Ice-capades...

Yesterday, Min Gi and I took a trip out to Biseulsan, a mountain to the south of Daegu. I went there last year for the ice festival and was eager to return for some more ice and hiking. We ended up going to a different part of the ice park than I went to last year, so I got to see some different activities.

Here we are, ice park behind us.

It was a lot of fun, although very crowded near the ice formations as all the young families in Daegu decided their children needed to play on the ice.

...And then of course we decided to play.

I'm going to kill you with my ice dagger!

Min Gi takes the mature route.

Look we found a log swing that wasn't crawling with 8-year-olds! Woo-hoo!

Check out the complete album:

Biseulsan/Ice Festival

After that, we went hiking a bit, although since it's winter, we decided it was too cold and we didn't have time to make it to the peak. We hiked up to this neat ancient Buddha statue and to an open space for praying. We then went on a little off trail adventure and got filthy before deciding we were being stupid and didn't have enough daylight left to "rough it" quite that much (the crazy hiking ajosshis we followed a bit though, they were fine, I'm sure). We talked a lot and nearly froze to death on the walk back to the car. It took me about 2 hours to thaw out.

In the end, we crashed pretty hard after dinner. But it was a fine winter weekend.

He cooks, again...

Min Gi wanted to make curry last night, because he knows I like it so much. He ended up also making a Korean-style omelet.

Amazing.

You should really be able to SMELL the awesomeness... It was a fantastic night.

Day 1 of 15.

Went to work today to give a joint presentation with William to the incoming first-year high school students. We planned most of it last week when classes were being cancelled up and down and all the teachers were just showing movies anyway. It was pretty fun, actually.

I shouldn't brag, but I really love my job. Public schools totally rock over hagwons for break times (though there are other things that I plan to blog about soon that are much more difficult at public schools).

Over January and February, I have to work 15 days total. For nine of these days, I'm being paid a little extra because it is a camp fee (although I have to be at a bus stop at 7:00 a.m. in the bitter cold, so I consider this just compensation). Although only seven of these days are "official" vacation (for which I will be in Hanoi, Vietnam), and I've been asked to do some proofreading/writing for the student paper, I'm generally "free" for a couple months.

This is lovely.

I would spend a few days skiing or just hauling around Korea or even sneak off to Japan or China, but right now I have some personal and financial goals I'm working on. So I'm trying to use my time to my advantage (and not spend too much money). For example, yesterday I met up with my language exchange partner, Sung Mi, for about three hours (she's on a college break and going to America for an internship in March, so she's really keen to study a bunch this break) to study Korean. I'm also cooking again, and remember how much I love it! I'm catching up on books I've meant to read and getting started back on my master's degree stuff.

I hope everyone has as lovely a break as I am having! I won't have much stress again until next Monday when I have to wake ridiculously early to teach English teachers about writing in English. That's a redundant-sounding sentence if I ever heard one.

Stay warm, folks.

Pictures of a Lazy Weekend.

My cats take over my bed.

Here is the evil 사자. Can't you see her plotting?

Perfect Princess, looking regally perfect.

My Christmas present from Min Gi. They have bells that jingle when you walk in them. We took turns wearing them and running around the apartment driving the above-pictured felines insane.

Happy New Year to ME!!!

Damn Seoul Uyu's Banana Milk. Dammit to hecks.

Let me explain.

This post was supposed to be about the fantastic, awesome time I had last night. I was going to meet Min Gi at a party with all our friends in Daegu and then he got tickets (with seating!) on a train to Busan that had been sold out the previous day. I was going to meet up with Rebecca (who is back in the ROK) to watch the sun rise on Haeundae beach (it's kind of a tradition in Korea to watch the first sunrise at a beach). I was going to bring my camera and have a fabulous time. It was going to be awesome.

But none of this happened.

What did happen was I awoke from my pre-party nap with my stomach in violent knots. Within 15 minutes, I had stuff coming out both ends and I realized I had food poisoning.

Ok, fine... I'll skip TKD and it'll pass in a couple hours and the rest of the night can still be awesome, I just won't drink... right?

Min Gi called to check on me and I told him about being sick and that I was missing TKD, but I should still be at the party when I said I would. He offered to come over, but I said no, it should be ok.

Two AGONIZING hours later, relief was nowhere in sight and I wasn't able to hold down water. I called Min Gi and Rebecca to tell them the bad news. Min Gi again insisted he should come over, but I said it wasn't a good idea. I was GROSS.

He called again at midnight to ring in the new year together. Around 2 am I was considering caving and telling him to come over and take me to the hospital when I was at last able to keep some water down.

Last night was hell.

This morning I find out that my lunch was not the evil culprit. William had the same symptoms. It was the stupid banana milk we were given as an end of the year snack at work. Evil banana milk.

Sorry if this post was a bit too scatological for your tastes. If it helps, I've decided never to eat again. I'm sure once I feel better, I'll change my mind, but right now the thought of food--- ugh...it's gross.

New Year's Resolutions...

To keep myself accountable... some goals for the year.

1. Finish the Master's degree.
2. Be consumer-debt free (student debt will take a few more years... oh the irony that MOST of the consumer debt is paying for school expenses not covered by loans...).
3. Get 2 dan in TKD. Make TKD a DAILY priority.
4. Complete all of 2A and 2B in Sogang plus finish the Legends reader. Generally continue Korean study.
5. Take some more lindy hop workshops. At least four.
6. Commit to making a healthy diet consistent. Daily HEALTHY breakfast, more vegetables, less cheese, wine (and other such "fun" beverages), and chocolate/ice cream, no more diet coke or coffee.
7. Hike Biseulsan, Jirisan, and Seoraksan (the last two need training).
8. Travel to at least two new countries.
9. Finish two of my currently unfinished writing projects and blog consistently.
10. (Yes I'm going there...) Lose 10 kgs (22lbs).

I will post on these goals as I achieve them. I have some time in January and February to work towards them (as I only have to work 15 days during these two months--yay vacation!).

Go me!

Fantastic Christmas...Wish I had taken photos!

I ate so much food in the last few days, I'm afraid to look at the scale until the diet gets back to normal. However, it has been a wonderful few days.

Christmas Eve

Min Gi got dressed up in a suit (rare for him) and accompanied me to the EPIK teachers in Daegu dinner--a buffet at a nice wedding hall. I ran into a few people I've met over the last few months in Korea. It was good to see everyone all dolled up and happy.

After dinner, I had plans to meet my good friend Yumiko downtown. Yumiko was one of my best friends in my first six months here before she had to return to Japan to finish her master's degree. She was in town visiting her boyfriend, Jin-oo (yes, they stayed together all these last 10 months they were in different countries... impressive), but did want to catch up with her other friends still in Daegu. It was so nice to see her. And Min Gi got to practice his few phrases of Japanese that he had learned when he was exploring options exporting some kind of product to Japan (he gets lots of interesting business ideas).

I was going to meet up with William and some of our other EPIK friends at a club for dancing, but my tummy was hurting (probably from digesting all that food and drinking all that wine and soju!), but I wasn't really tired, so Min Gi and I went to watch a late night movie at CGV. We watched Yes Man, starring Jim Carey (and he spoke a LOT of Korean in the movie... hahaha... no joke!). I had been given the book by Anne right before I left for Korea and didn't bring it with me, but remember thinking it would have been a fun read. I may have to go check it out now.

We got home pretty late, but I wasn't tired, so I called the family and got to talk to everyone.

Christmas Day

Slept in late (it was delightful). Went downtown a few hours before I was supposed to meet up with people to do some people watching. Ended up reading a new book by my favorite free-lance journalist MP Dunleavey (I've been following her since she used to write a relationship column for some now-defunct women's website), who is actually a close personal friend of Caroline Hwang, whose book I recommended just a few weeks ago... funny coincidences.

At nine, I met some friends at a posh hotel for ANOTHER wonderful holiday buffet. I met Iosha's fiance who is visiting her in Korea for Christmas and some of her co-workers and had a really nice time.

Day After Christmas

Woke up VERY early (4:30 a.m.) to meet Min Gi, Ha Young, and Tim for skiing at a nearby resort for the day. This was my Christmas present to Min Gi, as he doesn't know how to ski. (I love skiing--it is the thing I took from my last relationship along with an appreciation of fine wines that I am very satisfied with.)

In the morning, Ha Young taught Min Gi the basics of standing in skis and how to not kill yourself (or other people) going down a hill, while Tim and I hit some of the intermediate slopes on the top half of the mountain. We chatted about his time in JET and other things. I like Tim; he's from Alaska and a good friend of Min Gi's, but I got to know him better after this trip.

At lunch, we had some problems because we had brought ramyeon cups to avoid paying outrageous prices for lunch, but there was no hot water available (probably to discourage this kind of money-saving tactic... sigh). So we all split a Dominos cheese pizza for lunch and had some of the muffins we bought that morning. Min Gi did get some cheap soup and used the water to make two of the cups of ramyeon, so we were pretty satisfied after lunch.

This time, I decided to teach Min Gi how to turn (because he should be controlling his speed with turns, not just with the wedge) and let Ha Young and Tim run off to the advanced slopes. I had a great time. He learns sports stuff quickly, being so naturally athletic and good natured, and I enjoyed just being out in the freezing cold weather with snow all around.

We made it back to the bus on time and had dinner at a 굴국밥 joint near my house. 굴국밥 is a kind of oyster soup with rice and egg. It's quite delicious.

All in all, a fantastic weekend so far. And with Swing tonight, it should be pretty amazing. :-)

Happy Holidays!

Picking Fights... Clever Boy.

Min Gi's good with people, but I only just realized yesterday that his talent does indeed extend to the way he deals with me. I also managed to figure out why we fight so rarely.

Being in the rotten mood that I was, I started picking a fight about (of all stupid things in the world) the cost of living in Tokyo. This morphed into a diatribe of why I hate big cities and how badly I need to get out of Daegu after another couple years. We were on the phone.

After about two or three minutes of working myself up into righteous indignation, he gently cut me off with a "This is something that it would be better to talk about face to face."

How can I argue with that? He's completely right. Notice how perfect it is, though? He (essentially) tells me what I'm angry about is SO important that we need to be in the same room to fully communicate it. So I can't even be mad about him not talking about it right then.

He's done this before... I realize.

Nine times out of ten when I get like this, it's on the phone, and it's either a need to vent (with a girlfriend) or picking a fight to "test" the person's love for me (with family or a boyfriend--I'm not proud of this quality of mine). I've never had someone handle it so adeptly.

Because he's way too cute to fight with in person, when he asks (and he always does) to talk about it in person next time we meet up, I usually have gotten over the need to pick a fight... so I vent if I need to (which is way better face to face anyhow because then you can get hugs) or address the real issue (not the surface bitch-guard "issue") and feel better and move on.

If he was doing it just to get out of talking about the "tough stuff" it would be a problem, but it's never like that. He always is open to talking about anything.

Just not stuff that makes me angry and likely to get bitchy on the phone. Only in person.

He's a clever, clever man.

Homesick...

...

There's not much to say about it, as it's really a drag. I didn't realize how homesick I was until I was researching the JET program (Min Gi and I had a crazy idea that after I renew my current contract once more--for 2009-2010, we could go work in Japan for a year or two) and was trying to figure out what the hell I'd do with myself for the not-quite-one-year between the end of my contract at this school (end of August) and the JET start date (start of August), and realized that I could go home and teach for the 10 months easily.

As soon as the idea came into my head, I was hit by how much I miss my family (and some other things about America, like working at the suicide hotline and doing community theater) and how much I HATE not being there when my dad's suffering so much.

My mom sent me an amazing Christmas package (which I already opened, of course!), and it just overwhelmed me. What they're dealing with there while I'm off having "adventures" over here. And I felt so... lost. And really... what the hell am I doing here? Anything useful or interesting? Anything worth being unable to go home for a few months while my dad's immune system is so compromised my very presence, coming as I am from a foreign country, would seriously endanger his life? Is Korea really worth that?

I'd usually say, "yes," without hesitation because I know and I trust that his doctors are doing what is right and that he will be fine and I'll spend August at home... That this is where I need and want to be right now... That my parents fully support my decision and know I'm happy here...

But today... today I just want to be HOME.

Dammit. Stupid tears. Doesn't help that Christmas is in two days.

I thought I was going to be ok this year.

Swing, my baby.

Saturday was the closing ceremony at the YMCA for Korean classes. We had a 장기자랑 or talent show. Our teacher insisted that we sing "Nobody" by the Wondergirls; it's this year's "Tell Me." I also broke out the dobok and did the Koryeo poomsae for everybody--though I lost it a bit at the end when I saw the expression on a Chinese gentleman's face (he was in the beginner class) as my foot came too close for his comfort in a side kick. Oops.

I have enjoyed this semester's class, and attending the classes keeps my studying a little structured. Plus it's a great resource for clarifying any questions I have that come up in my daily life here. So even though I will miss three (one for a swing camp in Seoul, two for Vietnam) out of eight classes this winter, I plan to continue the course.

After class, I met Min Gi at the train station because it was the third anniversary party for the Busan swing club, Swing Life. The club for the party was in a rather red-light-ish district of Busan, so we had a hard time finding a place to stay that didn't advertise hookers, but we ended up at a nice little hotel right around the corner from the ballroom.

Turned out this was at the same place as the party for the other Busan swing club in March. About one year after starting to swing dance, I can say that it's really become an important part of my life. I had a fantastic time with people, even if I was too tired to dance all that much. Min Gi won a t-shirt by doing a flip for everyone (ah Koreans and their love of showing off, even as they protest it).

We spent a lazy Sunday morning and then returned to Daegu, where we continued the lazy theme by going to see Australia. I'm a huge Baz Luhrmann and David Gulpilil fan, so I loved it, but it's probably not for everybody. It was sappy and over-the-top in places. Plus I think I've somehow turned really pacifist recently as war scenes in movies make me very angry these days, and this one featured the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in WWII. I spent a good 30 minutes of the movie fuming about it.

Then Min Gi and I had a lovely talk about the future... after which he was so proud of himself for being "brave" because he'd apparently wanted to talk to me about things for awhile, but had been waiting until we were drinking soju. Koreans have a belief about how if you drink soju, you can tell the truth. But he told the truth without the aid of alcohol. Good for him.

Good for us.