student, she finally agreed to apply.

A couple weeks later, I got into a conversation with my coteacher about the students applying for high school. She told me that she didn't think Sandra should have applied for the international high school because her grades were not good enough, and if she got rejected, it would make the school look bad. This would hurt the school's reputation, which would make it more difficult for other students to get into certain schools.

I think I may have visibly rolled my eyes at this point. I told my coteacher that Sandra talking about the high school was one of the only times I'd seen her excited, and I was worried about how down she normally was.

This is a girl who's mom insists on her studying until after midnight every night. Her mom won't let her take a 1 hour per week dance class because it would take time away from her studies. When Sandra's brother participated in an English debate talking about the death penalty in front of the entire school, his mom told him that he shouldn't have mumbled so much. Of course, given the circumstances, he did an awesome job. The girl is under massive amounts of pressure, and I am honestly worried about her. So I told my coteacher that I encouraged her because I wanted to see her try to do something that would make her happy.

Well guess what? Wednesday afternoon she called me and told me that she was accepted! She was so excited about her success. She thanked me for making her do it, and of course, insisted that it was because of me that she got in. I tried to convince her that she got the grades and filled out the application.

I'm thrilled for her, and I'm happy that I could be a part of helping at least one student in the school. Now of course, she'll have a pretty difficult high school career, as most Korean students do, but hopefully she'll now be excited about her studies.

One Year in Korea

2010-10-26T02:16:00.002-04:00

When we signed our contract to come and teach at our schools in Korea, our recruiter told us that we would have a week to settle in, then we would start teaching. That quickly turned into no week off, but a weekend to settle in. Then it became no weekend off, but you don't have to come in for your first day till noon.

We arrived in Korea late on Monday. Our clothes had been packed and gotten wrinkled. We had almost no food. We were out of it from the flight and time change. We were brought to our apartment. The entrance was in an alley, and an abandoned toilet was sitting outside of the gate. It was dark and we found our apartment really dirty. The next morning, we were told we'd have to be at school by 8 am.

That's how our journey in Korea started. The first night Erika and I could barely sleep. We had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into, and absolutely no clue about how we would survive for a year.

But the days passed one by one. In no time we were a month in, talking to family and friends during Thanksgiving. Then suddenly, we'd completed a quarter of our contract and traveled to Thailand and Vietnam. Next a new school year started and before we knew it our contract was half-way up.

The time has flown by. Erika and I have talked about the perspective of a year in this far away place. For most of our lives, years all mesh together. We have specific dates that we use as markers, but nothing concrete to mark a year. School years go by, work stays the same. For us, this last year has been very defined. For one year we've spent time about as far away from home as we could get, in a culture that is very much different from the one that we grew up with. We saw something new virtually every day. We tried to take advantage of our time as much as possible. In some ways, this made time pass quickly. But now when we look back to a year ago, or even a month ago, everything seems ancient.

Now we've reached the end of our year. It is officially one year in Korea today. We're moving onto the next adventure, whatever that is.

We've climbed some of the highest mountains. We've eaten new foods. We've met wonderful people. We've missed our friends and family from home. And it has all resulted in a year that we won't ever forget.

We have a few days left here. We'll post a few more videos, pictures, and stories. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has made this year amazing. We'll miss you all. To those we've been missing for the last year, we can't wait to see you soon!

Wrapping Up- Last Day of School!

2010-10-26T02:00:00.005-04:00

Today was our last day at school and in the classroom. For some weeks, I've been meaning to write a post on my teaching experience nearly twelve months after my first impressions. I realized that depending on what day I chose to write, my conclusions and attitudes might be completely different. There are times when I feel so elated and kick-butt, times when I feel really defeated, and times when I was just in the day-to-day routine. I know I have definitely changed and grown as a teacher and as a person, mostly for the better but a bit for the worse. I have explored a new career and developed a whole new skill set. I've grown more confident in my abilities and more effective in my methods, allowing me to enjoy my job more and make more of an impact. I've grown in my appreciation for and understanding of my students, enabling me to have more patience and have more fun. I've also gotten a prolonged, first-hand experience with a work culture and an exposure to subtle social norms completely different from my own. While often challenging, this has given me an insight into this country that tourists, and even military members stationed here, never get. One thing I know for sure is that I'm incredibly glad I have had this experience. Over the next few days I'll post a few of my random thoughts, general experiences, highs, lows, and lessons learned from my teaching experience this past year.

Osan Air Force Base Trip

2010-10-26T01:11:00.000-04:00

We've lived down the street from the biggest US Air Force base in Korea for a year. Finally a friend of ours, named Terri, with base access brought us on for dinner one night. Then we saw the Air Show and finally I went on again with some of my students.

My school has been working with the school on base, and finally a field trip was arranged so the students could see what goes on on the base. Some of the students had been one base before, either for the air show, or because they have a parent who works there. Most had never been there, though, so they were excited.

The trip was interesting. We got to see attack dogs being trained, bomb squads showing off their equipment, and the fire station at work. It would have been nice to show the students more non-military aspects of the base, but I wasn't leading the tour.

After living in Korea for a year, where everything is packed together and there isn't much room for grass in the city, the base looks completely different. The base looks a lot like the United States. Streets are calmer, the sidewalks are lined with grass, people say hello and hold doors open for you. You get brought back to reality when you see a random military vehicle painted in camouflage. The buildings are also all the same color. It is a fun experience, though.

For the field trip, we saw a demonstration of an attack dog chasing and catching a "bad guy". I would not mess around with these dogs. As much as the people working there said the dogs all thought of this as a game, they certainly didn't seem too happy. They also didn't let go of the guy who was being practiced on immediately. Let's put it this way, if I had a dog, I wouldn't treat it like that.

Then the students got to see machines that a bomb squad uses. There was a big robot, and a suit that people wear when disarming a bomb. It all looked really expensive, and made me happy that I don't ever have to deal with any of it.

Finally, we went to the fire station. The students got to go into a fire engine, play with the siren, and shoot the hose. Now when I say students, I also of course mean me. There was no way I would pass up a chance to play with a siren!

We were supposed to go to a bowling alley, which would have been great for the kids. Only a few of them had ever bowled before. Unfortunately, something got messed up with the reservation, so instead we went to Burger King for lunch - healthy! Luckily, they had a veggie burger for me. The students all got to learn about a soda fountain. They were amazed that they were allowed to try different flavors. Obviously, many of them mixed different sodas.

It was a fun day overall. Nice to see the kids out of their school element - although they still had to wear their uniforms. I still kind of question the need for a huge Air Force base, but that discussion is for a different blog!

Some pictures from my school's Web site. Videos to come soon!

School Festival Questions

2010-10-20T20:34:00.000-04:00

Just before we leave, both of our schools are having school festivals. We'll post more about this in the coming days. In the meantime, I'll be emceeing an English contest. The students need to decide whether the answers are true or false. Here is the list of items I have been given to read, some seem a bit too difficult. How many do you know?

1. The public language of Brazil is Spanish
2. New York is the third biggest city in the US
3. The color of a taxi in England is yellow
4. The Golden Gate Bridge is in Philadelphia, USA
5. The capital of Canada is Ottawa
6. The people of France gave the Statue of Liberty to America
7. The stars of the American flag stand for the states
8. Big Ben is the nick name for the great bell of the clock of the Palace of Westminster in London
9. Alaska used to belong to Russia
10. The first Starbucks coffee shop is in Seattle, USA
11. The Kiwi bird is the national bird of Australia
12. Natives in Australia are called Aborigines.

I think I know or could make an educated guess at all of these, but it seems tough for my students...

Kimchi Crisis continued

2010-10-14T20:19:00.003-04:00

From the New York Times, another article about the "kimchi crisis" and what steps the South Korean government is taking to address it.

Rising Food Prices Threaten Kimchi

2010-10-11T00:04:00.004-04:00

When we first came to Korea, it seemed that while other products cost roughly the same as they did in the US, the cost of fresh produce was markedly lower. Sam and I have loved visiting our favorite market lady to buy fruits and vegetables several times a week, deciding what to cook for dinner after seeing what looked best. Unfortunately, over several weeks Sam and I had noticed that we seemed to be getting much less lettuce for the same price, and the costs for a single zucchini seemed to have doubled. Nothing is pre-bagged or visibly standardized: we tell her how much we want to spend on spinach or how many carrots we want, and then she picks them out for us. So, when we realized that the smaller portions weren't just in our imaginations we concluded that perhaps we had fallen out of favor with our market lady. We even comparison-shopped the produce at HomePlus, only to find it averaging about the same (which was good, since we prefer to buy from the local, independent vendor instead of the international conglomerate).

But, recent news tells us that difficult weather has created a vegetable shortage all across Korea, resulting in sharply rising food prices. As this Economist article explains, this has particularly devastating consequences for Korea's beloved food kimchi, which Koreans traditionally eat at every meal. Kimchi-making is a big autumn event, as the family gathers to make huge quantities to last them through the winter, so this is particularly bad timing for a shortage in napa cabbage.

Air Power Day!

2010-10-10T18:43:00.000-04:00

Osan Air Force Base opened its gates this past weekend for an air show. Living right down the street from the base means we've heard these planes before. They are loud and at different times during the year, have taken off constantly. It was about time we got something cool out of the deal. This was worth it! We were only about 100 feet away from the runway, and we got to see the planes take off and do different tricks in the air.

We'll ignore the politics surrounding using these planes to entertain us when their real purpose is far from entertainment...

The first video is a short clip of some of the coolest things we saw. Excuse the language in the song.

The second video is a longer version with all the videos we took.

Pictures coming soon!

Human Rights Declaration for Students in Korea to End Corporal Punishment

2010-10-05T19:20:00.001-04:00

We've written about corporal punishment before, though not nearly enough. This is something that we have to deal with every day in school. Teachers in our classes and around schools will hit kids with their hands and sticks. I have seen male teachers make female students get into a downward facing dog yoga pose (butt sticking up into the air) and then spanking them with a stick. Erika has seen her co-teacher, who apparently is also the head disciplinarian in her school, make two boys knock their heads together repeatedly.

At teacher dinners, my co-teachers will tell me that other teachers are discussing who the best disciplinarian is. This sort of title is worn with pride. Erika says her co-teacher almost has an evil looks of pleasure when beating the kids with a bat. My co-teachers try to explain to me that this is the only way Korean kids understand discipline and it is a part of Korean culture.

Students, meanwhile, are beaten sometimes for no reason. One student who talks to me nearly every day often comes in looking distraught. She tells me a teacher hit her. I ask her why. She has no idea, or it is for a ridiculous reason, like not answering a question correctly.

Other students have bought into the culture and volunteer themselves to be hit when they know they have done something wrong. Sometimes when I tell a student to be quiet in my class, other students will tell me to hit that student.

We don't need to go into why this is not an effective form of punishment. The students learn that if they can take a beating, then they can do whatever they want. In this culture where military service is compulsory for all adult males, it seems that this is the only way they have learned to discipline, and they have brought it into schools. Meanwhile students get into violent fights in school, with rarely any teachers caring to look or get involved.

Good news though! The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education (the Province we work in) has approved a set of human rights for students in schools. This includes no more corporal punishment, the freedom to have whatever hairstyle they want, outlawing random searches, allowing cell phones on a limited basis in schools, and ending required religious classes that focus on only one religion.

This is amazing news. When we heard this on the news yesterday, we were in the car with Erika's co-teacher. We asked him what he thought. He just laughed and said he didn't know. Old habits will certainly die hard, especially here. The students assume beatings are the only punishment, so when they suddenly aren't, how will teachers control the classes? I am willing to bet corporal punishment continues even with the rule changes. Who is going to report these teachers? Perhaps a student will record a beating with their cell phone and post it online, but will the student face some sort of whistle blower discipline?

In the last few days a video was posted to Youtube of an older Korean woman assaulting a younger Korean woman, apparently because she felt the younger woman was being rude. The older woman pulls on the younger woman's hair while the younger woman screams out in pain. No one steps in to stop it. Some commenters have even excused the older woman, because younger people should never be rude to their elders. While we should of course always respect those that are older and wiser, sometimes changes need to be made. Whether it is saying assault on the train is inexcusable or beatings in school are off-limits, something needs to happen.

This is a great first step.

News from the North

2010-09-30T02:32:00.002-04:00

The rumors about the succession planning for Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea, seem to have been borne out this week with news of his twenty-something son receiving new and illustrious civilian and military titles. His son is not expected to make any changes to the way things are run in the country and is likely to toe the party line, but there's some concern that his succession may not be smooth if there are others older and more experienced who have their eyes on taking power. While South Koreans theoretically support a regime change in the North, I think that the average citizen and politician is most worried about what the effect would be on their economy is there was a complete breakdown of the political system. Other observers are worried about how this unknown heir, and those in power around him, will handle the weapons capability North Korea possesses. Read this New York Times article for more on why this sticky situation matters so much to North Korea's neighbors to the north (China) and south.

Also, this New York Times article reveals that as of Thursday, South Korea and North Korea have resumed military talks at the DMZ. This seems like a step in the right direction, especially after all of the conflict in the spring around the sinking of a South Korean warship.

Our Chuseok Story

2010-09-28T07:03:00.000-04:00

We wrote before a bit about Chuseok and our plans. Here is a video showing what we did with our week. Pictures to come!

Korean Cooking! Tonight's Episode: Jap Chae

2010-09-27T03:56:00.000-04:00

It has been too long since we have done a Korean Cooking episode, but here is the first of a few more to come!

Eleven Months

2010-09-26T04:25:00.001-04:00

We've completed over 90% of our time here. We've been through the end of fall, a freezing winter, spring, a scorching summer and now beginning fall again. When we left the Cubs were losing and sure enough a year later they are losing again.

It is a pretty strange feeling to have made it this far. We both have mixed emotions about everything here. We feel so good about all that we've been able to do here. I just read some of our early posts and to see how much we've learned and become accustomed to is pretty awesome! We've traveled around the country and the region, we've met some great people, and we've learned to semi-confidently order vegan Korean food that isn't bibimbap.

We are also ready to see what is next. This country has given us so many opportunities to grow and learn, and now we are excited to use some of that knowledge to move on.

In the next month we will certainly try and cherish everything about our home away from home, all while packing and saying our goodbyes.

Chuseok

2010-09-24T21:38:00.001-04:00

This week Korea celebrates Chuseok (추석), which is a harvest festival similar to Thanksgiving celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. During Chuseok people give thanks for the harvest and spend time with their families. People visit the graves of their ancestors and eat rice cakes together. Here's one foreigner's description of the customs and traditions of this holiday. Since it's culturally mandatory to go back to your ancestral homeland during this time, travel around the country can be difficult as people buy train tickets half a year in advance and roads are crowded.

The best part of the holiday for us is that we get days off from work! The holiday lasts for three days. Since Chuseok is on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this year, we were given the whole week off.

We were hoping to do some camping on the isalnds off of Incheon, which we weren't able to do during summer vacation because of Sam's heat rash and the high termperature. Now, our plans have changed slightly because of bad, rainy weather and the temporary addition to our home of JinSoon! Like with other things this year, we've found it best to be flexible and enjoy time spent around the house, in our neighborhood, and with each other (and an adorable pup) as much as we enjoy travelling far and wide to explore.

Chuseok also serves as a milestone of sorts for us. By the end of the week we will have been here for 11 months! For the whole year, we've mentally marked Chuseok as one of the major (and last) times that we would be able to do some exploring and relax from work. It has always been a thought in our minds, too far away to actually plan. Now it is here. A weird feeling to be certain.

JinSoon!

2010-09-24T03:54:00.001-04:00

We've written before about our trips to Asan Animal Shelter. See more photos of the shelter and the dogs here. While the place serves an important purpose to so many needy dogs, it also is massively underfunded and understaffed.

This results in dogs not eating every day, and when they do eat, only getting subpar food. Because of the lack of food and the environment in general, the dogs can be aggressive and territorial especially when they are fed.

Each week when we go to the shelter, the dogs are given what is basically the leftovers of chicken carcass that humans don't eat. This is the neck, the bones, etc. It is disgusting, and it is raw. The dogs love it though.

When we went last Saturday, one of the puppies we had seen before had something wrong with her stomach. This pup was living in the rehabilitation area of the shelter because her back hips have something slightly wrong with them. She slides around on floor without a lot of grip sometimes. Before she seemed like a great dog who just needed to gain some strength. On Saturday, though, we noticed her belly was about three times the size it had been before.

Concerned, and also knowing that we would have some time this week because we have no work (due to Chuseok) we volunteered to take her to a vet. A Jindo mix, she was covered in crap, so she got a quick bath before leaving the shelter. On the way home, she did great in the carrier, but threw up rank, undigested meat several times. We found one vet is really close to our house, near the metro station. We discovered that he spoke no English, but luckily we had the phone number of another vet in Seoul that could translate for us.

The vet did some tests, including an x-ray and told us she had at least four chicken necks in her stomach that weren't being digested. He repeatedly told us not to feed her chicken bones, "Chicken bone, no! Chicken bone, no!", and we repeatedly told him we knew, "nay, nay (yes) " though we couldn't tell his it wasn't our fault. During this time, the pup peed and pooped all over the floor (in part because he was sqeeuzing her belly and squirting water in her behind). Before we came in the vet was having a quiet Saturday evening--he had no idea what awaited him when we walked in. We felt rather mortified.

The vet gave her a digestant and also tested her for heart worm. His view of us as horrible pet owners was likely amplified when he asked us the pup's name and we looked at each other and shrugged. We didn't know she had already been given the name Diamond, so we asked the vet to give her a Korean name. He called her JinSoon.

That night, JinSoon was having a hard time breathing because her belly was so big, and she peed every 15 minutes. It was a bit stressful. By the next morning, though, her belly was back to normal size and she was full of energy.

In the last couple of days we have been leash training, crate training, and potty training. We aren't able to take our eyes off of her for too long. We also are trying to help her get less food aggressive. She loves to cuddle, lick and she sometimes even relaxes and naps near us.

Nights have been a bit rough. She clearly has separation anxiety. She cries and became a bit destructive the first night. We purchased a crate at E-Mart and have been working on crate training her, alternating shifts in responding to her human-like cries and yowls. She's yet to show signs of being housebroken. It is all a process though, and we're doing our best to be patient.

Luckily, several people have volunteered to foster or adopt, so people are evaluating the applications now and we hope to have her placed in a home this weekend. She's wormed her way into our hearts so quickly that if we were in different circumstances we would clearly try to find a way to keep her. But, given where we are in life right now, our biggest concern is not sending her back to the shelter where her health will be threatened and all the bad habits we're trying to undo will be solidified.

Our experiences with the shelter have been eye opening. We've seen the difficulties of too many dogs and not enough resources. It is clear that the person running the shelter wants what is best for the dogs. The problem is that without the resources for regular, healthy food, they could end up in a worse situation in the shelter. So we do what we can and try to help dogs one by one. But we've certainly learned the importance of adopting from shelters, neutering and spaying all animals, and not supporting or actively speaking out against puppy mills.

Typhoon Kompasu

2010-09-23T03:50:00.001-04:00

On September 2 we woke up to strong winds outside of our apartment. The windows of other buildings, signs on the stores, trees and garbage outside were all blowing around furiously.

I had to get ready for school, but when I went to turn on the light, I realized our power was out. The cause was Typhoon Kompasu. Now I've never been in a typhoon, and have only been close-ish to a hurricane. I was pretty close to a tornado once. If I were in the US and a weather system knocked out my power and was currently destroying the outdoors, I'd call in sick and go back to sleep.

But this is Korea.

I called my co-teacher wondering if we had school, and of course we did. Later I would find out that the Province actually declared a two-hour delay, but many schools apparently didn't get the message.

Erika and I went outside to check things out for a bit. The wind was really strong. We didn't stay out too long in fear that a stray piece of garbage would hit us.

After a couple hours, the weather cleared up. Erika, who got to stay home, reported that the power came on around noon. I think the damage was greater elsewhere. Attached are some pictures and a video.

Jeju Island Summer Vacation Video

2010-09-04T09:44:00.001-04:00

Vacation in Jeju Island: July 18-23

2010-09-04T03:53:00.002-04:00

After hanging out with Kari-Anna and Rachel for two weeks, we already felt like we had been on vacation since we had seen so much of the country and had so much fun with them. Our true vacation hadn't started yet, though! As we were a bit concerned about Asia's rainy season affecting our vacation and also really wanted to see more of Korea, we decided to stay in the country and travel to Jeju Island.

Whenever we ask any Korean where to travel in Korea, they all say Jeju-do, which is off the southern coast of the country. They compare it to Hawaii, and it's the number one honeymoon destination. It sounded like a beautiful and relaxing way to spend a week (but not much longer, since it can be a pricey place). You can either take a ferry or fly to Jeju. Either way, you arrive in Jeju City in the northern part of the island. We would have liked to take the ferry, but the logistics didn't work out so we saved some time and flew instead.

We scheduled an early morning flight on Sunday from Gimpo Airport in Seoul (it was the biggest airport until Incheon opened). We figured we could take the bus really early in the morning from Songtan to the airport. The Saturday night before we left, Sam decided to check the bus schedule to see what time we would need to leave, and to his surprise-and horror-we discovered that no buses left early enough for us to make our flight. Instead, we had to frantically pack and hop on the subway that night. Before the trains into Seoul stopped running, we made it to Guro, which is about an hour away from the airport by train. We knew the train would get us to the airport in time. Wwe also knew where a jimjilbang was in Guro (thanks to a previous midadventure with the public transportation system), so we spent the night sleeping on the floor. Luckily we made the flight easily and all was well.

From Jeju City, we took a bus to the southwestern part of the island called Inseong-ri, a much less touristy and more remote part of the island. Our hostel, in which we had a room to ourselves, was amazing. The young Malaysian woman who owned it modeled her hostel after ones she saw while traveling all across the world. It featured trendy modern design and was painted with bright colors, and she'd incorporated cool keepsakes on shelves and on the walls to create an overall warm and cozy atmosphere. She also had a giant shaggy English sheepdog she went hiking with every day. Hands down, the best part was the fresh bread she made each morning. The first day we explored the town, which has a very old and historic fortress wall interwoven with the village houses. We walked down to the the coast, taking plenty of pictures and seeing all the rocks formed by lava, before cooking up some noodles and vegetables we found at the corner market.

Jeju has a series of trails, called the Olle trails, which cover the a great deal of the coastline. The next day, Monday, we hiked on Olle Trail number 10, which took us along beaches, through forests with wild horses, past old Japanese military installations, and through farms and rice fields. It was about 15 kilometers in all. Originally we didn't plan to hike the whole thing, but we just kept going and didn't want to stop! The sun was REALLY strong the whole time, though, and our sunblock wasn't the best.

Koreans don't like to get suntanned. Their sunblock has whitening agents in it so not only do people not get tan in the sun, but they actually get whiter. Erika bought sunblock for babies (SPF 40 which was the lowest available) thinking it wouldn't have the whitening agents. It did (we took on a slight lavender hue after application), and it was really thick. When applying, it felt like an extra layer of clothing. When we sweat, the sunblock would bead and then roll off. It was gross. We managed to avoid any bad sunburns, but by the end of the trip, both of us had experienced heat rash (Sam's bout with heat rash would end up lasting another week).

Jeju has a great bus system that essentially covers the outer border of the country with one route going vertically through the middle. We ended up taking the bus completely around the island. Tuesday, we made our way to the southern part of the island where we stopped to see what was called the most beautiful beach in the country, Jungmun Beach. This is where the expensive resorts were located.

Although a bit cloudy (we occasionally got spritzed with rain), the sun was still too strong, even for Erika, to really "lay out.". The beach was beautiful, but as Erika went to rinse off she slipped on the wet and sunscreen-slicked slate and sliced off a healthy chunk of the top of her big toe on a grate. After some bandaging, we hobbled to Jeongbang Waterfall in Seogwipo. This waterfall was enormous. It is 23 meters high and people say it is the only waterfall that falls directly into the ocean - though apparently this isn't true. We were able to get really close to the water, which was refreshing.

Our final stop in the south was to the World Cup Stadium, now home to the Jeju United. This stadium had quit a bit of controversy surrounding it. During the World Cup in 2002, Korea shared hosting responsibilities with Japan, but still built a lot of stadiums to host games, meaning only a few games were played in each stadium. Some problems occurred for the games being played in Jeju, including miscommunication and difficulty reaching the stadium. This resulted in what was called the worst match of the Cup. After the World Cup was over, no teams were there to use the stadium, so it started to fall apart - not exciting considering the tax dollars that went into the building. One team from the mainland eventually decided to move to Jeju, though, and now the stadium is fully operational. We saw the stadium, which was built to look like a ship, it looked cool-but it didn't change our minds regarding public financing of stadiums.

That night we got to the northeastern part of the island near what is called Ichulbong, or Sunrise Peak. This is the first part of the island to be hit by the sun in the morning. On Wednesday morning, we of course hiked to see the sunrise, leaving around 4:15. On the way up, a sweet little dog started to follow us and kept following us until we reached the peak, and then followed us all the way home. The peak was really amazing. We could see out over the ocean as the sun created beautiful oranges and reds in the clouds. About 20 or 30 others were at the top as well.

When we got back, we took a nap, ate breakfast in our "pension," or motel, room (which had a small kitchen) and then headed to a small island nearby called Udo (or U-do, with "do" meaning island in Korean). We took a bus tour around the island, which is especially known for its lava rock walls, built without mortar, and beautiful blue water. It was cool to see this rural community in such a beautiful place. The whole time in Jeju it seemed like this was a place that should have been taken over by resorts, but instead, it didn't look like things had changed a whole lot in decades. Refreshing in its own way.

The next day, Thursday, we started our trek back to Jeju City. Along the way we stopped at a cave called Manjanggul, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were able to walk over a kilometer into the cave - which got pretty cold in the dark. Sam was relieved because of how hot it had been outside-and would have liked to stay longer. The cave was formed by lava flow. It was awesome-dank, dark, and wet with puddles. That night we made it into Jeju City.

Food was definitely only a means of sustenance on this trip. There wasn't really much to talk about-almost everything was seafood or pork. We ate at little restaurants that serve kimbap and bi bim bap and got crackers and potato chips as snacks before very simple dinners of ramen noodles and veggies or tofu. Nothing extremely exciting. In Jeju City though, we knew a Loving Hut existed! After going to E-mart to get some water, fruit and to store our bags (they have lockers) we set off to find the restaurant. It took us about three hours, including an hour-plus walk to the part of town where it was supposedly located. The whole time we were really close, but always missed it. Because Korea doesn't have tons of street signs, it was really difficult to find. The street signs on the stores didn't match the street signs on the maps online. We asked people and they didn't know the street. Finally, after several stops into PC bangs (or computer rooms) to try to get more information, we found it. It was totally worth it. We ordered a ton of food, took a taxi back to E-mart to pick up our bags, and then went to a nearby jimjilbang to clean up and sleep.

The next morning, Friday, we got to the airport very easily and flew back to Seoul after an awesome week! Our next stop was Mudfest, but those stories are for another post! See the rest of Erika's photos from Jeju here.

Getting Dirty at Mudfest

2010-08-24T09:22:00.001-04:00

The second weekend of our summer vacation we did what nearly all other expats in Korea do. We went to the Boryeong Mudfest in Daecheon.

Mudfest is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. People play in the mud. We went with a group called Adventure Korea along with our friends Mel, Steve, Ali, Corinne, and Zebekiah. Corinne's Dad and sister were visiting along with Mel's friend Randy, so we had a huge group. The bus left from Seoul early in the morning, so we all met up the night before, got a couple drinks and stayed at a jimjilbang (bath house/sauna). This was Randy's first night in Korea, so staying in a jimjilbang was a great way to introduce him to the most "intimate" parts of the country. The jimjilbang was really busy! We initially took two mats to sleep on, but in the middle of the night, a lady yelled at us and took one of the mats from each of us. I, of course, have no memory of this, but Erika assures me it's true and I did in fact wake up.

The next morning we boarded the bus and took it about 2 and a half hours south to a city called Boryeong. Our first stop was to where the mud actually comes from. They transport the mud to a different location that we would visit later. At the first stop, we ran a 5k in the mud, which was REALLY difficult! Afterward, we played different games in the mud, and Zeb, Corinne, and I did some mud slides.

The next stop is Daechon Beach, where the festival actually takes place. First we went to our room which Mel, Steve, Ali, Randy, Erika, and I shared. We'd have to sleep on the floor again - there were no beds. This would actually be the third straight night Erika and I slept on the floor because our last night in Jeju we stayed at a jimjilbang. We are so Korean now!

We headed to the festival and found water slides, mud wrestling, and more. The ocean was right next to the festival so people were hanging out on the beach, too. First we felt like we needed to have a beer to prepare ourselves. Then we painted ourselves in mud and waited on line for a huge inflatable water slide. The line took about an hour to get through. Another activity called "Mud Jail" was right next to our line, and I didn't see anyone waiting to go in. At Mud Jail, two people each have a bucket of mud. The participants go into "jail" and have mud flung at them. This seemed like a great idea, so I went in, only to later realize I had cut a really long line. Whoops! I got covered with even more mud.

While waiting on line, Steve and I decided sliding down feet first was boring. We schemed about ways to make our sliding time more worthwhile and decided to jump down head-first and give each other a high five while in mid-air. Once we finally got to the top, after the hour long wait, we were so excited that we got frazzled and both jumped head-first completely forgetting about the high five. The ride down was still fun.

After we washed off in the ocean, which felt great because it was just the right temperature, we then went back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. When we got in the shower, we found there was no hot water. The hotel manager gave us some clearly made up story that made us all mad. But we had no choice, we were still gross and covered with mud, so we suffered through the cold. That night we had dinner and walked on the beach, then went to bed.

The next day we played in the mud some more. Although there were lots of foreigners there, we must have still stood out because lots of people wanted to take pictures with us or of us (bordering on the lecherous when they were focused on the women). The lines were long again, but we were determined. This time all of us mud wrestled, except for Erika who had sliced open her toe in Jeju. Mud wrestling was disgusting and ridiculous, but of course, fun.
Then, we all decided we wanted to try the big slide again. This time, we were all more prepared. Zebekiah and I decided to go down together, and this time, we would not get nervous!

We needed to step up the plans even more, though. I decided we should not only go down head-first, but we should also be on our backs. The guys at the top of the slide helping everyone get up and go down told us to sit. We sat, then turned around. The last thing I saw was the one guy dropping his jaw and clearly thinking "what on earth is this guy doing?" Zeb and I flew down the slide in what was clearly the best possible position to choose. On the way down, the entire crowd on the ground made a spontaneous and collective "OOOO!" sound. I had achieved my five seconds of Mudfest fame!

We finished the day in the ocean and hanging out at the beach before heading back up to Seoul and then finally to Songtan to shower off completely and sleep in our own bed! View Melinda's photos from Mudfest here (we left our camera at home).

Article on Computer Game Addiction

2010-08-22T23:59:00.002-04:00

For today's class warm-up activity, I asked the students to tell me what they did on their vacations. Possible answers I suggested included visiting family or spending time with friends, travelling to another city or country, going to the movies or amusement park, reading or playing sports, etc. More than half of the students I called in gave the answer that they "played computer games" (most of the others said they stayed at home). This is nothing new to us, but this Washington Post article expands more on the cultural prevalence of online computer games in South Korea and the "obsession" of the young gamers.

Kari-Anna and Rachel's Visit Part 3

2010-08-22T07:51:00.000-04:00

Lotus Pond at Changdeokgung

After a relaxing Thursday hanging out in Songtan, doing laundry, getting pedicures and having coffee and drinks, Kari-Anna and Rachel headed into Seoul on Friday as I went back to school. In Seoul, Rachel bravely made her second trip to a Korean doctor to try to get a better treatment for that rash she’d had since she arrived (which was later diagnosed by her doctor at home as poison ivy from her yard). The girls had spent the night in Seoul, so Saturday morning I went into the city and met them at a coffee shop before we set off to explore Changdeokgung Palace.

Completed in 1410 and used as a royal residence until 1910, the palace is a Unesco World Heritage site. While it is supposedly smaller than Gyeongbukgong Palace, it still struck me with the size of its footprint. Changdeokgung is famous for its beautiful gardens and Kari-Anna has been taking classes for several years in landscape architecture, so we joined a guided tour through Biwon, the palace's “Secret Garden.” After a quick walk through the other buildings, we hoofed it to lunch at a nice vegan restaurant in Insadong. I had faux Korean barbecue meat and rice lettuce wraps, Kari-Anna had a sesame seed soup, and Rachel ate jajjangmyun, a Korean-Chinese noodle dish with noodles and black beans that tastes almost like Western-style stroganoff.

Baseball in Jamsil Stadium

We then took the metro across the city to meet up with Sam and our friends Mel & Steve to catch a baseball game. The Doosan Bears were playing the LG Twins; apparently both teams play in Jamsil stadium, so there were a lot of fans and competing chats and songs. See Sam’s video of the game here. After the game, we travelled back to Insadong for some cheap bibimbap at a little kimbap restaurant (Kari-Anna tried the omurice, which is a sort of omwlet draped over fried rice with ham chunks. We then went to a Korean hof (bar) for some drinks and food for Rachel. Sam and I spend the night with Kari-Anna and Rachel at the hanok inn they were staying at in Insadong (there were extra mattresses on the floor).

Sam at N Seoul Tower

The next morning, Kari-Anna went off to do some solo exploring of galleries while Sam and Rachel and I had coffee with some acquaintances of Rachel’s who happened to be at temporary internships in Seoul. These two Turkish men are in Rachel’s public administration program in Bloomington, sponsored by their home government, so we had plenty to talk about, including Korean food and language, foreign affairs and policies with Iran, and other nerdy politics and government stuff. Afterwards, we walked to Namsan Mountain and took the gondola up to see N Seoul Tower. We then strolled down the other side of the mountain to Itaewon, the foreigner neighborhood of Seoul, where we had Thai for lunch and made a fruitless trip to a vegan (maybe?!) cupcake shop. We headed next to see the outside of the Blue House (named for the color of the roof tiles), where the Korean president resides.

Rachel & Erika in front of the "Blue House"

After lots of walking, we headed back to Insadong to meet Kari-Anna for an afternoon tea and to do some souvenir shopping. Dinner that night was at Sanchon. While the menu was largely the same as when we went there for lunch with Sam’s parents (Buddhist vegetarian temple food), we were able to enjoy Korean traditional dancing after the meal.

Traditional dancing at Sanchon

The next day, we were back in Songtan and back to teaching while the girls packed their bags and did some last minute shopping (t-shirts with unintentionally hilarious "Konglish" sayings were a big hit). Monday night, we went out to a final meal (Mexican!) and some after-dinner wine/coffee/dessert at a cute little Italian place we recently discovered. Rachel and Kari-Anna’s visit gave us a great chance to catch up, reconnect, and share our life and our world here in Korea. It was also a great excuse for Sam and me to explore new places in Korea. Perhaps because the time was so jam-packed with fun, the two weeks flew by and we were so sad to see them go. Luckily for us, we only had a few more days of school before summer vacation! See the last batch of our photos from Kari-Anna and Rachel’s visit and our weekend in Seoul here.

Seeing a Movie in Korea

2010-08-18T02:19:00.000-04:00

We finally went to see a movie here a couple weeks ago after not having been to the theater for nine months. We saw Inception with some of our friends, figuring that was a movie that would be worth the price of admission, and it was.

Movies cost a little less here than in the US, 8,000 won per ticket, or a little under $8. The food is just as expensive, though. They have the usuals, like popcorn, but also have other interesting things like dried squid.

Instead of general admission into the theater, you are assigned a seat. This guarantees you won't be looking for a seat when the movie starts, and that people won't line up hours before the movie start to get the best seats. All tickets are priced the same, no matter the location of the seat.

The previews last a long time. I know there are a ton of previews in theaters at home, too, but these went on for at least 30 minutes. They weren't just previews of movies, either. There were commercials for products as well.

The movie had Korean subtitles, which did not distract from the experience.

Other than that, it was a fun time, and felt like a normal movie going experience.

And Inception is awesome!

This Week in News from North Korea

2010-08-17T04:11:00.000-04:00

The United States and South Korea have officially started "war games" in the East Sea as a show of force after it was concluded that North Korea was responsible for the attack on the Cheonan in March. This has angered both North Korea and China. North Korea has issued threats recently because of the war games.

It seems that as the tension has built, North Korea has decided to resume its propaganda campaign against the South. Both sides agreed to cease with propaganda several years ago, but the South resumed in May once the results were released about the ship's sinking. North Korea's strategy has been to open a Twitter and Youtube account. The accounts are based out of the arm of the government called the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea - straight out of 1984 it seems. Apparently the Kim regime has decided it is alright to send out 140 character messages an videos to the world about how evil South Korea and the US are, but it is not alright for their own citizens to get information from outside of North Korea.

In South Korea, clicking on any links from North Korea's Twitter page results in a warning that you will be viewing illegal content. We haven't tried clicking the links!

This all happens at a time when Kim Jong-Il seems set to transfer power to his successor. His youngest son, Kim Jong-Eun has long been rumored to be the replacement, but he is currently only between 25 and 28 years old (no one knows for sure) which is too young. The possibility is that Kim's brother-in-law (Jang Song-Taek) and current vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission (the second highest rank in the country) would serve as a stand-in while the son is mentored into the next Supreme Leader. All sorts of questions and concerns arise about the transfer of power. No one is quite sure if a power grab will occur and what that would mean for South Korea and the United States. People are pretty sure this change will occur soon though, as Kim Jong-Il might not have much longer to live. North Korea has always been led by the Kim's. Kim Il-Sung was first and lead the invasion to begin the Korean War, then Kim Jong-Il took over.

With all the unsettling news, South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak recently announced that he wanted to create a new tax to prepare for costs that would someday be associated with reunification. There are many questions surrounding the plan, but it seems like a good thing that South Korea is still thinking about reunification - not all out war and destruction.

Rachel and Kari-Anna Visit - Video

2010-08-15T05:16:00.001-04:00

Finally! As promised the video of our travels with Kari-Anna and Rachel when they visited Korea.

The challenges and rewards of being vegetarian in Korea

2010-08-12T06:41:00.000-04:00

We've written about our experiences being vegan and Korea many times over the past 10 months. Finding food has become less and less of a problem largely due to the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables and our desire to cook at home.

Our coworkers don't understand why we would make these decisions, though. We still are encouraged by coworkers to eat fish or octopus or bulgogi any time we go to a teacher dinner. For whatever reason they think they will be the ones to convince me to start eating meat again after 20 years. Restaurant owners don't believe us when we ask for dishes without meat or egg.

This article helps to explain some of our issues. Luckily, we are not Korean. They already see us as outsiders, so we are not required to fit in with the group quite as much as if we were Korean. We've heard several stories about people pretending to eat meat just so they could make the boss happy and not be seen as not conforming with the group.

Clearly, this makes the decision to go vegan all the more difficult. Conforming and being part of the group is clearly the priority. If your job was dependent on your ability to eat the right food, it would be extremely difficult to go against the grain.

Luckily for us, there is enough of a presence of vegetarians and vegans here that restaurants and stores like Loving Hut and Sticky Fingers can survive.

Kicking Back in Busan

2010-08-10T04:40:00.000-04:00

The view from our hotel room

After Sam went home to go back to school, Rachel, Kari-Anna, and I headed off to Busan. Busan (sometimes Romanized as Pusan) is South Korea’s second largest city, and yet (or because of this second-city status) it has a very laid back, amiable feel. A large port city, Busan is known for its beautiful beaches, shopping, and seafood. We got off the bus from Gyeongju to find lovely sunshine and ventured into town. As we began to look at the metro maps to figure out which way to go, we were immediately approached by very nice yellow-vested seniors stationed in the metro to offer help in using the machines to buy the appropriate ticket (nothing like that in Seoul!). We found a love motel—the Queens Motel—in the Seomyeon neighborhood of town. It’s centrally located at the nexus of two metro lines and in a part of town with lots of businesses and places to go out at night.

Erika and Rachel at Lotte Hotel Bar

Since we were staying right near the ritzy Lotte Hotel, we got cleaned up and went out for a round of fancy cocktails in the Lotte Hotel Bar. Kari-Anna and Rachel then got to experience the thrills of cheap eating from a food cart (they had tempura battered nibbles); we then found a place for me to get BiBim NaengMyeon (spicy cold noodles).

Putting on a show at
the bar cart

We returned to the food stalls lining one of the roads and found a bar cart, with flashy bartenders serving all sorts of drinks underneath neon lights. Sitting on the stools and looking inward, it was like being in any old bar. Looking behind you was a different experience, with people strolling the street, trucks making deliveries, and carts of cardboard being pulled away by old men. We had a lot of fun, especially since the bartenders couldn’t explain the contents of any of the drinks to us in advance (although we could understand their English names, ranging from “Christmas” to the much more provocative). Every order was a random shot in the dark—and we were treated to some very fruity and delicious concoctions as a reward for our adventurousness.

The next morning, Tuesday, we headed to the beach and rented an umbrella under which to sit. The weather was lovely again, sunny and warm but enough of a breeze to make it significantly more pleasant than Songtan had been in recent days. After a few hours spent lounging, strolling, munching on snacks from the Family Mart, and chatting, we headed to Jagalchi Fish Market.

Jagalchi Market

The Jagalchi Market is known for having a huge array of fish (it’s almost like an aquarium, except the fish also get butchered and cleaned next to the tanks). Some places allow you to pick out your own fish and have it served to you for dinner according to your preferences. One of the floors in the building above the market had lots of little restaurants serving fresh raw fish, so Kari-Anna and Rachel chose one of the more modest samplings to try. The place had a great view over the harbor, and the staff was very eager to help us figure out how to eat the fish and all the side dishes of veggies. The only thing that did not get eaten was a fish that I call a “sea penis” (you’ll understand when you see the picture), which was still wriggling around 40 minutes after being chopped into little pieces. Kari-Anna had already had her fill of adventurous eating with the larvae.

Haeundae Beach

The rest of the day was spent doing some shopping (the girls got cute accessories like hats and headbands) and we spent the evening at Wa Bar, known for its selection of beer. The three of us attracted some attention from two tables of Korean men, allowing Kari-Anna and Rachel a chance to chat with some of the locals. One group claimed a member of their party was a celebrity (and gave us an autographed headshot to prove it) and the other sent over a round of beers. The latter party chatted with us for some time (and by chatted I mean used a combination of charades and stilted English phrases strung together somewhat nonsensically), and Rachel handily beat them at darts.

Kari-Anna, Erika, and Rachel

When they became convinced we wouldn’t join them for noraebang (karaoke) afterwards, and we had had enough of their increasingly drunken conversations, we said our goodbyes. As we left, we found out that instead of paying for all of our drinks, as they had told our server and she had relayed to us, the four thirty-something men had instead told their server we would be paying for all of their drinks AND their food before slipping out. After a slightly tense exchange with the servers (for whom we felt really sorry) we paid for everything we had consumed (but no more) and went home slightly confused and with a sour taste in our mouths.

Rachel eats a chocolate
waffle- a popular
afternoon snack

Our last day was another half day of shopping and leisurely coffee drinking in cafes. In just these few short days, I truly felt like I was on a real vacation—more than I had any other time in Korea. It was very relaxing, the weather was gorgeous, and it was some great girl time (it’s been several years since we’ve all lived in one place). We took the very nice express KTX train to the Asan-Cheonan station and then transferred to another train to get home, arriving back home to greet Sam (who’d been enjoying having the place to himself and doing some uninterrupted writing) around 10.
See the rest of my photos here.

Trip to Gyeongju

2010-08-04T09:19:00.001-04:00

The first weekend Erika's friends Rachel and Kari-Anna were in Korea (July 3rd & 4th) we all decided to go to the historic city of Gyeongju. The city is in the southeastern part of the country and we arrived there by train. As we travelled, Rachel and Kari-Anna were introduced to the concept that no matter what time it is in Korea (in this case, it was morning), you are likely to find someone drinking a beer--especially on the train.

Sam in front of one of the Silla tombs

When we arrived in Gyeongju, we found it to be a nice, smallish city that retains a very traditional feel. The city is unusual, in that during Korea's "economic miracle" 70's and 80's it was subject to height restrictions on its buildings, and new buildings were required to have a traditional tile roof. After some searching, and with the help of three different guidebooks and a map, we were able to navigate our way toward our hostel for the night. We dropped off our stuff and went to explore the city.

Cheomsongdae

Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla dynasty, which ruled parts of Korea for nearly 1,000 years (until 935 AD). The city is known for its tombs, or tumuli. They are big hills covered with grass, almost like a more natural looking pyramid. These tombs exist throughout the city, and first we went to a park that had a number of them. One of the tombs had been excavated, so we were able to go inside and look around. Jewels, crowns and other items were buried with the deceased, most of which were kings and other important people of the different Korean dynasties of centuries ago.

Kari-Anna, Erika, & Rachel among
the "rape flowers"

After the park we went on a scavenger hunt of sorts. The tourist office had a checklist of all the interesting monuments and sites in Gyeongju. We walked around and saw the Cheomseongdae Astronomical Observatory which was built more than a millennium ago. We walked to a garden full of beautiful flowers, the name of the complex was somewhat unfortunate though: "Rape flowers complex". We saw lotus flowers in a large pond and went to Imhaejeon where a temple has been rebuilt.

Silkworm larvae snack

On our walk we came across a stand that sold silkworm larvae, or beondegi. For 2,000 won (about $2) you get an 8 ounce cup full of larvae; these bugs are sold throughout Korea. Since Kari-Anna is the adventurous eater, she decided to try this classic Korean snack. This didn't work out too well. Kari-Anna ate one and then had to find a place to throw them away, because she couldn't eat them--or even see or smell them--anymore. I could have told her they were gross, and I didn't need to try them to figure that out. That night, we found a nice little hof (bar) in which to have makkeolli (rice wine), dubu (tofu), and pajeon (a green onion pancake with--sigh--seafood in it) and chat with some locals.

Bulguksa

The next day we visited Bulguksa, built in 528, which is one of the most well-known Buddhist temples in Korea and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The temple was enormous, with Buddha statues inside some of the buildings. Further up the mountain that the temple was located on was Seokguram, a grotto with a huge Buddha carved in stone. Fog was all around us all day, so walking around the ancient temples was even more mysterious and calm than it might have otherwise been.

After Bulguksa, we got some delicious bibimbap, and then I had to take the train back home to go to school, but Erika, Kari-Anna, and Rachel were lucky enough to stay for a little longer. For the last night in the city, they switched from the hostel to a "love motel" with a giant flat screen TV, AC, and other amenities.

Ssambap

The next day, they found more of the ubiquitous Gyeongju-bbang,the little sweet cakes filled with red bean paste for which the city is known. They also walked around the fields that are the remains of Banwolseong, a fortress and visited the Emille Belle (created in 771, it's said to have been forged with the body of a young girl, thrown into the metal to appease the spirits). After some wandering down a country road, they found Bunhwagsa, a functioning temple with a stone pagoda. Before heading to Busan, they lunched on some ssambap, a meal that includes many little dishes of vegetables (and fish), similar to tapas. The rest of Erika's pictures from the trip can be found here.

Queerfest 2010

2010-08-02T23:17:00.007-04:00

On June 12th, following our friend Ali's birthday party in Suwon and a night spent sleeping on the floor of our friend Zeb's apartment, we went into Seoul for Queer Fest 2010--So uth Korea's annual Gay Pride event. A torrential downpour definitely decreased the crowds and put a damper on our time there (we left before the parade), but we still felt it was important to make an appearance to show our support.

I've written before about the discrimination shown towards people who are gay (and its unfortunate connection to suicide), but here are two other short articles specifically on this issue. The first article describes the difficulty in achieving simple human rights and legal protections and the second article shows just how much of a taboo sexual orientation remains.

Because it is still so dangerous to be gay in South Korea, we were not allowed to take pictures of anyone at the event (since it might lead to accidental outings). However, the festival was a great mix of foreigners and native Koreans and there was good entertainment and spirit despite the rain. I've posted pictures from the event, and some other random neighborhood photos I took that day, here.

Back at school

2010-08-01T20:53:00.000-04:00

After a wonderful two weeks of vacation (still working hard on pictures and videos) I had to go back to school today. I'm not teaching classes until next week, so this week I will be desk warming. Hooray!

May Photos- Finally!

2010-07-29T04:57:00.019-04:00

Remember May, oh so very long ago? Our weekends were so packed I fell sorely behind in the photo-editing department. Never fear! Here are the photos from our hikes in Jirisan and Seoraksan National Parks and the Lotus Lantern Parade in Seoul, which Sam wrote about here.

In the midst of all that, on the Friday before we hiked Jirisan and watched the parade, I accompanied the 3rd graders (9th graders) from my school on a field trip to Seoul. I had these students for only a few short months before Winter Break last year, so they were super-excited to get to spend more with me outside of class. I was likewise pleased to chat with Ms. Jung, one of the English teachers who is back from maternity leave this year and whom I almost never, ever see at school. All of the students and teachers watched a great breakdance musical in Hongdae and then went to picnic and ride bikes in Yeouido Park. The rest of the photos are here.

A few sneak peaks from the Jirisan album:

The next day at the Lotus Lantern Parade:

And a week later in Seoraksan:

Teacher Trip

2010-07-28T23:21:00.000-04:00

This is a trip I took with the other teachers at my school to Taean, which is west of Pyeongtaek. We took a long bus ride, then got on a boat and went passed some islands, came back and ate, then went home. It was a celebration on the last day of the semester.

Updates

2010-07-14T21:29:00.000-04:00

Sorry we have been missing the last couple of weeks. Erika's friends Kari-Anna and Rachel were both here for two weeks. They got to see a little bit of our lives here. During the time we saw traveled to Gyeongju, Busan, and Seoul and also explored around our neighborhood.

We'll post pictures, video, and stories soon.

In the meantime, it is almost time for summer vacation! Erika and I will be heading to Jeju Island in the southern part of the country on Sunday morning and will be there till Thursday. On Friday we are going to what has become a must-do for expats in Korea: Mudfest. Basically we'll be playing in mud for a weekend. The next week, we will relax and depending on the weather, will go camping on a beach either in Sokcho or on an island west of Incheon.

We should be able to update periodically, but be prepared for a ton of posts including photos and videos once we get back at the beginning of August!

Two new vegan meals!

2010-07-01T19:57:00.000-04:00

In the last week we have discovered two new vegan Korean meals! A few nights ago, Erika and I went out with my teachers for dinner and got kongguksu (콩국수) which is bean noodles in a cold soy milk broth. I thought it was really good. It had a different sort of taste, much milder than most Korean foods. Ours did come with a boiled egg on top, but we simply took it off and ate the rest of the meal. Kongguksu is a popular Korean dish to eat in the summer.

Last night we went out with our friends Mel, Steve, Cody, Emma and Erika's friends from home Kari-Anna and Rachel. We had had this dish before, but normally it is served as a side at the meat restaurants we get taken to for teacher dinners. The dish is called japchae bap (잡채 밥). Japchae is stir fried glass noodles with sesame oil, veggies, and soy sauce. Bap means rice. So the dish is the stir fried noodles on top of rice. It was really good! We were happy to have it as a full meal, instead of constantly getting refills of the side dishes.

Friends!

2010-06-28T23:23:00.000-04:00

More people are coming to visit! Erika's grad school friends Kari-Anna and Rachel are en-route to Incheon International Airport as I type this. They will be here for two weeks. Hopefully they'll get a sense for what our life is like here. We are planning to explore and travel a bit during that time with them. As we are now 8 months into our contract, this will be a nice way to remind us of some of the crazy differences and cool attractions that Korea has to offer.

Korean War - 60 years later

2010-06-28T23:21:00.000-04:00

Last week marked a sad anniversary in Korea's history. Sixty years ago, the Korean War started. Technically, it still hasn't reached an end. Although there have been talks about reunification through the years, it seems a long way off, especially after the recent sinking of the Cheonan. It is incredible to think about what many people who are still living today went through then. Now, the country has changed dramatically. Every time Erika and I see pictures of the country from pre-war and just after the hostilities ended, we are amazed by how much different things are. When I tell my grandpa, who served in Korea, about what things are like here, he always says it was much different. One of the biggest cities in the world, Seoul, wouldn't even be recognizeable.

Here are some heartbreaking pictures of the war.

Here is a reflection on the war, 60 years later. (Thanks to Erika's mom for the link)

As part of our now pretty regular movie nights, we watched a movie called Tae Guk Gi or The Brotherhood of War with our friends last weekend. This is a story about two brothers who are thrown into the Korean War suddenly. The movie shows just how horrible war is. Nothing is made pretty in this move. You see people killed, and horribly wounded. But you also see the type of mental toll war can take on people, and how it changes people's perceptions about what is right and wrong. I would highly recommend it.

Finally, with all the talk of the anniversary, we are now hearing that there may be a regime change in North Korea. Hopefully with a new regime will come new priorities that are better for the people. If the people aren't helped, hopefully they organize and protest to change things.

Sixty years is much too long for these two countries to be separated. Reunification, or even a permanent end to the war would present difficult challenges, but it is time that the suffering stops.

We're famous! Asan Animal Shelter on Arirang TV

2010-06-22T22:05:00.001-04:00

We've written and posted video about our trips to the Asan Animal Shelter. Last weekend when we volunteered, a camera crew from Arirang TV, an English television station in Korea, came too. This morning they aired the report. If you start at around 24 minutes, you can see the story, featuring both Erika and me at different points.

Words of the Week

2010-06-20T10:38:00.002-04:00

I realize that I haven't done a Word of the Week post in months. Erika suggested that since the World Cup is happening right now, I should do a couple of words that relate to soccer in Korea.

English: Republic of Korea

Korean (romanized): Day Han Min Gook

Hangul: 대한민국

During the soccer games, we have heard everyone around us chanting 대한민국 constantly. This is a rallying cry similar to when we hear people yelling U-S-A! U-S-A! during the Olympics. Before Korea's second World Cup game, which they lost to Argentina, I wore my new Korea World Cup shirt to work, and students would randomly start cheering and chanting "DAY HAN MIN GOOK!"

Since it has been so long, I decided to throw in a second word as well.

English: Fighting

Korean (romanized): hwaiting - although it normally sounds like fighting to us, with a pretty big emphasis on the "f"

Hangul: 화이팅

When I've spoken to my students about the soccer games, they will normally at some point yell out "fighting!" We've also heard this term during one of our hikes, or when I've played softball with other teachers at my school. Basically, this word is used as encouragement. It is also used as a cheer. When we climbed up Seoraksan, the group of guys that happened to be keeping about the same pace as us would say it to us whenever we saw them. It wasn't clear if the "fighting" was more for us, or for them.

Pictures from DMZ trip

2010-06-19T22:49:00.006-04:00

Click here to view photos from our trip to the the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in May. Click here to read Sam's write-up of our experience.

North Korean kids struggle to acclimate in South Korea

2010-06-14T00:24:00.000-04:00

Because of the recent tensions between North and South Korea, there seems to be a lot in the news about the two countries. The New York Times ran an article about the difficulties for North Koreans students to acclimate to South Korean culture once they had defected.

Reading the article makes the process for North Koreans seem incredibly difficult, and understandably so. We can't be sure of exactly what is going on in the North, but I think we can all be pretty sure life is quite a bit different. South Korea's economy has grown exponentially in the last few decades, and now everyone walks around with a cell phone that they can watch television on. There is a PC-bang, or a PC room, for people to play computer games on, on basically every block. Seoul is one of the world's biggest cities.

North Korea, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have any of this. So when people defect and end up in a South Korean classroom, things can be difficult.

My students have told me that the North Korean and South Korean language have diverged greatly since the two countries initially separated. It could be 30-40 percent of the language differs. Then the cultural differences, and the fact that North Koreans tend to be much shorter because of malnutrition, complicates things further.

The article makes things seem extremely difficult for North Korean students, and while I have seen what the article describes, I have also seen some differences.

I recently had a North Korean girl join one of my classes. The first day she was there, she wasn't wearing a uniform, so I knew who she was immediately. By the next class though, when she had a uniform, she fit right in. She is in my 3rd grade English class, and it is clear she is far behind. My co-teacher told me some students in North Korea might learn a little bit of English, but she was not ready for a 3rd grade English class. Her classmates all seemed very interested in helping her, though. When I helped her find the correct page, I heard many of the students saying that I was being "very nice" and "very kind".

I don't know how she interacts with students outside of class, and I don't know how much she understands in her other classes.

One other difficulty, according to my coteacher, is that suddenly, these North Korean families need to get used to having money in this culture. Suddenly, there are so many different things available to them. They may have never seen a TV or a cell phone. So when the South Korean government gives them some start-up money, they often blow through it quickly and find themselves in trouble.

These are some of my observations of the difficulties, and why reunification between the two countries would not go smoothly, no matter how much both sides want it.

Study Finds Korean Children Unhappiest in OECD

2010-06-13T20:09:00.004-04:00

It's a wet, gray Monday morning and Sam and I are back to the daily grind. Seems like the perfect time to share the following not-so-heartwarming information:

According to the study referenced in this blog post, Korean children are the unhappiest children among all 26 member countries in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The study cites factors such as stress about school work, concerns about physical appearance, and problems with parents as leading to the dissatisfaction measured on the "subjective happiness index." Other depressing facts:

Korean children study more and sleep less than in any other OECD nation. Our students routinely go to bed later and get up earlier than we do, getting as little as 5 hours of sleep per night. Nearly all of the students go to school at least 6 days a week, and one of my students has just started going to hagwon (private academy) on Sundays as well.
Korean children are becoming more obese. Sam and I discuss this possible trend often, since our students are so sedentary between constant school and video games and eat such fatty foods--lots of red meat and processed junk foods.
Suicide is the number one cause of death among Korean youth. This April article in the Washington Post delved into this issue even further. As you might imagine, this stems in part from the very real sense that your entire future (you career, economic, and marriage prospects) as well as your family's pride depends on how well you study in school and, consequently, how prestigious a college you attend. In addition, I have heard about intense bullying, in which a child is literally branded as an outcast, or wangtta, and treated as such by his peers. There is also speculation that the prejudice aimed at gay individuals may contribute to the high rates of suicide. While the rates of older Koreans committing suicide has gone down, the rates of young people causing their own deaths has risen in the years since the Korean war. Perhaps most problematic is that fact that mental illness still carries an incredible stigma, so that individuals who are depressed will not seek treatment to avoid shaming their families.

These studies definitely confirm some of our observations. These sad facts also motivate us-even on gloomy, rainy Mondays- to do what we can to try to bring joy and hope into the lives of our students and offer them a glimpse of some alternative ways of living and thinking.

World Cup!

2010-06-12T23:10:00.005-04:00

All week long I was asking my students about the World Cup. I wanted to know where they watched it, figuring that with the amount of attention soccer gets in this country, there must be a place where groups get together for viewing parties. After several classes of all the kids saying they just watched the games at home, finally one student told me people watch it at a big park about a block away from the school called Leports Park. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm all about watching on of the world's premier sports tournaments, but it helps if there are thousands of other fans cheering along with me.

So, we went to the park with our friends Mel, Steve, Emma, Cody, and Michael, and we were not disappointed. Along with the thousands of other people there, we watched on a big screen. There was chanting, like 대한민국, which means Republic of Korea and is pronounced Dae Han Mingook. Every time Korea scored, fireworks were set off.

Because the park is so close to my school, a lot of my students came out to watch, too. It was fun to see them away from the classroom, showing off their national pride. Korea ended up winning the game 2-0.

A couple of my students called the score earlier in the week, so I'll have to give them some sort of reward. It was a lot of fun to be around so many people. On our walk home, Erika and I couldn't think of any sport in the United States that brings the entire country together like soccer does here.

The closest thing is the Super Bowl, but people are cheering for different teams. There are too many sports going on during the Olympics for everyone to congregate around one event, and March Madness again means that people are cheering for different teams. So it was fun to see so many people all hoping for the same thing.

Unfortunately, the USA v England game didn't start until 3:30 am here, so while our friends went to Suwon to watch, we decided to skip it. In the end that game was a 1-1 tie, so we were alright missing it. The next Korea game is on Thursday, so we'll be excited to watch again!

Below is a short video of our night!

Hwaseong Fortress Photos

2010-06-12T22:32:00.013-04:00

On April 24th, one of the first nice spring days, Sam and I and our friends Mel and Steve travelled to Suwon to visit Hwaseong Fortress.

The Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is nearly four miles long, weaving through the middle of the city center.

It made for a perfect day. Sam's video of our day is posted here and the rest of my photos can be found here.

A few weeks later, I found this picture of the Fortress during the Korean War (click here for other great photos from that era), which makes for a striking comparison to the way things look today:

The caption reads: "A badly damaged Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. The Korean War greatly affected Suwon, as the city changed hands four times. Many soldiers passing up or down the Main Supply Route that ran through Suwon photographed the wrecked gate, so emblematic of the ruined nation."

"Too Hungry to Study"...Another Article on North Korea

2010-06-11T00:34:00.007-04:00

Since our neighbor-to-the-north has been in the news so much lately, there seems to be more of an attempt by Western media to understand daily life in this isolated country. This recent New York Times article portrays the desperation many North Koreans feel as they struggle for survival in often unceasingly bleak conditions.

Inside the Harsh SurReality of North Korea

2010-06-07T21:06:00.005-04:00

In this global digital age, it's amazing how little is known about the inner workings of North Korea. Here is an interview with Kim Jong-il's estranged older son, in which even the maternity of his younger brother (and apparent great-leader-to-be) and birth date is put into question. Surprisingly, international intelligence is so poor, we don't even know what the apparent successor, Kim Jong-un, looks like as a child or as an adult.

The BBC's recent piece on life inside North Korea and interviews with recent North Korean defectors sheds greater light on what daily life in this isolated country might actually be like. At about 15 minutes for each clip, it's very worthwhile viewing. My thoughts go immediately to how difficult any reunification between the North and South would be, as evidenced by the challenges faced in East and West Germany, which were separated for less time and arguably suffered less of a technical, economic, and maybe even ideological divide.

As for a further update on the situation between the North and South around the Cheonan incident, President Lee Myung-bak confirmed Saturday that there is no chance of a full-scale war between the Koreas.

Dog Shelter - video

2010-06-06T04:35:00.001-04:00

We went back to the animal shelter again this weekend. This time we played with some small dogs and gave one a bath. While we were there, a family dropped off a beautiful cocker spaniel, which was sad. The dog will probably get adopted quickly, but it made us realize that while the shelter is a great resource for dogs that have nowhere else to go, it is not at all optimal. The dog was confused, and was suddenly in a very different environment than it had been moments before. We have no idea why the family couldn't take care of the dog, but it is still sad. Hopefully it finds a good home.

There was one dog who arrived there in the back of a minivan. Mr. Park, the owner of the shelter, and another man escorted the dog out of the van with a harness and another stick because the dog was not happy. This is a picture of the dog (WARNING! Graphic picture) who has clearly been chained up for his entire life, and a metal choke collar has dug into his neck leaving open wounds. Mr. Park is very sensitive with the dogs though. So while the shelter might not be optimal for the cocker spaniel, it is a perfect place for this dog.

We loved playing with the dogs we found. One was a five-year old little black dog who made pig grunting noises. We gave him a bath and he was immediately so much more pet-able and soft. The other dog we played with was a three year old dachshund mix. He was much wider than a normal dachshund and also had very interesting coloring.

Korean Movie Nights

2010-06-06T04:02:00.001-04:00

Over the last month or so, our friends Mel and Steve have hosted several movie nights. A few other friends of ours get together on Friday night and we watch one or two movies each time. So far we have loved them all! I would highly recommend putting some of these on your Netflix list.

Memories of a Murder
This was a movie about a detective investigating a serial killer. The story goes through his search for the elusive killer, trying to stay one step ahead of him, but always seeming to actually be one step behind. This is a great murder mystery and thriller.

A Tale of Two Sisters
If you are looking for creepy movies, this is the one. Watching this one late at night and then needing to go out in the dark to get home was not fun. It is a story about two sisters who go to live with their family after a tragedy has occurred. You don't know totally what is going on until the very end.

The Chaser
Another serial killer movie, this one is about a murderer who is killing prostitutes. This movie is compared to Seven which in some ways I can see, in a broad sense. It was also a great thriller.

Joint Security Area
Given the recent news involving North Korea, this movie was perfect to watch. It is about the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone. The movie begins with a neutral Swiss investigator looking into a member of the South Korean military who has killed two North Korean military members. Almost the entire movie is flashbacks of events leading up to the murders. It is more than just an action movie, though. It is a story about friendship and the difficulties for a people that have had their country split in two. This is probably my favorite movie that we have seen so far.

The Host
Full disclosure, I fell asleep for parts of this one. That had more to do with me being exhausted after a long week than the quality of the movie. The basic premise is the Han River in Seoul is contaminated and a huge monster is created. The monster terrorizes the city and captures one man's daughter. The remainder of the movie is about the man and his family trying to find the daughter. This movie was a great, ridiculous, monster movie. Some good comedy, along with some thrills. While this is an action and thriller comedy, it also has some good societal critiques and sensitive moments.

Election Day

2010-06-06T03:39:00.000-04:00

This past Wednesday, June 2, Korea held elections for what we understood to be local and provincial offices. The presidential election did not occur this year. In Korea, the president serves one five year term. In the run up to the election, we saw campaigning, but this wasn't any ordinary campaigning that people in the US would be used to. People were hired to represent the candidates by dancing on sidewalks and greeting people while trucks blasted loud music. I even heard one song that was just repeating the candidate's name. One of the best blogs about teaching in Korea did a video about the campaigning. We also took some videos.

Articles on Korean Public Opinion Following the Cheonan Incident

2010-06-02T01:29:00.004-04:00

Sam has previously posted about the political tension between North and South Korea following the sinking of the South Korean ship the Cheonan. Our sense of the situation here has been that while people were very sad about the loss of life, there is very little anger or fear being expressed at the situation with North Korea. Our daily life remains completely unchanged, and there is no political unrest in the streets, nothing inflammatory on Korean news channels, and no hint of war mongering. Our impression of our Korean neighbors' persistent serenity and rational detachment, contrasted with the more high-pitched tone of imminent confrontation of the Western media channels, seems confirmed by this New York Times opinion piece, "South Korea's Collective Shrug." As this Slate article discusses, this incident really isn't as unprecedented as it may seem in the US news; in fact, South Korea itself has been responsible for sinking several NK ships in the past 15 years. Understanding the historical context of the past several decades is critical to understanding the current degree of danger. After all, South Korea has dealt with attempted assassinations of its leaders and multiple discoveries of DMZ infiltration tunnels--all without any formal armed conflict breaking out. However, for some members of the younger generation which hasn't lived through previous conflicts, this incident has created more of a sense of concern. Read about their feelings here in the Washington Post. As we've said before, we'll continue to keep everyone updated on the situation here on the ground.

March and April pictures

2010-06-01T23:58:00.014-04:00

Erika did some wandering around our neighborhood in late March--see the pictures here.

Sam wrote about his parents' visit back in March here and posted a video here. Click here to finally see the pictures of the visit, which includes our trip to Unhyungung Palace, hiking Namsan and Buraksan Mountains and seeing N Seoul Tower, and eating vegetarian Buddhist temple food at Sanchon.

On April 2nd, Sam and I took a bus to Yeosoo, along the southern coast of the country, to do a sunrise hike and see Suncheon Wetlands. Sam wr ote about the hike, which we did with our friends Luke and Shelby, and posted a video. See my many pictures of the beautiful azaleas, budding spring greenery, and lovely water and wetlands here.

In March and April, we had lots of opportunities to visit with new and old friends. See some of the pictures here.

Smooth Operator

2010-06-01T23:36:00.006-04:00

I've been wanting to do this post for some months, ever since Sam's parents sent us the great gift of an immersion blender. This has reopened an entire world to us: smoothies, hummus, and soups. We've been having fun experimenting with the various atteachments, making new recipes regularly. Check out the rest of our delicious culinary adventures here.

Asan Animal Shelter

2010-05-29T07:47:00.001-04:00

Link to pictures from today from Animal Rescue Korea Web site

Today, Erika and I went with our friends Mel and Emma to the Asan Animal Shelter. Asan is about 45 minutes south of us. We met about 15 others who were also going to the shelter at the train station and a taxi.

The shelter has at least 100 dogs in various cages throughout a big property on a mountain. There are many different types of dogs from the traditional Korean dog the jindo, to malamutes, not much smaller than me, to cocker spaniels. There were big and small, puppies and old dogs.

The whole shelter was outside. Some of the dogs were in individual cages, others, especially the small dogs, were in group cages.

Some people were going to vaccinate dogs, the rest of us were supposed to walk the dogs. The first dog I decided to walk was a jindo who looked very excited for any attention. They warned us that the jindos tend to burst out of their cages and two people really need to handle them. Erika helped me, and despite our best efforts, especially Erika, he was still able to burst past us. Erika did her best to hold on and tackle him like a linebacker, but he ran with so much force that he pulled her off her feet and dragged her for a second. I was in shock, and then felt horrible, and then ran after the dog. We eventually got him, and Erika was fine. She's a trooper.

As soon as I had the dog on a leash, I looked up to see Erika and Emma yelling at two dogs and hitting the fence with sticks. I had no clue what was happening, but I quickly realized that one of the malamutes had a golden retriever by the neck and wasn't letting go. Several others came up, but it wasn't until one of the men who runs the shelter came up and yelled at the dogs that the fight finally ended. Erika took up the task of cleaning up the golden who had sustained some cuts. The dog seemed out of it, but was fine.

I took the jindo for a walk down and up the mountain, and then found a much smaller dog next to walk.

Some of the dogs were unwilling to have a collar and leash put on them, others loved any attention they could get. It was both a really rewarding and fun day, but also a difficult one. The people who run the shelter clearly care for each and every dog, but the demand of so many dogs, paired with a lack of resources, means that the living conditions are not wonderful, and many of the dogs are aggressive, if not to people, then to each other. It only makes us dislike the many puppy mills we see right around our apartment. There are so many dogs who would love homes at the shelter.

When we walked into a few of the cages, some of the dogs would run up to us and would do anything for a few pets. One schnauzer got on his hind legs and put his front legs as far up on our legs as he could, pleading for just a bit of attention. The biggest malamute in the shelter loved getting attention too. While we were on the other side of the cage, he stood up on his hind legs, and he was only about six inches shorter than me, and probably a bit wider.

Erika and I finally got to go on a walk together with a couple of dogs, which was really nice. We saw one man sitting with a jindo puppy. The puppy was really cute.

We all helped refill water bowls, feed the dogs, and Mel aided in the vaccination effort. In all we spent about 3 1/2 hours there.

We will definitely go back. It makes us remember how much we love and miss Marley. Marley, of course, was a rescue dog. She is a constant reminder of how important no-kill shelters are, and why adopting rescue dogs can be so good both for the dog and the owner.

Video to come.

Hiking and Buddha's Birthday

2010-05-27T02:32:00.000-04:00

I wanted to catch everyone up on our recent activities.

On May 15, we traveled to Jirisan. Jirisan has one of the highest peaks in Korea. Ever since we got here, I've wanted to go. The mountain rise above the clouds, so from the top looking down there is sometimes a sea of white. We went with the hiking group that we've gone on several other hikes with. This one went pretty well. As usual, we left late on Friday and slept on the bus, then started hiking early Saturday so we could see the sunrise from up high. Though we were in the mountains, this hike was more about length than height. We started the trek already about 1,000 meters up and hiked for 14 kilometers that day. We didn't go to the highest peak in the park. Instead we walked along the ridge of a few different mountains. It was beautiful the entire time. Some people were not prepared for this hike becuase of injury or not being in shape, and the tour leader ended up having to stay back with them. We went ahead and got to experience the mountain in a much smaller group.

The highlight was probably the azaleas in bloom at the bottom of the mountain. It was a huge field of pink which was incredible. A great reward after a very long hike. We finished off the day at an herb festival which was underwhelming, but we did get to smell fresh basil for the first time since we left the US, and we took a nap on the grass.

The next day, the country began the celebration for Buddha's birthday. In countries throughout Asia, there are many different types of celebrations. We traveled to Seoul and saw a great parade. Earlier in the day there were arts and crafts activities. We got there just in time so Erika could make a lotus flower. If we had the chance to do it again, we would have gotten there earlier, but 14 km hikes and doing anything early the next day don't mix well.

The parade was a lot of fun. There were many people dancing with lanterns, there were floats, and even a dancing dragon. We watched the parade with our friends Mel, Steve, Zeb, and Corinne.

Still in the Buddha's Birthday spirit, we did more traveling the next weekend. Because of the birthday, both Erika and I had a long weekend. Because days off are at a premium for us, we wanted to take advantage. We decided to go to Seoraksan, Korea's most famous national park. We also thought it would be fun to go camping there. We managed to find a workable tent at Home Plus. Technically it was a one-person tent, but we managed to fit. More on that later.

We took a bus up to Seoul, which was easy. Then we transferred to take a bus from Seoul to Sokcho, close to where Seoraksan is. The trip is normally supposed to take about three hours. Because of traffic for the holiday, though, our trip took about seven. We were a bit cranky, hungry, and tired. We quickly headed over to the camp site only to find it very crowded. Luckily our one person tent came in handy because it could fit in any little crevass.

One thing that we've noticed in Korea is that Koreans like to get the best of the best. They love hiking, so they get the best hiking gear. The love cell phones, so they all have touch screen phones that can also serve as tiny TVs. Camping was no different. Each family had a 8-10 person tent, if not much bigger. Attached to each tent was an awning where they could sit and cook. Each family also brought their own stove (not a camping stove, but a real stove), tables, chairs, shelves, etc. So our tent was miniscule. We even found one tent that had a tent inside of it, and that tent was bigger than ours! Some had TVs in their tents!

That night we found some bi bim bap at a restaurant, then went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up at about 4:30 am ready for our hike. We planned on going to the summit of the tallest mountain in the park, which is 1,708 meters tall. Our camp site was about three kilometers from the entrance to the park, so by the time we woke up, got ready, and made it to the entrance it was already about 6:30.

We started our hike and quickly found out that we'd be hiking a whole lot more than we originially expected. One-way, the hike to the top was 10.2 km. There were two routes to the top, one takes 4 hours, the other takes 7. We unknowingly chose the 7 hour hike, simply because the trailhead was closer to the camp site. But we decided to go ahead, even though everyone said it was a two-day hike. At the beginning of the trail is an enormous Buddha statue. It reminded us of our visit to Thailand, and was nice to see on Buddha's birthday weekend.

The first 6.5 km were relatively easy, but then things got really tough. The next two km was all rocks and boulders at a very steep angle. It took us about 1.5 hours to hike a little more than 1 km. We were dead tired by the time we got to the top, and almost decided to turn back. But the top was too alluring, and the encouragement from the other Korean hikers helped. Whenever they would pass us or we would pass them, they would say, "Fighting!"

We finally made it to the top, and it was worth it. The entire hike was beautiful. There was a river flowing next to us virtually the entire hike. The trees were so green it almost looked fake, and the mountains were made of a yellow-orange-brown rock.

The hike down was tough. We didn't talk much, and we were already so tired. Walking down wasn't much easier, because we had to make sure we were stepping correctly, and keeping control of our speed. By the time we got to the bottom, we couldn't imagine walking any more.

We made it back to the camp site and were surprised to find it almost empty. News had spread that a bad storm was supposed to come through that night, so everyone left. We didn't have much of an option, because we didn't think we could find a hotel easily, and the buses had stopped running to Seoul. We also thought our trusty tent could withstand anything mother nature threw at us. We moved the tent to a better place, and then packed our bags into the tent along with us. Then we took a shower, which was freezing cold. It was as if the water was coming straight from the river we had seen on the mountain. It was hard to breathe under the water, but the alternative was being sweaty after a long hike, which also wasn't what we wanted.

After the shower we piled into the tent, managed to fit and went to sleep. As it started raining, we heard the few Korean campers who were left start to sing. They sang into the night. I was fast asleep, but Erika said the singing comforted her.

The next morning it was still raining, and we decided it would be hard to take advantage of sightseeing outdoors with the weather the way that it was, so we left. The bus ride was much shorter on the way home, and we enjoyed a quiet couple of days to ourselves, recovering from our hike.

Seoraksan - Video

2010-05-26T10:21:00.001-04:00

South Korea's response to North Korea

2010-05-24T08:44:00.001-04:00

We talked about this before, but today's news about South Korea's reaction to North Korea's attack on the Cheonan warrants another mention.

The Washington Post and Korean Herald both have stories about how South Korea will cut off all trade and put heavy restrictions on North Korea.

Clearly, when we came to Korea, we weren't expecting to be anywhere close to potential military threats. Problems in Thailand and the Philippines were close enough for us. We are currently following the news though, and we talk with our Korean co-workers about the situation.

It's a sad situation that we hope will be resolved. From what we have seen, there is not a great amount of concern among Koreans here. They are sad about the attack, but do not seem ready for war. We live down the block from the biggest US military base in the country, and have not seen any changes. There may be more jets flying than before, but that also might be our imagination.

Rest assured though, Erika and I have talked about contingency plans. We have talked about what we would do if tensions reached a breaking point.

If anyone has any questions or concerns about what the atmosphere is like here, we'd be happy to talk about it. Until then, here is to hoping that things cool down in the near future.

And in case you were wondering, we looked up the emergency evacuation plan from the State Department, and it just so happens that we live down the street from an emergency evacuation center, at Osan Air Force Base. If something happened there, there is another base on the other side of Pyeongtaek.

Seoul's Lotus Lantern Parade

2010-05-23T21:02:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we went into Seoul to see the Lotus Lantern Parade, which is part of the week-long festivities honoring Buddha's Birthday!

Jirisan Hike - Video

2010-05-17T17:34:00.001-04:00

Pictures and stories still to come!

English Speaking Contest

2010-05-16T23:16:00.000-04:00

Lots of posts coming your way in the coming days, so be prepared!

This morning, my school held an english speaking contest. I had the opportunity to read the speeches beforehand, and then was also a judge for the contest. The criteria for judging were writing ability, fluency, intonation and pronunciation, how well they were able to persuade me, and stage presence. The subject was "What will you do 10 years from now?"

Overall, everything was pretty well written. What I didn't realize is that the students would need to memorize their speeches and speak without notes if possible. I have enough of a hard time doing this as a native speaker, so seeing them be able to get up front and speak to about 25 people in a non-native language was impressive. Some did well, others forgot their lines, but I decided that I wouldn't fault them for that. It was more important to me that I could understand what they were saying, and that they kept me interested. I'd much rather listen to a person who changed the tone of their voice and used their hands to help explain, even if they did forget a few lines.

I was proud of them, and I think they all deserve some sort of award just for entering the contest. There were some funny lines in their writing though (most of which I assume are unintentionally funny):

- When speaking about Michael Jackson, "He loves children"
- Now I have a dream that seemed like the fog was holding the eye drawn to the great picture I think looks quite good
- When speaking about the disputed island territory of Dokdo between Korea and Japan and saying she wanted to be a diplomat, "Dokdo is ours not Japanese and I'll knock them down to size."
- When talking about future military service, "I want to go to the land forces and [if I] get lost I could catch the animals and eat them so one day I arrive at home."
- When talking about college plans, "When I go to the university I will meet a girl friend but study hard."
- One girl got her inspiration to be a detective from Sherlock Holmes and the game Clue.

Those are some of the highlights. While they did a good job, this is another instance where I can see the push for memorization is much greater than the push for actual understanding. It is clear that the students, with enough practice, could probably memorize the Declaration of Independence if they wanted to, but would they actually know what it means? Right before we started, a bunch of kids ran over to me asking how to pronounce words that they had written. This reminded me of my own middle school days when we would have to read a paper, and it was always obvious who had copied straight out of the encyclopedia because they had no idea what any of the words sounded like, or meant

Sports Day at Sam's School

2010-05-15T23:53:00.000-04:00

Friday was sports day at my school. It was fun to watch all the kids having a lot of fun! Most classes dressed up in some sort of uniform. Some wore hospital patient outfits, others were frogs, my co-teacher's class, who I cheered for, were the bunnies. And yes, I dressed up with them. Here is the video of the day:

DMZ: Demilitarized Zone Video

2010-05-10T09:15:00.002-04:00

DMZ: The Demilitarized Zone

2010-05-09T08:47:00.000-04:00

We didn't publicize this trip too much before going because it just doesn't sound quite right to mention that we are going to the most heavily militarized place in the world, right next to one of the most negatively portrayed countries, on a whim. "Hey! We're going to see North Korea today!" Doesn't work too well.

In any case, Erika and I took a trip to the 2.5 mile wide section of the Korean peninsula that splits North and South Korea. It was fascinating, surreal, heartbreaking, and totally worth the trip. We went with a group called Adventure Korea. There are basically two different types of trips that go to the DMZ: trips that visit the Panmujom and the Joint Security Area and trips that don't. Panmunjom and the JSA represent the area where the ceasefire treaties were signed and the Korean War officially ended. Currently, meetings between the North and South still happen at the JSA. The draw for tours is that people can officially take a step into North Korea.

Adventure Korea did not visit Panmunjom which was fine by us. Tours that go there cost at least $100 extra, and the prospect of simply crossing a border just wasn't worth it for us. We ended up having a great time anyway.

First, let's get the surreal nature of the trip out of the way. Two main ideas fall into this category. First, we could see North Korea. This is a country that is constantly called one of the most dangerous and worst countries in the world. The idea that we were so close hasn't completely sunk in, and it is one of those events where before hand it might seem like there will be a buildup and climax, but when actually there, it doesn't seem too imposing.

Part of the lack of intensity though, may have been the other bit of surreal-ness that we found. Considering just how dangerous North Korea has been made to be, it was strange to be seeing the iconic sites that we saw with a tour group. It felt like the significance of some of the sights were reduced because while at one point there may have been danger or history associated with them, now it was simply a tourist attraction. Sure, we were within a kilometer of the border to North Korea, but there wasn't actually any danger of us being captured or facing any impending military strike. This could change, but on this day, there was nothing to worry about.

Our first stop was Imjingak. It is the representative unification and security spot that was built just after the 1972 North-South Joint Declaration. There were Korean War relics, including a locomotive that had been bombed and hit with over 1,200 bullets. We also walked over the Freedom Bridge where prisoner exchanges occurred. The overall feeling, especially at this site, was that there should be peace and reunification. We witnessed a group of older Koreans singing in a somber tone, probably mourning the fact that they are separated from family. Imjingak is being built into a tourist spot in hopes that it will be a welcoming place when reunification happens. As part of the tourist attractions is an amusement park called Peace Land. This was weird.

Next, we went to lunch where we ate, among other things, half-fermented soybeans. We saw the soybeans fermenting outside of the restaurant, and there was a distinctive smell that we've only ever smelled in Korea.

After lunch, we went to the Third Tunnel. Since the ceasefire, the South Koreans have discovered four tunnels dug underneath the DMZ by the North Koreans that supposedly could have allowed for up to 30,000 troops to get through the border and be in Seoul within an hour. This tunnel was discovered in 1978. The South Koreans believe there are more tunnels, and they offer a reward of $3 million if one should be found. The tunnel was about 70 meters underground, and we were allowed to walk a fair distance into it. We were forced to stop where the tunnel has been sealed off by three separate barriers. The North Koreans sloped the tunnel just slightly so that any water would flow back to North Korea. They also had places for dynamite to explode, facing South Korea. Finally, the North Koreans painted the rocks black in hopes that if they were caught digging the tunnel, they would claim that they were simply digging for coal. Unfortunately, no coal exists in this region, only granite.

Our next stop was the Dorasan Observatory, where we got our best look into North Korea. There were restrictions about where we could film or take pictures, and a South Korean soldier forced anyone he caught taking pictures to erase what they had captured. We were able to see a large section of the DMZ and the a bit into the North Korean territory.

The DMZ is beautiful. Although it is so militarized, one of the benefits of it being a "no-man's-land" is that no one touches it. This has allowed nature to bloom. Animals run freely, plants grow uninterrupted. We saw a flag on each side of the border, one for the South and one for the North. In typical fashion, we noticed that the North Korean flag looked to be just slightly bigger than the South Korean flag. One story that we have heard is that in the JSA, each country continuously tried to outdo each other by bringing bigger flags into the negotiation room. Eventually the flags got so big that they had to set a standard flag size to get control of the situation.

The soldier on duty told us that any industry we could see in North Korea was thanks to investment from South Korean businesses who wished for reunification. We could see the factories in operation. He also told us that even though no one has officially been blamed for the ship that sunk (the Cheonan) two month ago, the tension has definitely been raised at the DMZ.

Our last stop was Dorasan Train Station. This train station, as their slogan says, is "not the last stop in South Korea, but the first stop to North Korea". The station will one day, assuming reunification happens, enable South Koreans to take a train into North Korea, then through China, into Russia and finally all the way to London. The station is actually operational, with one train an hour going from the station south to a city outside of Seoul, but no trains go north yet. Train tracks are actually connected into the north, but that is it. President Bush came to the opening of the station in 2002. At that time, it seems that there was more hope for reunification than there is now.

Overall, I don't want to say that we had a great time, because the politics surrounding the DMZ are so sad. But the trip was worthwhile. I think that we got a great sense of some of the pain that continues to exist in this country. It was clear that everywhere we went on the tour, there was a push for reunification and peace. After all, technically the DMZ is still a war-zone. The Korean War only ended with a ceasefire, not we a peace treaty. I wondered what the approach to talking about the DMZ is in North Korea, and also how much propaganda there was in the exhibits we saw.

We haven't yet found the Korean version of Democracy Now! here, so it is difficult to always know exactly what the relations are like between the two countries. Our perceptions about North Korea may be correct, but we just can't always be totally sure. Visiting the DMZ was certainly enough for us, and there is no desire to travel to Pyeongyang, at least in today's environment. But our appreciation for how much pain came with the split that occurred with the Korean War only deepened. If anything, we can hope that people are once again allowed to see their families, and resolve the conflicts that have lasted for nearly a lifetime.

Pictures and video to follow.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

2010-05-07T02:54:00.007-04:00

A few of our faithful readers may have recognized that we aren’t posting to the blog in quite the flurry that we did when we first arrived. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that we have fallen into daily routines, meaning there are fewer new experiences that inspire immediate posting on the blog. However, at least a few times per week I am struck by things that seem “blog-worthy” and either think to myself or comment to Sam that we should write a post (which we often don’t follow through on). What I would most attribute our reduction in blogging output (for which some of you might be grateful!) to is the fact that my partner-in-crime (and our blog's main contributor), Sam, has been busy writing elsewhere.

When the new year began and our vacation travels had ended, we combated the winter doldrums by setting goals and prioritizing certain things we wanted to be doing more. Most of these were fun things (weekly hikes, working out more, trying new recipes, watching a sunrise, etc.) that were easy to incorporate into our lives; other resolutions proved slightly more difficult (expanding our knowledge of the Korean language, for example). While I employed lots of to-do lists to make sure my lethargy didn’t hamper my desire to be super-productive in our downtime at work and at home, Sam has been intrinsically motivated by his number one goal: write more.

Some of you may know Sam's past life as a reporter and editor, experience that definitely shows in his ability to regularly churn out new stories. He’s been writing, nearly everyday since March, on a diverse roster of topics for a number of clients and websites. Nearly every night, you can find Sam in the bed, tapping away at his laptop.

Besides the obvious upside of having an outlet for his creative talent and providing more mental stimulation than the average work day, it’s also netted us some extra pocket money that we are happy to put towards our travels and monthly expenses. I’ve also been doing some writing, lots of photography (which I promise to post soon!), and some pro-bono work on grants and other nonprofit topics. Of course, we've stayed busy spending time with friends and exploring new parts of Korea. And, we will continue to try to provide regular, and maybe even meaningful, updates on our life here in Korea (as much for us as for any of you). But, there's been a significant change in the flavor of our daily routine, and thus in our blog, resulting from the fact that Sam has simply been otherwise preoccupied. I wanted to share this not just to dispel any thoughts that we had been glued to the TV or otherwise dissolved into aimlessness, but also to give you an idea of how we spend whatever "quiet time" we get during the day. I also wanted to give a shout out of sorts to Sam. He’s a great writer, and I am endlessly impressed by his motivation and drive. Yay, Sam!

Hwaseong Fortress - Video

2010-05-02T19:31:00.001-04:00

Hwaseong Fortress

2010-04-29T08:37:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we traveled with our friends Mel and Steve up to Suwon to visit Hwaseong Fortress. My parents visited when they were here, but we still hadn't gone to see it. The fortress was built in the 18th century by King Jeongjo to honor his father Prince Sado who was murdered by his father by being locked inside a rice chest and left to die. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage site in 1997.

The initial climb up is steep and difficult, but once to the top, there are amazing views of the city. There is a gong you can pay to ring three times, once for your health, once for your family, and once for your future. We watched a few people do it.

The walk was really long! It is about 3.5 miles around. During our walk we saw some kids shooting bows and arrows, we also found a swing set.

Near the end there was a great market with all sorts of goodies. We did come across one stand that was selling a lot of little animals that were all in little cages, and didn't look too happy. This made us sad. One of the cages had chipmunks though, which was weird. There are so many people here that sell animals. Near our house, one man sells infant puppies that are often sick. It is difficult to see such harsh treatment of the living animals here, let alone the dead ones.

In any case, we had fun seeing all the sites. The whole fortress was massive and imposing. We had a nice time talking with our friends. Pictures and video to come!

Six Months!

2010-04-26T00:22:00.000-04:00

April 26, 2010 marks our six-month anniversary in the Republic of Korea. In some ways, it feels like our time here has gone by extremely quickly, in other ways, thinking back to even our trip to Thailand and Vietnam, let alone to when we first came here, seems like a million years ago. We have experienced so much here.

A quick recap:
- Visited Jeonju
- Hiked Deokyu-san in freezing cold temperatures
- Traveled to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Koh Lanta Thailand
- Traveled to Ho Chi Minh, Hoi An, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay
- Hiked in Yeosu
- Searched around Seoul
- Hiked Namsan in Seoul
- Taught about 800 different students per week
- (Somewhat reliably) learned how to order vegan-friendly food and found some great vegan restaurants
- Finally mastered Suwon
- Saw Hwaseon Fortress in Suwon
- Slept in a jimjilbang
- Cooked our own vegan versions of Korean food
- Observed the crazy pressures put on Korean students, and have seen corporal punishment...
- Ridden on the subway, the KTX, and intercity bus systems
- Made some great friends

Here is to an awesome six months and another six-plus months ahead of us. We hope that it goes quickly because we are enjoying ourselves so much, but slowly so we can take it all in and savor it.

Attack on the Cheonan

2010-04-25T07:45:00.002-04:00

South Korea seems to be in the middle of some international news in the past month. We of course are very aware of the ship, the Cheonan, that mysteriously sunk. While we don't notice too much difference in the way people act, we do see that it is a top story in newspapers, and on television. It isn't a major subject that we hear about every day. Our teachers don't talk to us about it unless we ask. Even on the English radio station that we listen to in the car, it isn't brought up much.

So the issue is in our minds, and we have heard about memorials being held and people openly crying on the street in mourning. The Hi Seoul Festival that was scheduled to be held at the beginning of May has been cancelled as the country mourns.

We still aren't sure what happened, but many suspect North Korea is the culprit. From what we have read, though, there will not be retaliation.

We wanted everyone to know that we are aware of what is going on and of course would not put ourselves in harm's way.

Some other reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/opinion/09iht-edlankov.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/04/205_64817.html
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100425000273
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100425000106

Science Day

2010-04-20T07:21:00.004-04:00

I accidentally created the video in widescreen mode, so to see a better version, click on the video and it will open a new window on Youtube's main site.

Meeting up with Friends

2010-04-18T10:32:00.000-04:00

As we've discussed a bit in the blog, the strange rules about students' attendance despite being sick finally resulted in both Erika and me getting sick too. It wasn't horrible for me, but Erika ended up taking a couple days off to recover. We are both about back to full strength now, ready to face the kids again. Everyone coughs all the time in class, enough to make me think they are playing a prank on me by all coughing at the same time.

Because of being sick, we didn't do all that we planned to do this weekend. We did meet up with two new arrivals to Korea. Cody and Emma just got married and then for their honeymoon decided to move to Korea. Cody works at our friend Mel's school. We got Indian food with them, then went to a bar in a different part of town and ended up talking (sort of) with some Koreans at the next table. It was fun to interact with some locals!

The next day we went to Seoul, looked around some stores, and then grabbed dinner (more Indian food) with one of Erika's friends from high school named Amy. We met up with Amy when we first arrived here, and it was hard to believe that we hadn't seen her again until now, six months later.

That night, we made it back to Songtan in time to celebrate the birthday of another new friend, named Andrew.

This week, I am going to start teaching a couple extra classes, and by next weekend, hopefully we'll be all ready to do some more fun exploring! We'll surely have lots to report!

Importance of English in Korea

2010-04-12T00:32:00.000-04:00

This is an incredibly interesting paper discussing the importance speaking English in Korea, and the lengths some take to not only learn the language, but also learn what they consider the proper accent (American). When we first arrived here, I was told that the parents were all very happy that I had been hired because I have an American accent, and the previous teacher had a British accent. Of course, they would have been happy if I was from Texas, Brooklyn, or Chicago. This goes to show that there isn't much understanding about how diverse people are across the United States, let alone every other English-speaking country in the world. It may be true that learning English can be helpful, if not necessary, in order to succeed in business at a global level, but I'm not sure how significant an accent is, as long as the English is understandable (some would question whether many accents in the U.S. are understandable anyway!)

What is also interesting to me is that there is a lot of pressure on students to learn English, and South Korea has clearly made learning English a priority. But there seems to be a gap here somewhere. There may be billions of dollars invested in English education, but very few Koreans actually speak English together. You are lucky if a taxi driver can understand one or two words in English. At a grocery store, simple questions can't be asked. A lot of this is our fault, because we are living in a country where we don't know the native language well at all. The billions of dollars that are invested go toward making sure students ace standardized tests and attending acadamies until late at night.

Sure the students can probably fill in the right bubble on a scantron, but they wouldn't be able to understand the instructions if spoken in English. Sure then migt know what a noun, or a verb, or a gerund is (I don't even understand the last one), but if they are greeted on the street with a "Hi, how are you?", almost all with only be able to reply, "I'm fine and you?"

So yes, perhaps the American accent is important, but it seems they are putting the cart before the horse.

When they stop building roads

Sam and Erika Get Married April 8, 2012!

Registry

Things to do in DC!

Guest Information

Hotel Accommodations:The Churchill Hotel - 1914 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008

Airports:You can fly into any of the three airports near Washington, DC:

Reagan National Airport is closest to the hotel, and easiest to commute using the MetroBaltimore-Washington International Airport may have the cheapest flightsDulles International Airport is the most difficult to access DC from, but might have the most flights

Click here for information on transportation into DC from each airport.

Ceremony and Reception

Marley Howls!

Earthquake!

MLK Memorial Unveiling

Our new apartment!

Back in the District!

Kuala Lumpur

Langkawi

Pulau Pangkor and Pulau Penang

Boracay

Dehydrated Apples!

Manila

Sydney

Great Ocean Road

Melbourne

Koalas!

Back in the States

Boracay

Manila

Great Ocean Road

Quick Post from Melbourne

Teaching in Korea Part 3- The Good, the Bad, The Ugly

Traveling After Korea

Teaching in Korea Part 2- Lessons Learned

School Festivals

Reflections on Teaching in Korea

Acupuncture

Osan Air Force Base Trip - Video

Awesome News From School

One Year in Korea

Wrapping Up- Last Day of School!

Osan Air Force Base Trip

School Festival Questions

Kimchi Crisis continued

Rising Food Prices Threaten Kimchi

Air Power Day!

Human Rights Declaration for Students in Korea to End Corporal Punishment

News from the North

Our Chuseok Story

Korean Cooking! Tonight's Episode: Jap Chae

Eleven Months

Chuseok

JinSoon!

Typhoon Kompasu

Jeju Island Summer Vacation Video

Vacation in Jeju Island: July 18-23

Getting Dirty at Mudfest

Article on Computer Game Addiction

Kari-Anna and Rachel's Visit Part 3

Seeing a Movie in Korea

This Week in News from North Korea

Rachel and Kari-Anna Visit - Video

The challenges and rewards of being vegetarian in Korea

Kicking Back in Busan

Trip to Gyeongju

Queerfest 2010

Back at school

May Photos- Finally!

Teacher Trip

Updates

Two new vegan meals!

Friends!

Korean War - 60 years later

We're famous! Asan Animal Shelter on Arirang TV

Words of the Week

Pictures from DMZ trip

North Korean kids struggle to acclimate in South Korea

Study Finds Korean Children Unhappiest in OECD

World Cup!

Hwaseong Fortress Photos

"Too Hungry to Study"...Another Article on North Korea

Airports:
You can fly into any of the three airports near Washington, DC:

Reagan National Airport is closest to the hotel, and easiest to commute using the Metro
Baltimore-Washington International Airport may have the cheapest flights
Dulles International Airport is the most difficult to access DC from, but might have the most flights