Lex and Laura's Six Month Countdown To Do List

I love making to do lists. I'm constantly jotting down little things like "pay bills", "email friends and family", "update blog", etc. because writing it out helps me focus and follow through with my goals. I don't just make to do lists for day to day things though, I actually have a "Life To Do list". About a year or so ago, I was living in New York and going through a post-college slump, not satisfied with my job or the general path that I was on, so I decided to make a to do list for my life. I didn't make the list just to write down my hopes and dreams, but actually to commit to doing certain things in my life, such as traveling and finding a career that I'm passionate about. Making this list has not only helped me commit to things, it more importantly has helped me visualize my future and start living my life how I want it to be now. In fact, that list probably played a huge part in me actually coming to Korea.

So, a few weeks ago, my friend Alexis and I went to Jeonju for a weekend trip, and while we were there we realized that it was the exact halfway point of our Korean adventure. Although there have definitely been moments where we've thought "I can't wait to get out of here!" those moments have been few and far between. For the most part, the first half of our experience has been amazing and we're determined to make the most out of these last six months (now only five months as I write this). So, seeing as how I love making to do lists, I suggested that we write one for the rest of our time in Korea. There are many things that we've already done, but there are so many more things that we want to see and do while we're here, so I wanted to get it all down on paper.

Lex and Laura's Six Month Countdown To Do List:
(to be completed by Alexis, Laura and company prior to August 31, 2009.

- Go to the famous and beautiful Jeju-do Island and rent scooters
- Go to the DMZ
- Go to the Green Tea plantations in Beosong
- Learn to make kimchi!! (take a korean cooking class)
- Do a camping trip
- Take a Taekwondo class
- Go to a lantern festival
- Cheer at a Lotte Giants Baseball Game (Busan's team)
- Do a temple stay
- Go to the Boryeong Mud Festivial...which is on my birthday!
- Wear traditional Korean clothing called Hanbok
- See the cherry blossoms (did it this weekend!)
- Experience the craziness of Haeundae Beach in the summer
- Travel to China and SE Asia before going home

So far that's what we have, but I'm guessing we will probably add more things as we get closer to leaving. I am most excited to see places in Korea like Jeju-do, the green tea plantations and the DMZ. Jeju Island is probably the most famous place to travel in Korea because it's a subtropical island south of the mainland and has a massive volcano in the center. It is known as the Korea's honeymoon destination, but you don't have to be a newlywed to enjoy its awesomeness. People go year round, but summer is the best time and the best way to see the island is by scooter, which I definitely plan to do. Of course, I also have to go to the DMZ while I'm here so I can take a picture making a peace sign next to a North Korean soldier. Then, there are the cultural things that I still want to experience. Alexis and I both love Korean food and want to learn as much about cooking it before we leave so that we can make it when we get home. I also have to do a temple stay (Lex has already done it) so I'll do that with another friend one weekend this spring (or maybe on my own to make it a truly spiritual experience).

There are a lot of things that I've already done, which were on my original Korea to do list. Those include eating live octopus and other bizarre foods, going to the cities of Gyongju and Jeonju, my trips to Japan and Thailand, taking Korean lessons, making Korean friends, experiencing Korean traditions and so on. So there you have it, the official "Lex and Laura Six Month Countdown To Do list." I hope you look forward to reading about my adventures, I know I certainly can't wait to start living them.

The sick mask phenomenon explained...

Since I came to Korea, I have been absolutely fascinated with Asian people's seeming obsession with wearing sick masks. It is so pervasive that it's practically a trend. You can buy sick masks in every color and design, from polka dots, to animal faces, to all of the colors of the rainbow. When I first got here, I was very turned off by them, thinking that under that sick mask there was a contageous person. But, I quickly realized that people wear them for many different reasons. They wear them to prevent becoming sick, when they are already sick, to filter air pollution, to cover a nose job (for real!) and even to warm the brisk air in the winter when they take walks. The thing I've found the funniest is that Koreans are so careful to wear sick masks any time they think they could be exposed to germs, yet when they're not wearing them and they sneeze in public, they don't even cover their mouths! It's been fascinating to me to try to understand when and why people wear them, but this week, I finally understood. I can sum up my understanding of the origin of and obsession with sick masks in two words: yellow dust.

Yellow dust occurs each spring, when torential winds form in the Mongolian desert, picking up sand and carrying it South East towards Korea and Japan. It has been happening for centuries, and usually comes in the early spring with the changing of seasons. Well, sure enough, on March 16 we got our first Yellow Dust storm of the year. Viewed from space, it literally is a cloud of yellow sand moving from China, and settling right over Korea and Japan. While it doesn't exactly looking like a yellow rain cloud here, there is just a very dirty haze in the air. When its really bad, the dust actually collects on everything and you can see evidence of it if you were to swipe your finger across the hood of a white car.

So, all of last week I was sick, which is why I didn't update my blog. I didn't think I would be affected by the Yellow dust, but I definitely was. When I came to school on Monday morning, a teacher told me to keep the windows closed and make sure the children stayed inside at recess. Around town, many Koreans can be seen wearing facemasks. I certainly took the Yellow Dust seriously when I was told about it, but didn't much think that I would be effected as a young, healthy person. Boy, was I wrong! Within a day, I had a cold and allergies like I've never had before. My nose was constantly tickling with the oncoming of a sneeze.

Though I had my first experience last week, Koreans have been dealing with this for hundreds, probably thousands, of years and they've learned to adapt. Hence, the sick mask. I'm sure there are other reasons that they wear them so frequently (eek, remember SARS?), but I would bet that this is the original reason. I've been told we may have a few more dust storms this spring, but I'm not worried about it. I've had my eye on a pretty purple polka-dotted sick mask at the local market, and I think it's about time I invest.

Yellow dust storm over Korea and Japan

(picture from wikipedia.org)

Every cloud has it's silver lining...

The last two weeks have been intense. While I can't say the first semester in Korea was really that difficult, it definitely wasn't easy by any means. But now, since the new semester started in the end of February, I have really been challenged in a way that I haven't been in a long time.

The reason that my job has become significantly more challenging is because in the new semester, I have been given my own class. However, with this new class, my school has also breached many of the agreements of my contract. Basically, I have no co-teacher, no curriculum, and no Korean disciplinarian...all things that we are guaranteed as foreign teachers in Korea.

When I first heard I would have my own class, I was both proud to be given the responsibility and pissed that my school was taking advantage of me. I resisted, and told the other teachers at school that it was not my responsibility to create a curriculum. I don't have the experience or the expertise to do that, I explained. Their response was to bring me one textbook (mostly in Korean) and suggest that I look on the internet. Great. Big help. I quickly realized that I'm pretty much on my own now.

So far, it's been tough, but getting better each day. For me, I love the actual teaching and I'm ok with the disciplining. Most of my students are absolutely wonderful. There is only one class of fourth graders that is completely unruley, so I have demanded that their homeroom teacher come to my class and discipline. The part that is challenging for me is planning and creating lessons. It is much harder than it looks to put together a good, cohesive lesson that the kids both understand and find fun and interesting. On top of that, try making three different lessons a week for 18 weeks! It's just plain overwhelming. I find myself dreading school on the weekends and in the morning before work because I am so anxious about whether or not my lessons will work out. I'm working at it though and dedicating a lot of my free time to it, and in just two weeks I already feel like I'm doing much better.

So that's the hard part. Now, I'll tell you about the brighter side, because there always is one. Though I'm still anxious before each day, once I get through my lessons I feel a great sense of accomplishment. When I provide the students with a fun and interesting class, they actually enjoy speaking English. I genuinely have fun, too! And, by having my own class, I am really getting to know my students. They come into my classroom in their free time and love learning about me as well as sharing things (in English!) about themselves. It makes me feel like I actually am making a difference.

The beginning of this semester has definitely had its ups and downs. While I could have stood up and fought, contract in hand, I decided that by doing so the situation would only get worse. So, instead of trying to make things easier for myself, I'm looking at this as a great challenge and one that I know will make me a stronger person. Being able to live in a foreign country and teach students of another language all on my own is something I will be proud to say I've done. In the end, I know that if I keep a positive attitude and try to the best of my ability, it will be a very rewarding experience.

Well, that about summarizes the last few weeks of my life. It's Friday afternoon as I write this, and I can safely say, I haven't been this excited for the weekend in a long time!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!


I don't have pictures of my new class yet, but here are some from English Camp in January:

Students performing at English Camp, January '09

English Camp Closing Ceremony

Some of my favorite students

Weekend Trip to Jeonju

At the end of a long, grey winter my friend Alexis and I were getting restless in Busan and decided a weekend trip was in order. We were also dreading the start of the semester on Monday and wanted to do a little traveling to get our minds off of it. We picked Jeonju, a city in the southwest region of Korea, known for two things: having the best bibimbap in the country and for its well-preserved and fully functioning traditional Hanok village right in the middle of the city. Our goals were to eat some good food, sleep in a traditional Korean guesthouse, and have some new cultural experiences.

We left early on Saturday morning from the city bus terminal, just a few subway stops away from my house. It was a pretty long and expensive ride, at about $28 round trip ( I think I would consider that really cheap back home)! After three and a half hours on the bus, we arrived in Jeonju and hopped in a cab to the Hanok village. We couldn't find the guesthouse we were looking for, and quickly realized that this city was not at all English friendly so we were going to have to use our Korean language skills (the little that we have). We finally found a little inn, but it was all booked. Luckily, the owner was really nice called around for us, got us a room and then led us there herself. Now that's service, or "service-uh" as the koreans say. We ended up at an adorable little Hanok house and our room was simple but charming. We dropped off our things and set out for the day.



We spent the afternoon pretty much just wondering around, popping into museums and shops and snacking on the unique street food. The most interesting was the tempura fried ginseng root washed down with a cup of dong-dongju (homemade korean rice wine). It was surprisingly delicious, both sweet and earthy tasting, and we figured that the health benefits of ginseng more than offset the fattening batter it was covered in. My favorite part of the afternoon was when we went to the Oriental Medicine Museum, and learned about all of the wacky things people use to cure ailments. As we were leaving the museum we passed a massage room, where you could experience traditional massages and get all different kinds of treatments. There was a sign listing the prices, but unfortunately everything was in Korean. Using our fantastic skills, we were able to read that a 7 minute foot massage was just $1! We were so excited and obviously decided to do it, so we went up to the counter and showed them what we wanted. To our surprise, he pointed us to the computers!! We were extremely confused. We were like, did we just buy 7 minutes of internet time at an Oriental Medicine Museum?? It turned out to be a health consultation program for some kind of ancient healing system, in which you had to answer a questionnaire to find out which type of person you were and how you could best be healed. The questions were HILARIOUS. Some of my questions included, "Is your head big, in comparison to your body?" and "There are times when digested food come up through my throat for no reason. Yes or No?" We had a lot of laughs and decided that it was worth the dollar spent.








That night our mission was to have the famous Jeonju bibimbap and see a traditonal korean music concert. A women at the tourist center told us where to find the best bibimbap restaurant, so we headed there for dinner. It was a simple place but it was packed and we were lucky to get the last table. We sat down for dinner and they immediately brought us about 10 little side dishes to start. Typically in Korea, when you order a main dish, you will get 2 or 3 side dishes, usually kimchi and pickled radish. But in Jeonju, its what they're known for (along with the bibimbap), so it was something very special. My favorite of the side dishes were seaweed and clear noodles in a wasabi vinegrette and boiled sweet potatoes in a sweet sauce. It was all delicious, but the bibimbap itself was the star of the meal. For those who have never had it, bibimbap is a very popular korean dish and it means "mixed rice." Typical bibimbap is a bowl of rice with a vegetables, a fried egg and spicy red sauce on top. You then take your chopsticks and mix it all up into one mush of deliciousness. It's always good, but this bibimbap was something special. Served in a gold bowl, with a beautiful array of bright colors, it could be considered edible art. We dug in and came to the conclusion that it was definitely the best we've had. At dinner I had a thought, which I shared with Alexis; "If Korea is the best place to eat bibimbap and Jeonju has the best bibimbap in Korea, and this is the best bibimbap restaurant in Jeonju, then are we eating the best bibimbap in the world?" We decided that the answer was yes.








After dinner we walked to the Jeonju Culture Center and saw a wonderful traditional Korean music concert. The music was captivating and the people dressed in traditional attire were beautiful. It was a thoroughly enjoyable night, and when it was finished we picked up a bottle of Korean wine and went back to our little Korean guesthouse and stayed up talking until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.



The next day, we still had a a few unfulfilled goals- to hike up to a temple nearby and get a birds-eye view of the village, and to experience a tea ceremony. We grabbed some coffee and made our way up to the temple. It was really nice, but I'm sure once the leaves are out it will be even better. The view of the village, with all of the old asian style roof tiles, was great. We snapped some pictures and then made our way down to get some lunch. After round two of bibimbap (this time in a hot stone pot) we found an beautiful tea house, situated around a courtyard and garden. They didn't have a ceremony like we were looking for, but they were able to offer traditional tea in a perfect setting. The owner was really interesting, he looked like a mix between a monk and a hippy, with long hair and a beard and mustache and dressed in monk-like clothes. He showed us how to steep the tea and then offered to take a picture of us, which turned into a photo shoot of us around the tea house. It was pretty funny. After we finished, it was time to head home. We made our way back to the bus terminal and made the three and a half hour journey home. It was a nice end to the winter break and a great way to get refreshed for the new semester.


Oh and one more thing...I've finally added videos to my youtube page, enjoy and leave some comments!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/LCurrie711