Magic Straight.

After months of being sick and feeling like crap, I decided to do something nice for myself, so I went to the salon yesterday and finally decided to do something totally different.



I got the Korean "magic straight" perm--a process that renders curly, unmanageable hair perfectly flat and soft. I love it so far.

Min Gi, on the other hand, is having confusions.

My nickname at swing is 금라면 (Gold Ramyeon) because that is what my hair looks like (or used to look like).

When I told him I was off to the salon, he looked at me really sadly and mumbled, "Goodbye 금라면. Hello, 칼국수 (another kind of noodle dish that is flat and broad)."

Poor thing.

Seoul in the Snow

My family enjoyed their time in Seoul, even with the huge amounts of snow that made the sidewalks a bit treacherous.

Dad and Mom in Insa-dong.

My brother and my husband bought couple rings. No kidding.

First picture after being legally married, across from the U.S. embassy.

My family is a United Colors of Benetton ad. I swear.

Check out the full album, which includes many pictures of my sister being goofy and meeting up with friends:

Seoul in the Snow

63 Building in the Snow.

In Seoul, my best friend from high school Anne who visited back in March, met us at the train station. 고모 (Gomo) and Cousin's Husband (who had been our guides around Sangju) met us in Seoul with a large passenger van to transport us all around the city. We all stayed in the President Hotel because another of Min Gi's cousin works as a chef at the western restaurant there. It was pretty nice, but overpriced if we hadn't gotten a huge family discount.

Everyone was exhausted from the snow travel, so they all took naps, but Anne and I had energy, so we decided to go find the 63 Building on Yeoido, an island in the middle of the Han River that runs through the middle of Seoul.

The very tall 63 building.

Inside, we got tickets for three exciting exhibits:

The Aquarium (Later I ate him for dinner).
The Wax Museum, featuring Salvador Dali and a scary haunted house where one of the workers followed us around in a Gorilla costume.
And the top deck where we viewed beautiful city snowscapes, such as this one and then night views as the sun set.

To check out the rest of the photos from our wacky adventures, look at the album:

63 Building

After coming back, some family members were getting ill, so Gomo and Cousin's Husband took Anne, Min Gi, Dad, and I out to an octopus restaurant. We watched a live octopus get dropped in a pot of boiling water and then ate it. It was delicious and mildly disturbing, and I really wish I'd taken a video.

Lacking Words.

After the ceremony, the family picture.

When I lack the words in English to adequately express the emotions that surround the events of my wedding and the merging of families, how will I ever hope to thank the people who have moved me with their kindness, their acceptance, their generosity, and their love in their native tongue?

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!

I'm married!

Yes, so the last two weeks have been awesome, but hella busy.

I am updating to say that: 1) I have joined the ajumma club! 2) I started teaching at the same time-consuming teachers' workshop I taught at last January, and 3) both Min Gi and are sick.

I will be returning to reflecting on my very nontraditional Korean wedding and the family/friends visiting me in Korea over the next few weeks, but for now it's grading papers and then NyQuil before hitting the hay.

2009 Kinda Sucked... 2010 Is Looking Up.

Mostly due to health issues, I only half accomplished my goals for this year. I did get my Master's. I do eat healthier. I would be out of consumer debt if I wasn't getting married, hadn't already paid for the honeymoon tickets, and hadn't had to visit the hospital in October. However, I'm much closer to being debt-free than I was last year, even with those expenses. The other goals have had progress made, some more, some less.

This year, I have a lot on my plate, so I'm keeping it pretty simple.

1. Obtain proper visa so that Min Gi and I can move back to America in August/September.
2. Get a decent job in America.
3. Be consumer debt free and pay off the smallest of the three school loans (with the highest interest rate).
4. Health stuff: a) Get my strength back by training 3-6 days/week b) Get the second degree belt in taekwondo after returning to training full time in March c) Eat out 3 or fewer times per week (including ordering in) because I eat more vegetables and healthier food when I cook.
5. Raise at least $7,500 for the Kenyan NGO where Min Gi and I would like to volunteer in summer 2011.
6. Have an awesome first year of marriage (starting January 9)!

I have some other things I'd like to accomplish in my Korean language studies, dance, and my writing, but I think these are the best goals for me at this time.

Christmas in Busan.

I titled this blog "Going Places," but lately it seems I haven't really gone anywhere--well physically anyhow. I've been feeling a little better each week, so I was finally up for an out-of-town adventure, just in time for Christmas.

Last year, on New Year's, Min Gi and I were planning to go see the sunrise at Haeundae beach in Busan. It's a very popular tradition in Korea to see the sunrise on the beach on the first day of the year. However, I missed out. So he suggested we go for Christmas. I started thinking maybe we could catch the last sight of Santa's sleigh as he left Asia for America (haha).

We woke up early to catch a 2 a.m. train to Haeundae and arrived at 5 a.m., just when all the clubbing folks were heading to the subway after a night of fun. While there weren't many Christmas lights up, there were lots of city night lights up, like this dizzyingly tall sign marking the businesses in one building.

Neon Fun.
The ocean front was cold, but we were very bundled up, so we felt nice at first and were having a great time relaxing on the dark, empty beach, listening to the waves and watching some stars. After about 15 minutes, it felt pretty cold again just sitting there, so we walked up and down from one end of the beach to the other to stay warm. Around 6:40, we settled back in to watch the sun rise.

Colors of the Dawn.
Unfortunately, it was a bit too cloudy on the horizon. We watched the light slowly fill up the sky, but not a proper sunrise. It's been too long since I've watched a sunset or a sunrise... Something I miss.

Goofing around in the early morning.
Finally, we were too cold, so we got up and looked for a restaurant for a yummy Christmas breakfast.

We had mushroom and tofu soup and pajeon. Heaven.

Since we had a few hours before we had to meet my friend Rebecca for a yummy Christmas brunch, we decided to take a nap in a jjimjilbang. Jjimjilbangs are kind of like Korean saunas that have separate male and female bath houses and a joint room where you can sit in the hot rooms or take a nap on the floor. We asked around and found a nice one in Seomyeon (the downtown area of Busan where two subway lines intersect). Only one Korean woman stared at me the whole time I showered, so I call that a victory (usually, as the only foreigner, I'm stared at by at least five naked women while I shower). We caught a very pleasant two hour nap before heading to the pancake brunch.

View from the apartment we visited in Busan.

Some people say that Korean architecture is identical everywhere (and ugly), and so it seems to a certain extent, but I really enjoy visiting other cities because there are subtle differences, such as the way Busan's buildings are worked around the mountains that run through it, or the way Seoul is designed around the Han river and Daegu is all flat in the valley that is surrounded by huge peaks. Although the architecture may not be spectacular, the cunning ways engineers figure out to work with the land to make population density as efficient as possible is impressive. I may prefer to live in a land with more beautiful buildings and more accessible greenspace, but I admire the ingenuity of tetris-like land use in Korea.

Check out the rest of our Christmas beach adventure:

Busan at Dawn on Christmas

We rounded out the evening with a potluck dinner at Ju-ick's house. She made the very special Christmas announcement that she and another Canadian friend of ours, Rick James, are now officially a couple! Yay for Christmas romance.

Fugly.

Our students voted to have uniforms next year. Normally Korean school uniforms (at the high school level) are super-cute three piece suits (skirts for the girls and slacks for the boys). However, our principal seemed to have decided to give students a choice between fugly and fuglier. All the teachers were making jokes about how the young men will look like ajosshis (middle aged Korean men) and the girls were very angry because the uniforms don't include skirts. Check out the "winter" options for yourself.

I'm a little sad for my kids because they so badly wanted something they could wear with pride to let other students know they belonged to one of the top two high schools in the city. Now they'll just look a little preppy. And rather frumpy.

My body apparently hates me.

After finally recovering from the hell that was my October, I caught some kind of nasty bug on Friday. I thought it was just the 24-hour kind because I was feeling alright the next day and met my friend Jina for lunch as planned, but about an hour into dancing at Asurajang, I started to get a nasty headache and some stomach issues. I took a cab home and put myself to bed.

I woke up the next day after not sleeping well with the nastiest, biggest headache I've ever had in my life. Seriously, blinding white-out type pain from between my eyes around my skull, down the back of my neck and spine.

But Korean pharmacies do not open on Sundays until 12. Min Gi, bless him, tried to find pain meds at 10 am, but was unsuccessful. He went back out at 12:30 with the instructions not to bother returning if he couldn't find me some damned ibuprofen.

He was successful. Thirty minutes and 800mg later, I was back to being just a little achy, and I was finally able to think about something other than the pain in my head. It was lovely. However, my plan of making up for being out of commission on Friday failed to happen. I will go to bed early and hope that 2009 ends quickly and that 2010 lets me have my body back to normal--or some semblance of normal.