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!

Jack of All Trades

My husband is on a mission to find out what his true passion is.

After being a computer programmer for a contracting company to Samsung (and getting fed up with the extensive hours and Korean work culture) and then owning his own networking/computer repair business until the world economic crisis dried up contracts, he's decided he no longer wants to do anything with computers for his career. For awhile, he thought he might want to own a bar or restaurant, so he had taken a job as a bartender and that's how I met him, but he's since realized that it's a pretty unhealthy lifestyle. About a year ago, he happened into a nine month contract as a temp for the Department of Labor which brought him a steady salary doing data entry and site visits, but he quit that job so he could take enough time off for the wedding preparations and then our honeymoon.

Although he is now picking up odd jobs with friends, this has left him with a lot of free time. He has started filling it with new hobbies.

One day I came home and was greeted with the question, "What do you think about wire art?"

"Wire art?"

"Yes." He shows me some pictures online. "I want to learn how to make it. I ordered a book about it!"

"Sounds great, honey."

A week later, I find Min Gi on the floor of our bedroom with beads and earring backs and pliers surrounding him. He is making jewelry. Over the next few weeks, he repairs my two broken necklaces and makes three new pairs of earrings for me. Thank you, honey.

"I found a soccer club that meets on Tuesday nights near our apartment!"

"Great, hon!" And let me kiss the knee you've scraped up.

Next, he begins visiting the library every day to read about American culture and study English. He even gets his first library card. He is very proud of this (and rightfully so... library cards are AWESOME). Let's read together, honey.

This weekend he announces that a mutual friend of ours has offered to teach him to play the guitar.

"But you don't have a guitar."

"He has an extra one that he will let me borrow."

After one lesson this Saturday, our house has been filled nonstop with the irregular strums of a beginning guitarist. You're doing so well for just two days, honey!

He hasn't found it quite yet, but at this rate, I'm pretty sure he'll figure out what it is that he truly loves doing. Or at least we'll both be entertained...

I love this man.

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.

This changed my life.

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

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.

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.

Bullfighting, North Korean Dancers, and Wine Tunnel

Warning: Post is a bit long and audiovisual heavy. Enjoy!

Saturday, Min Gi and I took a drive out to Cheongdo for the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival (청도 소싸움 축제). The bullfights consisted of two animals, roughly matched in weight, butting their heads at each other until one of them decides he's had enough and runs away. Although I've heard it's more brutal in Spain, where the aim is to kill the animals, by the end of some of the longer fights (20 or more minutes), some of them had quite a bit of blood oozing out from various places on their bodies (especially behind the ears where the opposing cow's horns often struck).

Daegu bull 차차 (ChaCha) tricks his oppenent into advancing before going in for the win. This particular fight bothered me because the animals kept stopping like they didn't want to fight, but their owners would goad them on. By the end, both were pretty bloody.

Most of the matches consisted of a few moments of action between long periods of rather boring tension while the bulls pushed their heads against each other, moving very little. You can see this for yourself in the video below. The beginning and ending of this clip show the moments of action, while the middle minute or so is pretty much why it got kind of dull after awhile.



The bull who has the advantage here, 탱고 (Tango), maintained the lead for most of the match, but eventually lost to the more experienced bull.

Outside the main arena were a number of Cheongdo culture celebrations booths. Of course, there were also games for children and lots of art featuring bulls.

Me and my new pet.

Dance troupe from Pyongyang

The festival also feature performers from all over Korea, but the highlight of the day was a troupe from Pyongyang, North Korea. They were introduced by a group of North Korean refugees who work for some kind of reunification non-profit group. This was the first time I've seen live North Koreans who weren't trying to scare the living daylights out of me at the border.

The singers had amazingly beautiful costumes and heavily made up faces.

This was my first time hearing the North Korean accent in person. To me, it sounded like they were speaking Korean very high-pitched, like they are just about to run out of breath, and with an air of desperation. (It's possible this is compounded by the effects of Communism and starvation, but who knows?)

Pitcher balancing dance. It was really cool when they started spinning.

Watching the dance troupe reminded me of the novel, Jia, where the main character is a lead dancer at the main tourist hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea for most of her adult life. While seeing it for myself was very much how I imagined it would be (more about precision of moment and pitch than individual expression, big and bright and propagandistic), it was also quite a shock to see them so close with tensions between the two Koreas in such a strained place.



I tried to get as much video as possible of the numerous performances, but it was difficult because half of the stadium decided to leave their seats while the performance was going on and because I'd used so much memory photographing/videotaping the bulls that I was almost out of space. So none of the clips are of high quality or of the complete performances, but they are definitely worth watching.


Creepy Toy Dance.


Cool Dance with Strange Castinet-Like Instruments.

Wine Tunnel

After the Pyongyang performance, we decided we'd seen enough of bulls butting heads, so we headed out to a wine tunnel we passed a few minutes from the stadium. This wine tunnel was a storehouse for persimmon wine. While I'm not a huge fan of fruit wines in general or persimmons in their natural form, the wine itself was pretty dry. It tasted a bit like a well-oaked chardonnay. I enjoyed it and wandering around in the dark.

Ghostly Min Gi. Not the Ghost of Min Gi, just to clarify.

Check out the full day's album for more pictures of interest:

Bullfighting Festival

Hanoi, Vietnam

I began my Vietnam trip in the capitol city, Hanoi. Hanoi has beautiful architecture (which was quite a relief after Korea's bland, concrete monotony) characterized by narrow, long houses--influences from when the French taxed residents based on the width of buildings. The city is also a traffic nightmare, since there are more motorbikes and bicycles than cars and the motorbikes do not stop for pedestrians--you simply look forward and walk at a slow, steady pace and trust that they'll drive around you. I found it best to cross with a local.

More evidence of Hanoi residents' insane apathy towards the risks that motorized transport entails. Yes, this rail track is active daily.

My first full day in Vietnam, I took off with a girl I met at my hostel (highly recommended if you're traveling to Hanoi) to explore the many museums and monuments in and around the city. Everything was beautiful, but crowded with tourists (and of course, the people trying to sell things to the tourists).

I visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the museum and sites around it. Then I went to the Temple of Literature, Vietnam's oldest university which was very beautiful, and I found myself making comparisons between temple/palace sites in Korea and the same in Vietnam (Vietnam's always have water; Korea's art is more linear and clean, Vietnam's more intricate suggesting a more direct Hindu influence on its Buddhism). After lunch, I took in the Hoa Lo Prison (otherwise known as the "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam war). The exhibits all focused on the French colonists' imprisonment (and torture) of Vietnam national activists under French rule. Finally, I ended my day at the Museum of Vietnam History, near Hoan Kiem Lake.

Me in front of the One Pillar Pagoda (notice how it's surrounded by water).

All of these things were interesting, and you should definitely check out my photos from the album linked at the bottom of this post, but nothing from my day compared to the evening. I had tickets to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater.

Now, I am a former theater techie and have a huge thing for puppets and whatnot, so I was already really excited about seeing the water puppets in Vietnam. It's a unique art form to the northern half of the country, developed as a way to appease the gods and entertain villagers when the rice fields overflowed (which happens a lot in a country that is essentially at sea level). The program featured 17 songs, each with unique puppets and motions. It was difficult to get pictures because the puppets moved so quickly and naturally, but that didn't stop me from taking a lot!

The musicians concentrate as they play on traditional Vietnamese instruments.

An excerpt from the story of Hoan Kiem Lake (the legend of the restored sword)

The puppeteers take a bow. They used to get diseases from prolonged exposure to the dirty water, but nowadays they wear waders.

Finally, one of the excerpts I filmed, the "Dragon Dance":



I was completely mesmerized by the performance. I want to try it! Maybe next time.

Check out the rest of my pictures from the day's adventures. There are photos from most of the museums (though not of President Minh because cameras were not permitted inside the Mausoleum) and the lake as well as some random propaganda seen around town and other fun pictures:

Around Hanoi (museums, etc.)

Update from Vietnam

So far, I have...

...seen an extremely unique form of perfomance art--water puppets.
...slept on a boat in Ha Long Bay, after kayaking around caves and swimming in the salty, still water.
...honored Ho Chi Minh with my silent walk around his well-preserved body (complete with face that still looks like it's plotting evil deeds).
...made friends with Germans, Malaysians, Danes, Australians, a Canadian, a Scot, and another American.
...spoken in Korean with a couple of Vietnamese guys who used to work in Daejeon.
...been bitten by too many mosquitoes to count.
...eaten too much good food to list.
...bartered with shopkeepers.
...narrowly avoided motorbikes on the busy streets of Hanoi; barely escaping with my life.
...climbed a mountain in a national jungle preserve on Cat Ba island.
...read most of Obama's first book.
...become addicted to Vietnamese style coffee.
...generally been having a grand old time and taken lots of pictures of it all that I will share when I return to Korea.

Tonight is my last in Hanoi. I will visit a pagoda tomorrow and then move on to the ancient cities of Hoi An and Hue via overnight train. I will come back to Hanoi for my last afternoon here (for present shopping and possible spa visiting).

Graduation at 외고: Silly.

Today was Taegu Foreign Language High School's graduation ceremony. I was curious to see what a Korean ceremony would be like, but as I quickly learned (and what I really already knew) was that my school is a little... um... special.

The students usually wear their school uniforms, but at our school they are not required to wear uniforms (as a boarding school and special gifted school we have a freer atmosphere within the building). So the third grade students just dressed up. Most of them looked pretty snazzy.

As the crowds gathered, you could see family members and friends with huge, rather gaudy bouquets for the graduates.

Much like American ceremonies, the principal called the names of each graduate and they crossed a stage to receive their diplomas. Of course, in the Korean ceremony, there was a lot more bowing.

Contrary to what you might suppose, Korean ceremonies are a lot less formal. Students and parents talked the whole time (the atmosphere was similar to that of a wedding in this country). Nobody paid any attention to the principal's speech. And the strangest part (which I think might be unique to our school, as we seem to have a higher tolerance for student shenanigans than most schools) was that every now and then the third grade students would rush the stage in groups and scream out messages of love for their teachers or perform little dances for them.


Here is one some girls from his homeroom performed for Mr. Jang.

It was strange. But funny and cute.

I stood near the Japanese and Chinese native teachers, and we chatted in Korean about what graduation ceremonies are like in their countries. I think we all agreed that this Korean ceremony was the silliest.

Blues Workshop: From Middle School Dances to Almost That Sexy.

Last week, I attended a three-hour blues/musicality dance workshop lead by Peter Vawter, a dance and music teacher originally from the West coast, but living in Japan for the last 10 years or so. He's touring Korea with a well-known swing dancer from Seoul, giving workshops along the way. Lucky me--Min Gi and Anna (head of the other Daegu swing club) organized the whole thing and it went off fantastically.

I've been intrigued by blues dancing because when I've seen it done well, it's the sexiest damn thing I've ever seen. No lie. I'm partial to Latin dances for their sensuality, but I was blown away by blues.

However, every time I've tried it, it's been awkward for many reasons. For one, you have to follow really well because your bodies are pressed so tight together. If you make a mistake in the footwork, you could accidentally knee your partner in the groin, especially if he's shorter than you (and this often happens to me in Korea). Even the spins happen in tight to the body, though I've been getting more comfortable with that in Lindy, as I can now successfully NOT elbow Gong Bi in the face (unless I want to, of course).

Our initial discomfort with being that close to each other manifested itself in the first half of the workshop seeming like a middle school dance in the gym. Blues doesn't work without some grinding actions, so Peter played us hip hop which loosened us right up. Mmm... Sexy.

Also, the "lifts" or "throws" in blues are not jumps, but dips. With a jump, I support most of my own body weight. However, with dips, I have to trust a man to hold my weight up with his body. Um... I already have weight issues. This is compounded because many Korean men are smaller than me. And I live in a country that doesn't believe it's possible for a woman to weigh more than 60 kgs (about 132 lbs). As a result, except for certain fellas, I usually just support my own weight and arch my back. This works pretty well for the guys I could break by sitting on them.

At any rate, at the end of three hours, I was able to do a lot more than I could before. Plus I think it is improving my follow for other kinds of dances. It felt sexy dancing with the guys. It was great.

In the meantime, enjoy Peter and his Korean partner dancing to "Wade in the Water." May I recommend you dim the lights, pour a glass of wine, and light up a candle first? It'll put you in the proper mood.

Camp Swing It 2009!

January 16-18 I attended Camp Swing It in Pyeongtek, Korea (a city a little bit south of Seoul). Eleven hour to hour and a half long workshops and two awesome dance parties later, my legs felt like they were going to fall off. But... I was a much better dancer. This weekend, back in Daegu dancing, a lot of leads commented on my improvements, and that felt really great.

I learned a lot from some amazing lindy hop teachers:

Peter Loggins and Mia Goldsmith taught workshops on Balboa, Bal-swing, and historical pieces from the Savoy Ballroom.

Kevin St. Laurent and Emily Hoffberg focused on techniques related to leading and following well, as well as ways to dance easier to fast music.

Mikey Pedroza and Nina Gilkenson who taught a lot of techniques they learned from Frankie Manning (whose hip operation kept him from appearing himself at the camp, sadly).

Italian lindy hoppers Vincenzo Fesi and Isabella Gregorio taught a variety of moves and techniques in a way where they broke everything down in well-paced practice sessions.

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to study so closely with these folks for the weekend. At camp, in addition to dancers from other parts of Korea, I also met dancers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and Shanghai. I learned a ton and my interest in swing has actually increased from the exposure. I'm looking forward to more events like this in the future!

The lovely gentlemen who organized this fantastic event, Kang Seok Kim and Min-Q

Many thanks to the organizers. I can't wait for 2010!

"Translating"

At my taekwondo studio, I've been sort of loosely accepted by the middle and high school students I train with. I am caught somewhere between older sister, exotic oddity, friend, and (occasional) translator. For example, last night, one of the boys was struggling with a passage in his English practice book and asked me to tell him what it meant. I surprised myself at being able to provide (rather easily) a rough approximation of the Korean. Granted the English level was at about that of a second grader in the U.S., but still... I was happy I could help him.

The girls are really sweet. They talk to me a lot. Sometimes I don't understand everything right away, but we're both getting good at re-phrasing it so that we understand each other eventually. I've learned quite a bit of Korean this way. However, they tend to ask me to translate the English in Korean pop songs (or English pop songs played often in Korea).

It's funny because they often don't know what they mean at all.

For example, pop sensation 이효리 (Lee Hyo Ri) has a new song out called "U Go Girl!" (The uninitiated should watch the video here.) So naturally, the girls want to know what "you go girl" means because to them, with their lack of exposure to American hip-hop, it sounds like she's saying "go away, girl!"

I translated it as "여자 와이팅!" (Girl Fighting!)

(As a side note, Ms. Lee has some of the WORST English pronunciation I've ever heard. It sounds exactly like foreigners mocking Korean pronunciation of English. It is both comical and sad to hear: "Hei gull! Gull! hei yoo goh gull!" Please, please someone help her.)

A few days later they asked about Abba song "Mamma Mia," which is very popular here now as there is a movie based on the Broadway musical of the same name out in theaters. They thought it was about someone's 어머니 (mother). Anyone who is familiar with the lyrics knows this song is about a cheating guy (which I also explained to the girls).

I translated the song's title as "이타리아말: 아이고!" (Italian: Oh my god!)

Even then we had problems because they thought I said, in English, "I go," as it sounds like "아이고."

I may not be studying as hard as I once was, but I'm definitely still learning. Now if I can just get back to studying...

I don't think that word means what you think it means...

Min Ki introduced me to a friend a little while ago. The first time I met this guy--a musician and a student who used to bar tend on occasion--he shook my hand and said, "Wow, your hands are so soft." Then he had to go home because he, like most other adult Korean males who are not married, lives with his mom, and Mom wanted him home by 2:30 a.m.

The next time I saw him, he was playing guitar and singing. He's good. After he finished he came over to say hello.

"Wow! Beautiful Diana! How are you?"

"I'm great. You play very well."

He puts his hand to his chest and gets a look on his face like I just told him he won an Oscar. After prematurely congratulating me on my relationship with Min Ki (we've been dating a bit, but nothing definite) and then wishing us many future babies, he proceeds to spend about 20 minutes elaborating on Min Ki's good qualities: "He's so strong! When we arm-wrestle I can do nothing!" "He has... how do I say this?... a moustache on his chest." (chest hair--rare in Koreans) He also mentioned that Min Ki is a "virgin" with a "pure heart."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes, me too."

"You're a virgin with a pure heart?" Eyebrow raised.

"Of course." A few minutes later. "How did Min Ki get so lucky to win the heart of such a beautiful woman? Did he tell you that you must be tired?"

"Why am I tired?"

"Because you have been in my dreams. Running all night."

"Oh my god. Seriously? You studied English pick up lines?"

"Not at all. This is how I really feel. Do you have a phone? I need to call my mom and tell her I just met the woman I love."

I'm laughing too hard to respond, at which point Min Ki comes over. I try to explain to him what a "pick-up line" is and how his friend has studied them. I am not exactly successful, so when he walks away the musician says, "See? He is a virgin. He has a pure heart."

"And you, too, right?"

"But of course! Wow! Your hair is so beautiful. Golden hair! I would give you $1,000,000 for two centimeters of your hair. But I think Min Ki would kill me if I did."

"You are the most 바람둥이 man I've ever met." (Korean word literally means "wind person" but it means a kind of player, so maybe as easy as the wind)

"No, no. Not at all. I am a virgin. I have a pure heart!"

"I think someone might have given you a bad translation of that word..."

Touristy Seoul.

Last Sunday, Se Jin and I bid adieu to Sarah who was off for a day of shopping in the big city and headed over to Gyeongbok Palace. It was incredibly beautiful, so I'll let the numerous pictures speak for themselves:

Gyeongbok Palace and Insadong

I stepped into history. Notice the new sunglasses!

Look at the angry monkey! See how he chides you!

I was obsessed with the statues lining the edges of the rooftops on the palace. They were intricate and each section was a little bit different.

Behind the palace is the National Folk Museum of Korea which had lots of cool stuff to see, but I couldn't take any pictures inside. However, I did catch a bit of this performance outside the museum (observe my brilliant camerawoman skillz and the debut of my husband's video function):


Since Amanda was in nearby Insadong with Good Man, we decided to all meet up for lunch before Se Jin and I took the train home to Daegu. Insadong is an artisan district with lots of traditional Korean crafts for sale, neat little teashops and restaurants, and the Ssamzie Market. Amanda said it was the least crowded she's ever seen it, which was great because I felt like it was pretty crowded.

Prepping the ddok!

After Sunday, I was forced to admit that there are some amazing things about Seoul--the culture and sights are exceptional. The subway system isn't that hard to figure out (it's rather well labelled). However, I much prefer my laid back neighborhood in undeveloped Dong Gu.

Apparently, I don't really need sleep...

I have had the most bizarre and busy weekends I've ever had in my life, which is impressive because 1) it's only two-thirds over and, 2) Korean weekends are spectacular debacles about which I have already blogged several times.

Friday after class I met up with Rebecca, my friend from Busan who I hung out with the night of the charity event, and we tore up the town, dancing and causing mayhem everywhere we went. It's just in our nature. Anyhow, I didn't end up getting home until the subway opened in the morning and was kept awake for several more hours and it wreaked havoc on my health so my stomach felt really weird, and I missed Korean class for the first time ever.

A couple hours later I did feel better, and since I had made plans with some of the girls for after class, I threw on clothing and dragged myself downtown to go have lunch and see the new John Travolta Hairspray (which was awesome). I had lunch at this fantastic Italian restaurant with Kirsty, Laura, and Amanda. Then Laura and Kirsty showed me this amazing bakery/coffee shop that has the most beautiful cakes you have ever seen.

Like this one. Amazing, right?

Kirsty and I split a miniature version of what can only be described as a chocolate orgasmic manna from the gods.

At some point adrenaline kicked in big time because when Yumiko texted me and asked if I wanted to meet up for dinner and to see her friend's concert, Kirsty and I happily accepted. This turned into an awesome girls' night (and of course, this means that three of the guys I've had mild flirtations with are all calling me and texting me at once to see if I wanted to hang out on a night when I had much better and more fun things to do... stupid men) that ended with delicious Vietnamese food and my being even more in love with my camera because the shots I was able to take at this concert were incredible. It was fun because Kirsty, Yumiko, and I were the only foreigners in the place, so the bands kept doing random shout outs to us (it probably helped that Yumiko's boyfriend's brother was dating one of the lead singers, so we met some of the band before the show), but they were good. Lots of American rock covers (including "Back in Black," to my delight).

This was the first band. They were pretty good--mostly punk/rock stuff

Yumiko's friend's band had a really cute bassist... but I do just have a thing for bassists...

The male lead singer of their band was insane--really. He had the most energy of any adult person I've ever met. He even introduced himself to me as "crazy," to which I replied 나도 (Me, too).

And Yumiko's friend, a lovely person and singer.

After the show and dinner, Kirsty and Yumiko departed with their respective Korean boyfriends (sigh), so I headed out to T-birds. It was quiet, but I met a cool girl Sarah who was celebrating her birthday. We both got buzzed and decided to go dancing at some of the clubs. Good times. Even if my stomach is still having some weird issues.

And then I crashed. I almost fell asleep in the cab home I was so tired. So Palgongsan this morning was not really an option. Plus I need to finish prepping for the book club meeting tonight. So I'm off to do that now.

Check out my amazing camera in the whole album from yesterday's adventures:

Korean Rock Concert and Cake.

TV watching in Korea

I have cable in Korea. But there are only a few channels with English language programming. It's nice to have some, I'm not really complaining, but it does mean that I've been watching (I use this term loosely--I generally turn it on to have something in the background) a LOT of the Style Network. I know more about the latest celebrity news in America than any other news stories, which makes me feel a little sad and under informed, but apparently not enough to actually do something about it that often.

However, a couple days this week, the Style Network aired a new fancy ad for Samsung's Anyband experiment. Basically, it seems like they took some individual Korean pop stars and put them together to make this (warning, it's about nine minutes long):



What does it say about me that I'm completely obsessed with it? It's just so darn pretty... and cute... and optimistically dystopic.