NOW IS THE TIME!
Although people reading my blog probably already know where to vote, this is just in case:
Click on the google link, type in your home address, and BINGO: it will tell you your local polling place.
Another site to look up your polling place is here.
Dathan and I found a fedex in Korea. If we can navigate the Korean streets, you can get your butt to the polls!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
"Speech called Hiphapi stemed from 'Shake rump.'"
$20 covers for a club may suck. However, three things can quickly make up for this fact:
1. Being with awesome friends (who happen to be out on a "Munt" ... that's "Man Hunt" for those not up on their random word combinations).
2. Getting to stay in a VIP lounge above the masses of people dancing. Particularly if said lounge comes with complimentary fruit platters and bottles of whiskey.
3. The most important of all: admission comes with a "1 free drink" ticket that more than compensates for everything - not because of the drink that you never actually cash in - but for its enlightening message:
"While hip hop is speech which call genre of popular music, mean which indicate flowing during culture whole. Speech called Hiphapi stemed from 'Shake rump.' Hiphap music happened first time by italic capitals New York's emigrant blacks in 1970. Four, lap. Dijeing. Geurapiti. Beureikeidaenseu is taken mainly on constituent that accomplish Hipop."
"Beureikeidaenseu" ... is pretty awesome... when you read it out loud it makes so much more sense.
Although "speech called Hiphapi stemed from 'Shake Rump'" is simultaneously more entertaining and opening a can. More reflection to follow...but it is 4:40! My freezing hands are saved by the bell!
1. Being with awesome friends (who happen to be out on a "Munt" ... that's "Man Hunt" for those not up on their random word combinations).
2. Getting to stay in a VIP lounge above the masses of people dancing. Particularly if said lounge comes with complimentary fruit platters and bottles of whiskey.
3. The most important of all: admission comes with a "1 free drink" ticket that more than compensates for everything - not because of the drink that you never actually cash in - but for its enlightening message:
"While hip hop is speech which call genre of popular music, mean which indicate flowing during culture whole. Speech called Hiphapi stemed from 'Shake rump.' Hiphap music happened first time by italic capitals New York's emigrant blacks in 1970. Four, lap. Dijeing. Geurapiti. Beureikeidaenseu is taken mainly on constituent that accomplish Hipop."
"Beureikeidaenseu" ... is pretty awesome... when you read it out loud it makes so much more sense.
Although "speech called Hiphapi stemed from 'Shake Rump'" is simultaneously more entertaining and opening a can. More reflection to follow...but it is 4:40! My freezing hands are saved by the bell!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
An Eventful Thursday
To the non-Korean speaker, Korea can be downright perplexing. Teaching at a public school is like playing a linguistic roulette of responsibility. You never know if the news is going to be good (You mean class was canceled this period? I guess I can deal with that!), bad (Wait, you mean I have to teach a special 2-period class in 10 minutes?), or simply befuddling (We make pee-pee-tee*???). Living life/your job so moment to moment can make things interesting, which is sometimes a euphemism for frustrating, which is sometimes code for “zone out now, smile and nod.” At times, it can also translate into awesome. *"ppt" means powerpoint.
That is why, if:
(1) Your entire arsenal of Korean vocab consists of, “Please give me (fill in food type),” “Nice to meet you!” and “Where’s the bathroom?”
(2) You need to do more than order kimbap, bow politely, or pee urgently, and
(3) The people around you either speak no English, are too shy to speak English to you, or do speak English but never utilize verb tenses (“We prepare lesson for the Wednesday. Yes?” …Does this mean the lesson was already prepared? I should prepare a lesson right now? We are going to prepare a lesson on Wednesday? For Wednesday?)
You just need to learn to just go with the flow.
So when you arrive at school one Thursday and your co-teacher reminds you, “You go to mountain with the furs,” you nod your head. After lunch, when you discover that you are leaving school early to go climb a mountain with the fourth (“furs”) grade teachers and then go for dinner and will get home around eight, you just count your blessings that your heels aren’t stiletto, grab your bag, and roll up your sleeves.
And what an eventful Thursday it turned out to be.
While I changed from my indoor shoes to my boots (in Korea, you wear one pair of shoes exclusively indoors and a different pair for going outside), the other teachers change into jeans and gym shoes. I follow them outside as they scout out a patch of dirt/bushes behind the school where we can pose for a group picture – proof that we all went to the mountain (they asked for my input, "Do you think is this mountain look like enough?"). With proof of our team-building mission digitally captured, half the teachers leave with a big smile and a “Peace-out.” (I don’t speak Korean, but I am pretty sure this is what they said). Then me and 2 other teachers get into a car and head to a mountain by Dathan’s school. I’ll post pictures if I can get them from one of the teacher’s camera.
Luckily for me, “climbing a mountain” turned out to be driving to the top of a mountain and then climbing some stone stairs to get a better view. There was a colorfully painted Buddhist temple on one level overlooking Anyang and a giant bell that you swung a log at to ring (I did not swing the log). Also, people stack piles of rocks on top of each other all around the path – if your rock stays, you get to make a wish. If you topple the previous people’s rock-wishes over, a ghost will come and kill you in your sleep. Well. I made that last part up. And I also made a wish.
When we get back in the car, my teachers ask me if I have ever seen Dathan’s school. They apparently were very curious and excited to see who my “fiancé” was . I say no and off we drive, up another base of a mountain on an adventure to see Dathan. And I’m getting paid for this! On the way, we play chicken with a cement truck and narrowly make it through a 2-way street barely big enough for one. On arrival, no one knew quite what to do, as there were many doors and no one around. After studying an assortment of “Beware of Spider” signs in the school bushes (with pictures of scary black and yellow spiders poised to bite) we bypass several chained doors and make our way up to the office. They direct us to a different floor and behind door number one is a surprised Dathan and an effusive Korean teacher who is beside herself with enthusiastic greetings. Apparently they wanted the scoop on this “fiancé” of his as well. On our way out, the teacher runs after us and starts shouting down the hallways, “HANNAH!!! HANNAH!!! BALLY BALLY HANNAH!!!” (“bally” = “Hurry!”). I am suddenly surrounded by every teacher within screaming distance, a swarm of faces peering curiously at me and speaking at the same time. After a few awkward minutes, we jetted.
Next stop: Korean dinner somewhere by a lake with a great view of golden fields and lots of whitewashed walls. They sat me near the other teachers that could speak a little English, but mostly everyone talked full throttle over my head while I sat and ate my kimchi. Apparently they were all gossiping about one of the vice principals whom no one likes. He says bizarre things to them and is mean and they all had shocking stories to tell, complete with gasps, clucking remarks, and wild gesticulations, but I couldn’t understand a word! Except for "Chronika!" ~ which means "That's what I'm saying" ...and I had no idea what that might be in the first place! One teacher tried to explain to me that he had called her not a human, or like animal. (I think she meant barbarian?). But I couldn’t understand anything else…Also, that he is smart and knows what brands they wear and what their car model is and so they try to avoid him. That’s all I got though.
The high/low point of dinner was when one older teacher (who reminds me of a much more energetic and I think well-meaning but slightly-violent version of my friends’ Puerto Rican grandma) starts raising her voice (and she always half-shouts to begin with) and turns to me pointing wildly right in my face and BELLOWING God-knows-what in Korean. I had been zoning out and was too taken aback to do anything for a second. Finally I ask someone what on earth she was saying. Apparently, she had been telling a story about sickness and was informing people that cancer is very strong. So strong it can kill you (pausing for dramatic effect). And did you know, if you die of cancer, it is so strong it lives on in your body. DID YOU KNOW THAT?!!! CANCER CAN LIVE IN YOUR DEAD BODY!!!!! DID YOU KNOW? …is what she was bellowing. She regularly does things like this and I try to avoid her now.
They dropped me off around 9.
That is why, if:
(1) Your entire arsenal of Korean vocab consists of, “Please give me (fill in food type),” “Nice to meet you!” and “Where’s the bathroom?”
(2) You need to do more than order kimbap, bow politely, or pee urgently, and
(3) The people around you either speak no English, are too shy to speak English to you, or do speak English but never utilize verb tenses (“We prepare lesson for the Wednesday. Yes?” …Does this mean the lesson was already prepared? I should prepare a lesson right now? We are going to prepare a lesson on Wednesday? For Wednesday?)
You just need to learn to just go with the flow.
So when you arrive at school one Thursday and your co-teacher reminds you, “You go to mountain with the furs,” you nod your head. After lunch, when you discover that you are leaving school early to go climb a mountain with the fourth (“furs”) grade teachers and then go for dinner and will get home around eight, you just count your blessings that your heels aren’t stiletto, grab your bag, and roll up your sleeves.
And what an eventful Thursday it turned out to be.
While I changed from my indoor shoes to my boots (in Korea, you wear one pair of shoes exclusively indoors and a different pair for going outside), the other teachers change into jeans and gym shoes. I follow them outside as they scout out a patch of dirt/bushes behind the school where we can pose for a group picture – proof that we all went to the mountain (they asked for my input, "Do you think is this mountain look like enough?"). With proof of our team-building mission digitally captured, half the teachers leave with a big smile and a “Peace-out.” (I don’t speak Korean, but I am pretty sure this is what they said). Then me and 2 other teachers get into a car and head to a mountain by Dathan’s school. I’ll post pictures if I can get them from one of the teacher’s camera.
Luckily for me, “climbing a mountain” turned out to be driving to the top of a mountain and then climbing some stone stairs to get a better view. There was a colorfully painted Buddhist temple on one level overlooking Anyang and a giant bell that you swung a log at to ring (I did not swing the log). Also, people stack piles of rocks on top of each other all around the path – if your rock stays, you get to make a wish. If you topple the previous people’s rock-wishes over, a ghost will come and kill you in your sleep. Well. I made that last part up. And I also made a wish.
When we get back in the car, my teachers ask me if I have ever seen Dathan’s school. They apparently were very curious and excited to see who my “fiancé” was . I say no and off we drive, up another base of a mountain on an adventure to see Dathan. And I’m getting paid for this! On the way, we play chicken with a cement truck and narrowly make it through a 2-way street barely big enough for one. On arrival, no one knew quite what to do, as there were many doors and no one around. After studying an assortment of “Beware of Spider” signs in the school bushes (with pictures of scary black and yellow spiders poised to bite) we bypass several chained doors and make our way up to the office. They direct us to a different floor and behind door number one is a surprised Dathan and an effusive Korean teacher who is beside herself with enthusiastic greetings. Apparently they wanted the scoop on this “fiancé” of his as well. On our way out, the teacher runs after us and starts shouting down the hallways, “HANNAH!!! HANNAH!!! BALLY BALLY HANNAH!!!” (“bally” = “Hurry!”). I am suddenly surrounded by every teacher within screaming distance, a swarm of faces peering curiously at me and speaking at the same time. After a few awkward minutes, we jetted.
Next stop: Korean dinner somewhere by a lake with a great view of golden fields and lots of whitewashed walls. They sat me near the other teachers that could speak a little English, but mostly everyone talked full throttle over my head while I sat and ate my kimchi. Apparently they were all gossiping about one of the vice principals whom no one likes. He says bizarre things to them and is mean and they all had shocking stories to tell, complete with gasps, clucking remarks, and wild gesticulations, but I couldn’t understand a word! Except for "Chronika!" ~ which means "That's what I'm saying" ...and I had no idea what that might be in the first place! One teacher tried to explain to me that he had called her not a human, or like animal. (I think she meant barbarian?). But I couldn’t understand anything else…Also, that he is smart and knows what brands they wear and what their car model is and so they try to avoid him. That’s all I got though.
The high/low point of dinner was when one older teacher (who reminds me of a much more energetic and I think well-meaning but slightly-violent version of my friends’ Puerto Rican grandma) starts raising her voice (and she always half-shouts to begin with) and turns to me pointing wildly right in my face and BELLOWING God-knows-what in Korean. I had been zoning out and was too taken aback to do anything for a second. Finally I ask someone what on earth she was saying. Apparently, she had been telling a story about sickness and was informing people that cancer is very strong. So strong it can kill you (pausing for dramatic effect). And did you know, if you die of cancer, it is so strong it lives on in your body. DID YOU KNOW THAT?!!! CANCER CAN LIVE IN YOUR DEAD BODY!!!!! DID YOU KNOW? …is what she was bellowing. She regularly does things like this and I try to avoid her now.
They dropped me off around 9.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Back from the dead
Well, after a long hiatus, I'm back. It's been a rough couple of weeks (with also a number of good spots) ... my black lung death cough turned into full-blown bronchitis so I finally went to the doctor. Turns out doctor visit copayments and medicine are cheap here, so that was a plus - my doctor gave me packets of frog juice and antibiotics, so that was also a plus...
I've also been giving it a lot of thought and Dathan and I decided to scrap our law school applications and stay in Korea for another year. We can reapply next year and aim for matriculating in 2010. There are a lot of long-thought out reasons for this, but I am frankly sick of deep thinking right now, so I will include them another day. Suffice to say, I am happier than I have been in a very very, long time. Instead of writing today, I will finally upload a few pictures (PROOF Santhi! PROOF!) that I have taken so far.
The above & 2 below were taken near the GOAL (korean adoptee NGO office) in Seoul.
Directly above and below: the fountain in the courtyard on the 3rd floor (the floor I live on - this is right outside my door) of my apartment building (also called an "officetel"). They randomly turn it on for about 15 minutes on random nights.
Below: The amazingly sweet, huge park 1 block from my officetel. It's surrounded by mountains and there are basketball, tennis, and badminton courts, a roller rink, fountains, a stream, sculptures (including an awesome upside-down house you can go in), playgrounds, soccer area, and places for picnics. Inline/speed skating is big here. There are also a million cute Korean kids running around, which is probably my favorite part.
Directly above and below: The view from the roof of my building (15th floor, I think)
Below: the picture of the mountain Dathan and I attempted to climb with Nick. Well, we almost attempted to climb. The subway ride was very confusing and took us about 2 hours. So we were (verrrry) late to meet him and ended up going to an outdoor flea market instead (Dongdaemun Stadium stop). *Santhi, note the Korean writing on the bus... REAL PROOF!
Below: Two lighters on sale at the flea market.
Below: The main street (pedestrian only) by Beomgye Station. Dathan's place is right around the corner.
Below: The Pansori performance at the Chuseok (Thanksgiving) Dinner we went to at GOAL.
Above: a mind release
Thursday, September 25, 2008
They Call It "Payday" Because They Make You Pay.
A Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of students getting excited and participating should have tipped me off...the God of Balance was just waiting to smite me. As the first payday of my "adult" look-at-me-I-have-a-full-time-job life rolled around, I thought today might be my first moment of Korean glory.
No, life calls it "payday" cause it makes you pay.
This specific toll came in the guise of 6 consecutive classes of 40 sixth graders staring at me like dead fish. I probably could have chucked my whiteboard marker at a kid's forehead, right between the eyes, and not gotten a reaction.
"So who is stronger? Ironman or the Hulk?"
:: blank stares ::
"Who has a cooler cape? Superman or Batman?"
:: inspecting fingernails, sighing, slipping into comas ::
"Who is scarier, Wolverine or...um...me?"
:: blink of recognition ::
"Teacher!! Teacher scarier!!!" :: a few laughs ::
"OK. Good! So repeat after me! Teacher is scarier...than Wolverine!"
:: blank stares ::
Come on, the topic was comparing superheroes! I even showed the intro to the X-Men cartoon! An average of maybe 5 kids/class had done the homework...that just seems like bad odds. All they had to do was draw 3 superheroes to compare in class. I mean, you could just draw a dot or something and call him Speck-Man...whose power is being too tiny to see. You could have brought in a spaghetti stain and called it Fire-Cloud Invisible Woman...whose power is...being indistinguishable from leftovers. If you're going to be lame, at least try to be creative about it.
My co-teacher informed me later that they thought that the content was too easy. But when I introduced harder words and more complex sentences, the reaction was the same. Except they smelled a little worse, as it was after recess. As the day came to a close, I kind of just wanted to follow suit and nap at my desk. But no, I had to try and complete an internet bill payment for my utilities. Two extremely frustrating hours later, I was somewhat informed that my bills might be taken automatically from my account, but on the other hand, they might be being subtracted from the previous tenant's account still. So we really didn't need to have spent the last 2 hours doing what I was doing.
And finally, 4:40 rolled around. And I was free. I got out of there faster than I ever left school while still a student.
On the plus side, as of today, Dathan and I have a net value hovering somewhere above 5 million. That's right, we are high rollers. Of course, if you convert that number into USD, the effect is somewhat less impressive.
But this is Korea ...so I guess you can say we won.
No, life calls it "payday" cause it makes you pay.
This specific toll came in the guise of 6 consecutive classes of 40 sixth graders staring at me like dead fish. I probably could have chucked my whiteboard marker at a kid's forehead, right between the eyes, and not gotten a reaction.
"So who is stronger? Ironman or the Hulk?"
:: blank stares ::
"Who has a cooler cape? Superman or Batman?"
:: inspecting fingernails, sighing, slipping into comas ::
"Who is scarier, Wolverine or...um...me?"
:: blink of recognition ::
"Teacher!! Teacher scarier!!!" :: a few laughs ::
"OK. Good! So repeat after me! Teacher is scarier...than Wolverine!"
:: blank stares ::
Come on, the topic was comparing superheroes! I even showed the intro to the X-Men cartoon! An average of maybe 5 kids/class had done the homework...that just seems like bad odds. All they had to do was draw 3 superheroes to compare in class. I mean, you could just draw a dot or something and call him Speck-Man...whose power is being too tiny to see. You could have brought in a spaghetti stain and called it Fire-Cloud Invisible Woman...whose power is...being indistinguishable from leftovers. If you're going to be lame, at least try to be creative about it.
My co-teacher informed me later that they thought that the content was too easy. But when I introduced harder words and more complex sentences, the reaction was the same. Except they smelled a little worse, as it was after recess. As the day came to a close, I kind of just wanted to follow suit and nap at my desk. But no, I had to try and complete an internet bill payment for my utilities. Two extremely frustrating hours later, I was somewhat informed that my bills might be taken automatically from my account, but on the other hand, they might be being subtracted from the previous tenant's account still. So we really didn't need to have spent the last 2 hours doing what I was doing.
And finally, 4:40 rolled around. And I was free. I got out of there faster than I ever left school while still a student.
On the plus side, as of today, Dathan and I have a net value hovering somewhere above 5 million. That's right, we are high rollers. Of course, if you convert that number into USD, the effect is somewhat less impressive.
But this is Korea ...so I guess you can say we won.
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