Ways We Save Money: the YMCA

 Originally Posted on April 5, 2018 on Free, Fun, Family

Our family membership to the local YMCA is our biggest entertainment expenditure, but it also offers us so much value for that money.  We have a household membership that covers all four members of our household, but the cost would not increase if we had more children/household members.  However, we save money on this membership in the following ways:

1. I work for the local school district, so we have a 10% employee discount on the monthly fee.
2. We joined in a month with free registration (twice a year they waive the signup fee).
3. Every month we fill out “Frequent Y-er” cards that get entered in a drawing for a free membership.
4. When we travel for a month or more, we suspend our membership during the time we are gone.

Additionally, the YMCA offers reductions in rates for individuals with low incomes and reciprocity agreements with other YMCAs throughout our state and around the nation.  It’s pretty awesome.  Here are some ways we use and have used the Y with no additional costs:

1. Free, up to two hours per day, childcare for children age 6 weeks+ while adults use the facility.  H refers to it as her “school,” and she gets the benefit of socializing with other children and following the directions of other adults without additional preschool costs, while Min works out or relaxes.
2. Tons of awesome group exercise classes.  I’ve become addicted to BANG (a dance fitness class), but also regularly participate in BodyPump and Insanity/CORE classes.  I irregularly participate in Yoga, PiYo, and Zumba, but would do them more often if the times worked with my schedule.
3. Two personal training sessions and a personal training software system, ActivTrax, which helps navigate strength exercise training.
4. Two year-round pools with lots of times for “Open Rec,” which is often a great way to get the kids to expend lots of energy on a day with too much rain or too hot for outdoor play.
5. An indoor track and open gym times for us to play with the kids and encourage their physical education.
6. Reserving racquetball courts for indoor soccer sessions (this is a Min specialty).
7. Socializing (most of our close friendships with local families began at the Y).
8. Great shower facilities for men, women, and children, including family changing/shower rooms for the pool.
9. Outdoor playground equipment for the preschool/daycare, but open for Y members to use.
10. Weekly farmer’s market on the premises (seasonal).

We have also paid modest, member-priced fees to participate in additional programs/services at the Y, including:

1. J’s martial arts classes.
2. Swimming lessons for J and H.
3. Drop-in preschool “open gym” for J and H, when they were each the right ages for this. (I think this is $2-3 for a 2 hour, staff-supervised session with gymnastics equipment).
4. J attended a half-day 3 day/week preschool through the Y when he was three years old.  We won’t do this for H because as a younger sibling, she doesn’t need as much structured exposure to peers before school begins.
5. I pay $35/year for a kit locker that allows me to leave some of my belongings in a locker overnight.  This is a lifesaver for me since before work is the most convenient exercise time for me, so I leave my shower supplies at the Y.
6. Other Y-sponsored fundraising events including an annual magic show and a great trail 5K/10K run.

It is not an exaggeration to say that we, as a family, average 20-30 hours/week at the YMCA (not always all together, but sometimes).  As H grows, she seems very interested in dance and gymnastics, so it seems likely our commitment to the Y will expand at that time.

Many personal finance bloggers view a gym membership as a monthly expense to cut, but I believe our membership actually saves us money on entertainment and children’s supplemental activities.  I’m sure it also indirectly saves our health expenses, mental health expenses (for a stay at home parent, especially), and water bill.  I also think that my increased focus on health (which included upping the hours spent working out at the Y) and weight loss contributed to my success and promotion at work.  I view this membership as an investment in our family health and happiness–and we really use it well!

Getting Healthy: Update

I believe I alluded to the fact that I made "Lifetime" with WeightWatchers a few months ago.  Since that time, I had some crazy stress which affected my maintenance plan and as of this writing, I weigh about 10 lbs above my WW goal of 162.  A couple months ago, I made the decision that rather than go back to WW, I would try the health thing on my own.  Really, now that I've achieved weight loss, I am more interested in improving health through diet and exercise.

My health is pretty good right now.  My ulcerative colitis has been in remission through remicade since the birth of my daughter in 2015.  My diabetes is now two years medication-free with A1C testing normal.  I need to keep the focus on a lower-carb diet and lots of exercise if I want to stay medication-free and essentially not diabetic as long as possible.

Diet

Since I'm trying to save money, meal planning healthfully at home helps achieve both goals.  My workday daily pattern is something like this:

Beverages: coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Breakfast: two eggs with fat free/reduced fat cheese with vegetable/salsa and low carb "bread"
Snack: plain greek yogurt with a sprinkle of low sugar granola
Lunch: leftover something
Snack: hummus or guacamole with carrots or peppers
Dinner: cooking something--maybe I'll blog some of my kitchen adventures

If I get hungry, I'll add a low fat cheesestick, piece of fruit, or chips and salsa.  I usually let myself have a small piece of chocolate or two at work (dove or hersey kiss).

This seems to be working for me, but it's not really a "weight loss" diet, so I'm not losing much at the moment.  I'm eating healthy food when I am hungry and not beating myself up about it.  I feel well fed and energized.

Fitness

When I began my new job, I decided I would take the time I usually used in the morning to lesson plan and grade papers before work started and exercise instead.  I have been sticking to this plan really well by doing two early AM classes at the YMCA on Mondays (Insanity and CORE) and Wednesdays (Body Pump) and continuing my dance fitness class (Bang PowerDance) at the Y on Saturdays.  I have also been going in Thursday or Friday morning (or both) to swim, jog, or lift weights, depending on my mood and body aches.

This is a lot more intense exercise and resistance training than I've ever tried before.  Although the first couple weeks hurt a lot and I feel ridiculously weak whenever we do anything involving shoulders and triceps, I LOVE it.  I feel stronger and get better at the exercises every week.

Although I'm not wearing my FitBit anymore, I'm still pushing myself to include more daily movement (walking up the stairs to the 4th floor office and to whatever level I'm parked on the garage, using part of my lunch break to walk around, parking in a distant end for meetings offsite and walking, etc.).  Again, I'm super focused right now on feeling more fit and energized.  It's been working for the most part.

I've noticed an increase in definition of my muscles and the clothes I bought when I hit lifetime are fitting well again, so I'm probably a similar size when I was at my lowest weight.

I need to go get my bloodwork done again, so hopefully the A1C is still healthy.  We'll see!

First Five Days in America

Wowee...  America is just overwhelming.  On my last day in Korea, Min Gi and I went to the Dongdaegu bus station at 3 a.m. to catch the bus with two cats, two huge bags, and my carry on oversize "purse."  On the five hour ride to Incheon, the kitties mewled the whole time, I'm sure to the chagrin of nearby passengers.  At the airport, we had to take them through Incheon's "quarantine" check station and then check Princess into the baggage compartment, while Saja got to accompany me in the cabin under the seat in front of me.  I said goodbye to my husband just outside the security gate.  The kitties and I made it on the 13.5 hour plane ride in a daze.  My love for Korean Air is vast and bottomless.

Mom and Brian picked me up from the airport.  They proceeded to talk about babies for the next hour.  Mom claims that she only wants to talk about Brian's friend Elizabeth's baby, and that she won't pressure me at all for five years.  She keeps reminding me how she's not pressuring me...  Like every few minutes the first couple days, now more like once every few hours.

The rest of this first day is a little blurry.  I ate pizza and burritos and unpacked in the temporary room with the fold out couch (the basement is unfinished) and played with the shell-shocked cats in the basement and slept at odd hours.

Friday, my first full day in America, took me to an Ethiopian food cafe in Gaithersburg where I met Anne's family for a delightful lunch.  Then Anne and I hung out in the afternoon, doing some shopping and walking around a park, lamenting the absence of young children on the perfectly beautiful summer day.  Why don't kids play outside anymore?  What happened to that?

Then, her friend called to cancel, giving me the chance to attend my first EVER professional football game in America--the pre-season game between the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills!  It was overwhelming (especially understanding everything that the other fans were saying all around me) and exciting (especially watching dancing girls--I mean "cheerleaders"--with actual booties to shake).  The Redskins were winning so overwhelmingly that, by the end of the third quarter, we decided to escape to beat a bit of the traffic.  I forgot how into football Americans are.  It was fun to walk through the "tailgaters"--people who showed up hours before the game to park in the lot and have cookouts out of the back of their vehicles, and to see the painted-up, jersey-wearing hardcore fans.  The whole thing reminded me of World Cup in Korea, but more intense because we were actually in the stadium.

Sadly, because I didn't know we were going to do anything super cool and because my brain was (and still kind of is) total mush, I forgot my camera.

Saturday, I was lazy and tired and our internet blew out.  I hung around the house.  Helped Elizabeth's husband, Mike, to mud (fill in the cracks with putty) the dry wall in the room in the basement where Min Gi and I will live temporarily (when it's finished).  Cooked dinner (corn on the cob, mac 'n cheese, bread, fruit salad).  Just tired and lazy and super jet lagged.

Sunday, I was still exhausted, but I was supposed to go to the fair with Anne and Sam.  This did not happen. But I did kidnap Sam from Baltimore in the afternoon and then cooked pizza for everyone at home (including Mike and Elizabeth) and then had a complete breakdown after dropping Sam off at home because when I got back to the house (8:30 pm), I was dead tired, operating on patchy and limited sleep, dealing with the fact that our guests were sitting just outside my "bedroom" so I couldn't go to bed (and all the other beds were currently occupied), and I hadn't talked to Min Gi in two days because of the internet problems.  I just sort of fell apart and started crying and felt really bad and embarrassed about the whole thing.  Jet lag is very evil.

This morning, I've had nearly a full 8 hours (first time in days), took a long walk/jog (I have got to remember how much better I feel after exercise), met a new man in our neighborhood who complimented me on my appearance post-workout (haha), and have internet on my very own computer (so I FINALLY know that Lauren won SYTYCD Season 7).  Finally, things are looking up.

Now... if only I can get hired!

Break Time!

Min Gi likes to watch TV. I prefer to read or mess around (even occasionally write) on the computer. Sometimes in the evening, we will spend a few hours each doing our own thing--him in the living room, me in the bedroom.

Well... every 30 minutes or so, Min Gi will pop into the bedroom and shout "Break Time!"

Apparently break time means dancing for 2-5 minutes. Or attacking the kitties together. Or kissing.

Being married rocks.

Hey, everybody: BREAK TIME!

What You Missed in May

As I said in my last post, I've been failing to blog much this month. I've been on two road trips with Min Gi, which I plan to post about each separately over the next couple days, but also other stuff's been going on while I was preparing all these papers and dealing with Min Gi's injured back...

--After a night in the hospital, Min Gi took about two weeks to recover. This was the hardest part of our married life to date (although not nearly so trying as my two-week long hospitalization and several month recovery of last year). It's harder on us if Min Gi is sick because he is the natural extrovert. Usually he deals with this by going out with his friends a couple nights a week, but during this time he was pretty confined to the house with me (introverted me who works at an extrovert's job and needs my downtime) as his only social outlet. Also, paying for the hospital bill made us deal with the fact that we haven't yet fully combined our resources (we're kind of waiting until the U.S. to do this for several reasons) which made us have our first two money fights--ew! Thankfully, we've figured out that we were fighting mostly because each of us thought the other needed money and we were worried because we each only have enough for ourselves until America. However, as he now fondly declares, his "back is back!"

Look--I'm a real 아줌마 now--I've made cucumber kimchi (오이 소박이)!
--I continue learning new Korean recipes. And now, I've made my first kimchi! I followed this recipe, mostly (I like fresher kimchi, so I only let it sit out for two hours and I used 4 large cucumbers cut into quarters, instead of 10 small pickling ones), with some help from online youtube videos.

--We took the cats to the vet for their rabies vaccine as part of the preparation for their journey to America. Saja was fine, but Princess took quite ill from the stress and the shot and threw up for three hours, even some blood during the last bit. We were very worried, but she turned out just fine.

Cousin waves from Gomo's headquarters in Sangju
--It's election season. Everywhere we look, there are women dancing on cars with loudspeakers blaring the virtues of their particular candidate. Min Gi and I took a trip to visit Gomo, who is running for office in the small town of Sangju, to offer our support.

--All the stress from stuff this month has made me go WAAAAY off my health goals, but I'm finding my way back. My new thing is being a vegan every other day. So far, I like it.

--Julian, who took our wedding photos at the temple, sent us his photos from the wedding and the party that followed. Check out the album, if you like:

Wedding Ceremony & Party at Asurajang (Julian)

Min Gi is on TV

Last week at Asurajang, our friend Jinju showed up with camera in tow. Apparently, her husband is being profiled for a kind of documentary show because he is an "early adapter" which is Konglish for a techie geek--someone who buys the latest technology and writes manuals and reviews online to let other people know about the advantages and flaws of a product. The documentary contrasts Jinju and her husband with an old couple in the Korean countryside who live without much technology of any kind. Anyhow, several members of my swing club, including Min Gi, were interviewed for the program.

You can watch the program here (it does open up a video program on your computer so if your security settings are really high, you might not be able to see it). At around 24:43 the section about the swing dance club begins, and at 26:08 you can see my husband joking around that Jinju's phone number changes so often that he has two numbers stored in his phone for her, but whenever she calls him, a new number pops up and he doesn't know who is calling (this was related to the profile where Jinju was complaining a bit about her husband often changing her phone). You can also see my friends Leah (the only white person in the interview) and Jina as well as some of Joey (Leah's husband) dancing with Jinju. In the background of some shots are other folks I know and love dearly.

Well, enjoy!

The Wedding Ceremony

Yes, I realize this is more than two months after the fact. Sorry.

Our swing dance club, Asurajang (아수라장--it means "messy place" in Korean), was the site of our ceremony and buffet. The lighting is just awful, but our friend Juno managed a few decent photos:


Of course, the photo session at the nearby Buddhist Temple during the day by our friend Julian turned out much better.

We had a 25-minute, completely bilingual/bicultural ceremony. Our Aussie friend Leah and Korean friend Hayoung serving as bilingual MCs. The ceremony consisted of a dance performance by my sister to Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love", a speech from each of our younger brothers that left us a bit weepy, a bowing ceremony to my parents and Min Gi's mother and cousin (the oldest male relative), reading our vows (written by me, translated by Ju-ick) to each other in Korean and English, and then a dance performance from Min Gi and I to "I Love You More Today Than Yesterday," choreographed by our friend Gong-Bi.

After the Korean buffet dinner (which was cheaper catered at the club than a less yummy meal would have been at a wedding hall), there was a swing dance party on one floor, and drinking/toasting relatives on the buffet floor. Min Gi and I only lasted until about 10 p.m., but good times were had by all.

We got to share our day with so many friends and family members that although it seemed over so quickly (compared to the amount of time we spent planning), it remains forever in our memories and hearts. I cannot thank our guests, family, and friends enough--who all supported us in various ways, from assisting with the decorations to taking pictures, gratis, to showing my family around Daegu and Seoul. I'm still all misty and emotional just thinking about it.

My True Loves (Sunday Health #2)

I've been a little unfocused this week. Lately, I've become obsessed with simple living and minimalist blogs (I will be doing a review post of my favorites soon). I think it's because I'm nervous as heck about the cost of living in the Washington, DC area coupled with school district budget cuts which slash my chances of finding a good job when I return home. Anyhow, they've convinced me to take the plunge and make some steps towards minimalism, which actually ties in nicely to my new focus on health.

One of the first things any and all minimalism practitioners will tell you is that you have to focus on the things you truly love, your passions, and then cut out everything else that is unnecessary. It sounds simple, but I'm a dabbler. Actually if I could cheat and say "Engaging in lots of different things," I would, but I know that's too vague for this activity. It took me the better part of an hour to pare down my many hobbies/interests to my five true loves (and it required me to make a list of 6-10 strong likes that I will allow myself to do if all of the first five areas in my life are completely fulfilled at that moment--or as part of fulfilling one of the five true passions). Here are my five:

1) Spending quality time with my loved ones (Min Gi, my family, certain friends who are practically family).
2) Maximizing my health (includes cooking, exercise, and proper rest).
3) Teaching (I love it, and it's my career that will support our family in the years to come).
4) Writing (I can't not write. I've tried--it makes me anxious. But more than that, I really want to write books one day and if I don't make this the priority it really should be in my life right now, I'll never do that).
5) Reading high-quality material (It's my go-to entertainment. I include here both books and online reading--though I am trimming the latter category significantly because some of what I read online is not really fulfilling).

That's it. Those are really my five true loves. My #6-10 cheating back-up "lusts" are:

6) Travel
7) Theater
8) Volunteering
9) Dance
10) Language study (especially Korean)

Here's the thing... I knew these before (everyone with a touch of self-awareness knows their passions without having to think too much about it), but it surprised me when I realized how much I really love exercising and cooking healthy meals. I thought it was just something I did because I was supposed to, but no... I really am happiest when I am being physically active and eating delicious vegetables. Currently, taekwondo is my favorite way to be active, but I also like other movement (most notably hiking, swimming, and dancing). This is kind of shocking for someone who never did any sports in middle or high school.

What's more... I realized that I absolutely do not prioritize my life around the things that make me happiest and most fulfilled. I mean, sure, I think about these things nonstop, but when it comes down to the daily grind of choices I make all the time, I often choose a mindless or pointless activity, such as watching TV, getting caught up in the politics/ridiculousness of a situation over which I have no control, or reading crappy things on the internet that piss me off rather than really interest me, instead of one of my favorite things. So both of my health goals/habits to change this week are rooted in pursuing simplicity and embracing minimalism. They are: 1) to spend as much time as possible pursuing the five passions and start cutting out everything else and 2) to clean, organize and trim my possessions down to less STUFF getting in the way. (And continuing with my previous goals, all of which are going very well, and have resulted in another 0.5kg/1lb loss as well as a peaceful, happy state of mind).

I think pursuing #1 is about little things--the choices we make every moment. For example, walking to the subway instead of taking the bus lets me get more exercise and read (reading on the bus is impossible, on the subway--it's easy); choosing to go to swing dance only when Min Gi or other good friends do because that means I'm spending time with him and exercising more; writing in my blog instead of watching a downloaded TV show.

Today I managed to do this very well. I spent the day with Min Gi's family in Pohang. When we got home, I was tired, but rather than get on my computer and watch Season 3 of Ugly Betty or read a blog I hate (yes, I do this), I suggested to my husband that we go for a hike on the mountain behind our house. We were both thrilled! And I was feeling tired before the hike and wanted to go out for dinner and blow the progress I'd been making on being healthy, but the mountain air re energized me (as did the good conversation,) and we decided instead to have an omurice cooking "contest" for dinner (each of us prepare an omurice, a Korean dish that wraps vegetable fried rice in an omelet, in our own styles and then enjoy the results together--teasing each other about who did a better job). It was wonderful (both the food and the company). And we may have developed a new Sunday ritual for us. Bonus!

Sunday Health Progress

Many of you who read this blog or who know me from real life know that I have long struggled with my weight and had many health issues over the years, most recently being diagnosed with the chronic autoimmune disease ulcerative colitis last May, for which I was hospitalized in October. The last year and a half, a lot of things have happened to me and the people I love that have made more visceral and immediate something that I already knew: My health is the single most important responsibility I have.

Health is a priori for living a good, fulfilling, and happy life. You cannot do anything else really well--your relationships, your job, your passions--without it. When I wrote my wedding vows (which I will post when I write more about the wedding, I promise), I was thinking foremost about health when I made one of them "I choose to take care of myself and my responsibilities, so that I can take care of you and our family."

This is radically different thinking than how I was raised. In my family, we tend to take care of others to the detriment of ourselves. Both of my parents work hard and are extremely generous, and I love them so much for that example. But sometimes I think my brother and I have been also instructed that thinking of (and caring for) others is more important than caring for yourself. I still believe that. However, the last few years have made it clear to me that you cannot really care for others if you are not in at least reasonable shape yourself. (This thinking extends to more areas than just physical health--it also applies to mental health, financial solvency, and teaching--which is my chosen profession).

Now that I am married, I am responsible to my husband for many things (keeping our household going, communicating in loving ways, not sleeping with other guys--you know, the basics). And while I think my 15 year old self would have found this notion ridiculous, I believe that caring for my health is one of the most important. Furthermore, we recently decided that later this year, we will start trying to have a family. Pregnancy scares the crap out of me--mostly because I know that my current health habits are not good enough for the future child I hope to house in my womb and then raise with my husband. But these two factors are combining to make me get serious about changing my habits in a permanent way to maximize my own health.

Oh, irony. That I have to think of how my health impacts others in order to make it a priority for myself. However, so far, these things have been a far more powerful motivator for me than vanity.

I'm doing it a bit different this time. For one thing, although weight loss is a goal, because my being overweight is negatively impacting my health, it's not the only or even the most important part of my health journey. My goals are to be alive long enough to enjoy my life with Min Gi. To be active enough to keep up with my kids. To be healthy enough to have time and focus for my writing and my career (I have used too many sick days of necessity). To have a strong enough body to support a child and give birth without too many complications. To partake of the physical activities that my husband and I enjoy doing together (get your minds out of the gutter, folks--I mean dancing, hiking, swimming, traveling, running, playing, skiing... things like that).

To accomplish these goals I know that I have to do three main things: 1) manage my disease 2) achieve and maintain a healthy weight--for my height, age, and body type I have set a goal of 64 kgs (141 lbs), which would put me at a BMI of 21.5 and 3) increase and sustain my level of fitness--I was happiest when I was active for at least 10 hours a week, half of which were real workouts at TKD, the other half coming from activities like dancing and hiking, that I enjoy.

To that end, I'm focusing on changing 2-3 habits each week. In the past, I would try to change everything all at once. Then when I (inevitably) was unsuccessful with one thing or wouldn't see progress fast enough, I allowed myself to give up on ALL of my health goals. This doesn't work. I want a change in lifestyle here, not just losing a few pounds. So far, it's working!

I began after getting back from the honeymoon with (1) giving up soda (I usually drank 3-4 servings of diet coke each day for most of my life) and replacing it with a cup or two of green tea in the morning, (2) eating food outside the home rarely, and (3) resuming nightly taekwondo, this time with An Il, my old studio and Sa Beom Nim. I'm doing fabulously with #1. I have eaten out only three times since returning to Korea (not bad for a restaurant-addict like myself) and discovering that I really like cooking at home every day. This has required more planning, creativity, and flexibility than I realized (such as running to the store in the morning when I don't have soy milk for my cereal and planning which vegetables will work with the ones I already have in the fridge), but it's been worth it. As for #3, I had a mild flare up of the UC and a huge foot blister that interfered with my resuming, but I am committed. The four times I've gone in the last two weeks have left me feeling AMAZING and the commute by subway is not nearly as bad as I feared it might be, especially because I can read.

This week, I continued my three previous resolutions and added (1) starting to track my weight and (2) getting enough sleep every night. Last Sunday, I weighed in at 82.5 kgs (179 lbs). It's hard not to get emotional about weight, but I've been trying to see it as one measure of my overall health. That's helping. And as for #2, I've been pretty good about getting into bed between 11 and 12 and waking up at 7 most days. I shut off the computer (with it's many downloaded episodes of Ugly Betty and Lost) and read until I fall asleep, usually pretty quickly. I can feel the difference regular rest makes for my body. I have more energy and patience. I can concentrate longer on what I'm doing (hence why the writing has resumed on the blog), and I'm happier. The biggest challenge with this one so far is that Min Gi's schedule is slightly different than mine, since he doesn't work outside the home, and late at night he likes to start really good discussions or he wants to dance or cuddle with me. This is wonderful and delightful, but I have to be really firm about going to bed, or he'd keep me up until 2 every night.

Anyhow, I've decided to make Sundays on my blog a day to reflect on my health progress, set my new goals for the week, and talk about this process. It helps to be reflective in my health journey, and hopefully the accountability of blogging will give me a little extra push to meet my goals.

This week I want to (1) keep a food journal (this helps with both maintaining my disease and losing weight) and (2) eat mindfully (I tend to eat out of habit, boredom, and in response to negative emotions; I would like to be more present with my food this week and try to focus on the tastes/textures and my satiety). Next week, I'll check in with you about how all this is going!

For now, I weighed in this morning at 80.5kgs (177lbs), which is a good loss (1 kg/2lbs) from last week. I feel better rested and had great energy at swing last night. Yesterday, Min Gi and I went swimming at the pool near our house and I did 50 laps and felt amazing! (His response: "Well, there is one sport you are better at than me!" To which I reminded him: "But what about skiing? And horseback riding? And swing dancing? And sailing?" He laughed: "Ok. You are better than me at lots of things.")

Family visit to Gyeongju.

For the wedding, my mom, dad, brother Brian, and sister Sarah flew out on January 1 and stayed until January 11. For Mom, it was her first time in Asia. For Dad and Brian, it was their first visit to Korea. Koreans have a hard time believing me when I tell them I'm the shortest person in my family (as I am fairly tall for a female, somewhere between 5'8" and 5'9" depending on how much I'm slouching), but it's true. So the clan of giants descended upon Korea to meet Min Gi's family and generally learn about their new member's culture.

Our first stop, mere days after they landed, was a trip to Gyeongju.

In front of Bulguksa. (Left to Right: Me, Brian, Sarah, Dad, Mom, Min Gi)

Sarah, Min Gi, and Brian rub the golden pig for good luck. Or pick its snout. Whatever suits.

Min Gi and I take advantage of a momentary walking break to practice our choreography for the big day.

After the temple, we meet his oldest aunt and some cousins for yummy soup with tofu and mushrooms.

The only downside to the whole day was that Min Soo, In Shil, and Ohmma were to accompany us, but Ohmma got very, very sick on the ride out to Gyeongju, so Min Soo took her home early. (Don't worry! She got better the next day.) However, this forced Dad and I to have a fun train adventure home since there wasn't enough room in the car for the ride back. Highly entertaining. Check out the rest of the photos:

Bulguksa with the family

More to come about family and friend adventures in Seoul during the biggest snowstorm that city has experienced in more than 30 years!

This changed my life.

It's going to be taken down soon, but watch it while you can.

Health Update.

My health is on the mend... and I have been having a lot of ups and downs coping with it.

Downs:

-- Prednisone (the steroid I'm on to tame the flaring beast) side effects are kicking in BIG TIME: (1) I have a really round face now and am rapidly developing a double chin. I've never had a double chin. Even when I was practically obese in high school. I'm disgusted with how fat my face looks (it's gotten worse since the pics I posted from Saturday). My weight is staying relatively steady after it went way up in the hospital and then way down the week after, but my face and even my stomach are gathering more fat than they've ever had before. Ew. I don't look like ME in the mirror, and I'm absolutely terrified I'll still look weird and round and tummy-fat for the wedding in two months. I'm not a terribly vain girl, but I would like to look like myself for my wedding. (2) I cannot stop eating. I'm trying to keep it healthy, but seriously it's this bizarre COMPULSION. Not like when I used to emotionally overeat before, just the need to eat every piece of food in sight, especially salty foods. It's nutty. Exercising seems to help me resist, but that leads us to the next downer:

-- I'm much weaker than I used to be: I've started doing yoga again on MWF mornings, but damn if I can't hold the strength poses that used to be so easy. And Friday when we did five sun series salutations in a row, I was SWEATING a LOT. I can't really jog and walking up stairs winds me a lot faster than it used to. I want my strength back. Even when I was fat, I was STRONG. I miss it so much. I miss being active.

-- Every time I step down the prednisone (weaning myself off it), my UC symptoms ramp up a little bit the next day. It balances back out quickly, but since Wednesdays have been my adjustment days, Thursdays have sucked.

Ups:

-- I'm not flaring anymore: This is key. I'm having normal bowel movements, generally fewer than 4/day (except adjustment days, but even then nothing like before I went into the hospital).

-- I have more energy: I've been experimenting with cooking (not just making something easy) after work, doing chores around the house, and walking around comfortably. This is totally different than 2 weeks ago when I'd come home so exhausted I could barely fix dinner.

-- My strength IS coming back, if slowly. For example, for my walk today on the track near my gym, I did 13 laps in the same time it took me to walk 5 the day after I got out of the hospital, and I even did a few bursts of 30 seconds of jogging. Yoga was easier this week than it was last week. I can walk up the four flights of stairs to my classroom in a reasonable amount of time. I may be frustrated, but I'm making progress. My goal is to be strong enough to resume taekwondo in December.

-- My doctor thinks I'll be off prednisone before the wedding, which means the vanity side effects should be seriously reduced.

-- I'm on a lot fewer meds than I was two weeks ago. Once I'm off the prednisone, it'll just be back to the minor remission maintenance drugs I was on since May, plus one more (probiotics). They have almost no side effects for me (after the first month adjusting) and work really well to keep me from flaring.

So the goods outweigh the bads, but still, some things to worry about. I can't wait until I can hike and kick and dance and look in the mirror and be content. We'll get there...

Pictures from Saturday.

I finally had an excuse to wear the green silk dress I had made in Vietnam.

With my pal Gina, who visited me in the hospital and was in an AWESOME Charleston performance.

With my (getting tipsy) future husband.

Courtesy Dung-ee

I could have danced all night...

... well, not really.

I went OUT last night. It was the seventh anniversary party for Swing and People and my foot was feeling up to walking without the cane, so I got dolled up and headed downtown for THE swing event in Daegu. I will update with pictures when my friend posts them to the club website.

And it was awesome. Just connecting with people again. Made me feel human. I even was able to dance to a few slow/medium pace songs and didn't die. It felt great.

Today my muscles are punishing me a bit for the workout I gave them, but that's ok 'cause I'm stuck grading and planning five million things for work. My foot still seems ok. I can walk, albeit slowly and with a small amount of pain. I will continue the soaking/heating/massage routine over the next week as I (hopefully) regain full function of my limbs. I do, on the plus side, now seem to have pretty good control over my bowels.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll be back to my old, active self by the time my wedding rolls around in two months.

Here's hoping!

Pop Stars as Ambassadors/ "Netizen" Powers

Koreans are very, very concerned about their image in the international community. One of the top five questions I get asked here is "What do you think of Korea?" (Along with "Hello! Where are you from?" "Are you married?" "Do you like kimchi/know about Dokdo?" and "How much [for your services]?") If I ever mention a bad experience I had in Korea (such as one of the numerous times I've been asked that last question), my Korean friends immediately, profusely, and sincerely apologize on behalf of their entire country. This concern about national image extends so profoundly that Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education's motto translates to something along the lines of "Aiming for the Upper Levels of the OECD," and they seem to care about those OECD rankings a heck of a lot more than other countries do.

This concern spills over into the domestic entertainment industry. You see, in the U.S., celebrities live separate, strange, and often incomprehensible lives from ordinary folks. No one aspires to be like Michael Jackson or Lady Gaga, even if we love their music. What weird freaks, we think, even as we buy their albums.

However, in Korea, it seems, celebrities are expected to embody the perfect values and ideals of Korea's people. When a celebrity steps out of line, such as when rumors about Jaebum from 2 p.m. posting negative comments about Korea/Koreans on his myspace page more than two years ago, he is harshly criticized and condemned in a public forum of "netizens" (cutely, "internet citizens"). One of my students wrote an essay about Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (pronounced Yuhn-a, not Yoo-na) and used the lack of such intenet condemnation as a strong example of her popularity and role-model status. I tried to explain how this logic doesn't read as a very strong argument in English, but then I learned a whole lot from my co-teacher about Korean celebrity culture.

The Korean belief that "talents" or "idols" (celebrities, largely selected for their good appearance rather than their artistic prowess, who work in multiple arenas of the entertainment industry, such as in a pop group, on television shows, modeling, and as a commercial actor) serve as kind of de facto ambassadors for Korean culture suddenly explains a LOT about their misunderstandings of American culture. For if our celebrities and television shows represent who we are, then the belief that Western women are easy, that American teens party all the time, that the men are somehow more romantic than Korean men, that everyone is rich and wants to live in New York or LA, seems much more logical.

The Korean celebrity/netizen culture is so pervasive and important, that when I ask students and teachers alike about current events in Korea, nine times out of ten, they tell me about Tablo's upcoming nuptials or G-Dragon's trouble over some possible plagiarism, rather than the latest developments in North Korea or the swine flu scare gripping the nation and causing it to cancel all my favorite festivals. Quite frankly, although I enjoy the occasional Korean pop song, I find the whole situation too minutely complex and tedious to bother following. Come on, people (I mean netizens). Get a life.

If Korea really wants to improve its image internationally, they should work on the things that matter to the international community--brokering peace with North Korea, developing new technologies rather than stealing others' work, and fostering relationships with ALL countries, not just the ones it deems "worthy" (i.e. "wealthy"). Stop worrying about whether the Wonder Girls (currently touring the U.S.) look uglier with "American-style" makeup or if Daniel Henney is Korean enough to bring fame to the ROK--no one cares.

Happy Place.

Recently, a member of one of the web forums I browse posed a poll question: Are you happy? I checked "yes" without a moment's hesitation.

Then I began to read responses from other users who quibbled over whether they were "happy" or merely "content" and it dawned on me: I'm HAPPY!

When I was a depressed, somewhat emo-ish-before-"emo"-existed-teen, I used to fill journal after journal with my ridiculous ramblings. Mostly overly sentimental poetry, complaints about stuff, and fluctuating crushes on member of the opposite sex. However, every few pages or so, the words, "I just want to be happy," would appear, underlined or made all caps. I was aching, yearning, starving for the joy that now comes so easily.

Do I have bad days or moments? Sure.

But I'm so full of genuine bliss these days that I can't believe it. Seriously, I wake up singing and dancing. If my sixteen year old self could see me now, she'd be wild with envy.

When I see my students struggling with the same awful, stressful pain that I felt, I want to tell them, assure them in some way, that life will get better. You can be happy. You just have to learn how.

Swing Dance Updates and MT

Notice the different greens of the trees--beautiful.

This weekend I went on another "MT" with my swing dance club--out to Yeongcheon. It was a blast! I was the only foreigner there, but I wasn't treated as "the token foreigner" because I know all the folks who went well (except the new beginner class who I started to get to know) and they are my friends. It's nice to be a little accepted. Check out the album for pictures.

Yeongcheon Swing and People MT

Just before I left for America, our swing club elected a new president (happily for busy, wedding-planning me). Nan-ta, the new president, is an enthusiastic dancer and great at making everyone feel comfortable. I feel a little proud that in the last year our club has grown so much, with so many new regular members (although I was not able to maintain Ben's penchant for drawing in a large foreign crowd). I know most of the work for the club has been done by Min Gi and Gong Bi, but I did try my best to be a good ambassador for the club by travelling to some other swing events in Korea and improving my skills.

Nan-ta inspires us with confidence about his leadership abilities.

After serving as president for one year of a club in a foreign country (run in that country's language), I can say that the feeling of acceptance I felt at Swing and People has only increased since I last blogged about it. How lucky I am. Most people who move to Korea for a few years to teach find that they are unable to form more than superficial relationships with a few Koreans, and even then usually only English-speaking ones. Korea is not the easiest society to "break into" from a foreign perspective, and while Koreans are all too excited to bring you to Korean festivals and show you "culture," they're a bit hesitant to bring you into their lives in a meaningful way. Through dancing, I've found not only a new passion that will probably be with me throughout my life, but also friendships with fun, interesting people.

Jina, a friend for life.

And so, Min Gi (who feels the same way I do about the awesome folks of Swing and People) and I have decided that we will have our wedding next year at the swing dance club, in the presence of our friends and lots of great music and dancing fun. It really is the perfect choice for us, though not traditional for America or Korea. We've been going through the annoying, meticulous, detail-planning aspect, generally with a light-hearted attitude. It helps me a lot that he wants to take care of so many little things. Call me unfeminine, but I just don't care about stuff like decorations, invitations, and etiquette--not to even mention color themes, paper weight, and linens (none of which we're bothering with). I've written my opinions on weddings before in this blog. While this is a compromise from the beach surprise wedding I wanted, it's something I think I'll still have fun doing, and hopefully, so will our guests. (P.S. If you want an invite, e-mail me your address and I'll hope to see you there, on January 9)

I also uploaded a video of me dancing with Malddugi, a swing dancer from Busan who visited last night to tell us that he is also getting hitched--in November! I'm excited.



There's not much lindy (unfortunately) 'cause the song is fast, but you can get a sense of how I'm doing after about a year and half of learning to boogey. Also, I uploaded another video dancing with Juno, but Min Gi is not so good a cameraman, so while you can find it through my youtube account, I'm not going to advertise it here.

Only in Korea...

One of my Hong Kong swing dance friends posted this video to his facebook. It is unbelievable, but makes perfect sense if you live in this country. I bring you Korea's champion synchronized swimming team, dancing to Michael Jackson, in the 63 building's aquarium in downtown Seoul. Enjoy!

Where'd the month go???

Well, I'm back in Korea. (Already?) Have been for about a week. Moving to a new apartment today and Thursday is keeping me pretty busy and jet-lag's been zapping my energy. But enough of that.

Min Gi and I had a fabulous vacation, seeing and doing lots of stuff and meeting a lot of people I love (including some new folks at swing dance and my brother's friends). This year's visit was much longer than my solo trip last year, and therefore more refreshing and energizing overall. I will now inundate you with photo albums as I summarize my trip.

Dad, Brian, and I took Min Gi on his first sailing trip. He fell in love with it. We later took Amanda's husband out (Brian declined that round) and he also enjoyed the ride. Sailing is the best:

Sailing with Dad, Brian, and Min Gi

We visited my (absolutely beautiful) alma mater, St. Mary's College of Maryland, located conveniently next to yet-to-be-discovered tourist attraction of the historic colonial settlement at the first capital of Maryland. Min Gi was inspired by the scenery and re-proposed. We also completed a 4 mile nature hike after exploring the campus and historic sites thoroughly, so we were pretty beat at the end of the day. I took some of my favorite photos of the America trip here:

St. Mary's College of Maryland at Historic St. Mary's City.

We were suppose to meet Michelle and her brother Zach for some fun white water tubing near Harper's Ferry, but got rained out. (We were able to go tubing with Michelle a week or so later, but my camera is not waterproof, so she has the only pictures from that adventure). Instead, we went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore (complete with Dolphin Show viewing) and hung around the Inner Harbor, watching the storm:

Baltimore Inner Harbor

My kind and wonderful parents whisked my siblings, guests, and me away for a five-day, four-night stay on Chincoteague Island in Virginia. We spent the time relaxing on the beach, gorging on glorious seafood, bonding with each other, kayaking around the nearby streams, and being eaten alive by evil mosquitoes. It was relaxing and heavenly:

Chincoteague

Next, Min Gi and I went on a road trip to Parkersburg, WV and Little Hocking, OH (just across the Ohio River from one another) where my aunt from Lebanon owns a very successful Lebanese restaurant and she lives with her husband, Dad's brother, respectively. While there, we gorged on Lebanese food and went to a Lebanese culture festival with my aunt's brother (and co-owner of the restaurant). There was belly-dancing and general silly fun:

West Virginia/Ohio

And (finally) we kidnapped my adopted brother, Sam, and went to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. This is a very fun, but very expensive, activity that involved getting Min Gi to pet American Beef (it was so cute!) and eat Death (aka Funnel Cake). We had a great time and took a bunch of pictures:

Montgomery County Agricultural Fair

So... I hope you get a chance to peruse whatever albums appeal to you. We also did some things that I (regrettably) didn't photograph, such as the giant dinner I hosted, or the barbecue with friends I had, or Sarah's dance recital at Carter Baron and Min Gi's and my first foray into the DC Swing Dance scene. I have so many great memories of time with family and friends. But wouldn't you know it? Three weeks wasn't enough time to see everyone I hoped to see or do everything I hoped to do.

I am actually excited about moving back "home" next year... but that concept of home keeps changing the longer I live away. I will blog more about that soon. Mostly, I just wanted you all to know I was alive!

That's Very Hot!

Um... I have no words. This, my friends, is Choco Boy (초코보이):



This must be shared. Leah introduced me to it. If you can believe, the "Hot hot hot hot" song has made its way into mainstream Korean TV commercials.