7 Month Mark - Seoul, Korean Opera, & Andong.

It's official. Today Korea & I are celebrating 7 months together!. Exactly 5 months from today I should be on a plane headed back to the states! I figured what better way to reflect on my time here than a blog update! As usual, lots has happened in the past few months, there never seems to be a dull moment here in Korea, or maybe that's just my life!

Korea and I have a special bond together, I allow it a certain cultural limit everyday and sometimes it cheats and my cultural limit for the day gets maxed out. I've had a few days like this here, full of cultural frustration, mostly things that I find annoying or needing proper help but not being able to get it because of language barriers and such. Here are some noteworthy things that I've observed or embraced recently..

• Jimjilbangs - Korean bath houses..I've learned that I really enjoy this aspect of Korean culture. Going to a bath house and soaking in all the different tubs with a gazillion naked Korean ladies with huge bushes never gets old. They take great pride in their furry muffs too, I've even seen some women blow dry them and fluff them out with combs in the locker room. 
• I learned how to read and write Korean sometime back in October, finally! 
• They live on war food. Plain and simple. Their diet consists of rice, soups, and pickled food like kimchi and radishes galore. It's time to step into the 21st century Korea and quit living like we are in the middle of WWII. The war ended 60 years ago. Let's eat some real food please.
• Korean work culture is very different from Western work culture. The employees are extremely devoted to the company even if they don't want to be, it's like they have to be. I've been told by my boss that they'd glady give up their only day off to attend a work function if it was for the good of the company. The workplace is to be treated like your family from what I can conclude. I don't view this as healthy, a bit to personal, but that's just my opinion!
• Brendan called in sick to work 1 day and he also took the next day off as well. The boss told us he was going to pay a house visit to Brendan's to make sure he was ok since he had to take 2 days off from work. What a psycho. I don't think your boss should ever drop by your house for any reason, another prime example of Korean's not understanding physical or emotional space among westerners. I think he just wanted to make sure he was actually at his house in Daegu, what a spy. I've begun to call him Russia at work bc he's a spy! All I could think was poor Brendan, then I immediately turned to Karissa and told her that if he ever gets another idea like this when I call in sick to send me a text so that I can make sure i'm home in bed looking like death.
• South Koreans are not violent people and live in fear of war with North Korea.
• I also think that they are brainwashed big time when it comes to the importance of education. I find myself taking pity on these poor, overworked, and young Korean students everyday. I'm not a huge fan of how serious they take EVERYTHING, not just education. Although, I find education to be the most serious of all things. Korean's need to lighten up and have some fun..no wonder the suicide rate here is so damn high, it's a miserable life.

Now, for an update of what I've been oh so busy with... :) 

October - The highlight of October was my first trip to Seoul for Global Gathering, another trip for shopping, and Korean Opera! 

Armin Van Buuren! <3

• Global Gathering was a blast, it's a huge dance music festival that travels around to different cities all over the world. When I found out that it was coming to Seoul and Armin Van Buuren was going to be there I immediately signed up! I love Armin Van Buuren and he has been voted the world's best DJ for 4 years in a row. It was blast, I took a bus up with some people from Daegu, first thing we did when we got there after getting our tickets was head to Itaewon (the little American area in seoul) for some taco bell! It was seriously heaven in my mouth, well worth the hassle on the subway with my foot still in a splint at the time! We spent the rest of the evening/night at the festival. There were 3 stages and a lot of Korean DJ's before the main acts came on. Justice & Fat Boy Slim were also there. The whole thing was awesome, dancing in a splint was hard but the alcohol that I consumed in large amounts helped with that for sure! Partied till about 4am and then headed back to Daegu around 5am. Great weekend! Great trip!
• After making it to Seoul once, I decided to brave the huge city by myself 2 weekends later, mostly because I was in desperate need of some clothes that fit. I made a trip on the KTX, korea's high speed train, and literally shopped till I dropped and then shopped some more! I enjoyed taco bell, subway, H&M, Forever 21, Mango, & Zara all to the fullest. It was an extremely successful weekend! Seoul has many different neighborhoods and I managed to see at least 5 while only shopping! Seoul is a huge city and is worthy of another trip for site seeing in the near future. 
• Karissa & I attended an opera here in Daegu as part of the "Daegu Opera festival." Honestly, it was disappointing. We thought, "oh it's opera, and if it's in German than we'll all be on the same page." WRONG! The Koreans, of course, cheated. They did all the singing in German but had subtitles in Korean! SUBTITLES!! I couldn't believe it, what kind of opera has subtitles? Korea always screws up cultural things like this...I don't understand it. Then, on top of that, any of the speaking parts were in Korean. Needless to say, it was not worth 20,000 won in my opinion.

Merry Wives of Windsor Opera

November - Work has been busy in November, lots of schedule changes and such right in the middle of the month. 

Turkey! 



Our Little Christmas Tree!

• Brendan left and has been replaced with a new girl named Emily from Denver, CO! She's great and I think she fits in perfectly here. Getting a new co-worker is always exciting!
• Jeremy & Karissa already have countdowns going for their departure dates and it's started to hit me recently that they'll be leaving soon! It's very sad because the group of people that I hang out with will all be gone around the first of february! :( Korea is very transient, I hate it and love it all at the same time, always new people coming but always good friends leaving too, or people I don't like! Making friends here is a full time job and requires a lot of work! We had a work party to celebrate her coming and four Korean teachers' leaving. Our staff room has definitely shrunk in size recently. 
• I went to Seoul in the middle of November again on a friday night after work. A trip made purely for the pleasure of clubbing! I went with 3 of my friends and we hit up a couple of clubs in seoul and then spent the night in a lovely jimjilbang and then headed back the next morning on the train! Good times with great tunes and great friends! Seoul is where the party's at! 
• Kim Jong Ill in North Korea decided to go crazy and attack a South Korean island..the media has got everyone in a panic about it but until the embassy tells me to evacuate or that there could be danger...I'll be here in Daegu. South Korean's aren't really violent people, so I'm not expecting much retaliation on their part as usual...
• Our little family, Jeremy, Karissa, Palmer, Joel, Emily, & I all celebrated thanksgiving together, we ordered a turkey dinner from this English magazine here and it turned out really nice, we each made something in addition to the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and pumpkin pie and drank wine all evening! We also decorated a little christmas tree together and drew names for secret santa! We have designated Jeremy's house the Christmas house and are all planning on sleeping over Christmas eve, making a big breakfast together the next day, ordering another turkey dinner, and hanging out all day together. I'm really grateful that I have my little Korean family here! :)

December - It's hard to believe that it's already december! Christmas is less than 20 days away! 

• The excitement this month began with bugs...yes that's right...bugs...I had rice in my cupboard that I hadn't used for months, took it out to make some the other night, poured the rice in the pan, added some water and noticed hundreds of bugs floating around! AH! Needless to say, I freaked out, it was very dramatic. I've never experienced anything like this and after calling up about 6 people, my nan was finally able to tell me what they were! Hah! I guess they were rice weevils and are actually pretty common in asia. I don't eat much rice but I've decided that when I do, from now on, I'm buying the pre made kind in the microwavable containers! No matter where I go, I don't seem to be able to escape bugs...Roaches in Barcelona and now Rice Weevils in Korea! Ah!
• For work we will be traveling to Gyeongju this friday. It's supposed to be this workshop for work or something but really they keep saying we are going to 'take a rest.' It's an overnight thing and would take up half my day on Saturday. I straight up told the boss, along with the other foreigners, that we are not staying the night, I said I had made other plans for my weekend, I'm not giving up half my weekend to spend the night sleeping on the floor in a room with 20 of my  Korean coworkers. That's just freaking weird. I could rant about this for hours but I'm just going to leave it at that...I'm not staying the night. Period. We, us 4 foreigners, are taking a bus back together friday night around 9. I think the Korean's are offended but they need to understand that is not what we view as OK in western work culture...another prime example of personal bubble space being lost in translation! haha
• Yesterday - a few of my coworkers and I traveled to Andong, a traditional Korean folk village. A reminder of their not so distant, rural past. Andong is famous for their jimduck, this rural village, and Andong soju which is 45% compared to the regular 18% soju. We first went to the mask museum near the village, we saw lots of Korean masks and other masks from all over the world, mostly Asia though. Some were really cool, some were a little creepy! The Hahoe village is famous for their masks. After the museum we had Andong jimduck for lunch and then headed over to the village and caught the end of a traditional Korean mask dance. It kinda creeped me out they way they were moving around all slow and weird, it's hard to describe, something you'd just have to see. After the mask dancing we wandered around the village, people still actually live in the village but most people have satellite tv and phones nowadays. Nevertheless, it was still cool to see what traditional Korean houses look like and the countryside was beautiful and revitalizing. It was nice to get out of the city for a change. We had a really fun day and headed back to Daegu around 6, had indian food for dinner, and then watched the Grinch back at Jeremy's house while sipping on some soju! 
• Today I picked up my own little xmas tree! They only had pink and black to choose from when I got there, at first I was disappointed, because I wanted a normal christmas tree but then I was like, "oh what the hell!" When and where else in time am I ever going to have a chance to have a pink xmas tree! I find it so fitting for here in Korea because everything is very cutesy! So I did it! I bought the pink tree and decorated it in silver and white! :) Picture below! 

Mask Dance.

Hahoe Folk Village.

Korean Traditional Mask! 

Group Photo! Justin, Emily, Me, and Jeremy!

Andong Mask Museum.

Over the past few months, I've really toned it down on the drinking front, I've made it a point to only have drinks on the weekends, helps me to save money, and keeps me in good shape, I'm taking a break from the rockstar party life that I was living in September! I've also noticed that as I start doing more things and make more friends it becomes harder and harder for me to save money! I'm still saving but could probably do better at it....shopping has become my guilty habit. I've also started to consider a 2nd year here recently. The benefits that this job/lifestyle offers are just too good to walk away from easily, especially with the job market looking the way that it does back home...If I decided to stay another year though, I'd prefer to do it in Seoul or thereabouts. Seoul is definitely a city that I could live in for a year no problem. Daegu is too conservative for my style! I also recently committed to 3 months at the gym, go me! 

Future highlights! - On another note, the new girl that will replace Jeremy, Leslie is scheduled to arrive on December 27th/28th and I will be hosting her in my apartment for 2 weeks until she can move into Jeremy's. I'm not sure what I'll be doing to bring in the New Year yet besides working on New Year's Eve, whatever happens after work though must be massive. I have a feeling 2011 is going to be my year and I need to bring it in nicely! haha .............aaaaaand on another VERY exciting note...my friend Heather from my Greece study abroad trip is living in Australia right now and will be traveling to South Korea on January 26th to stay with me for a little over a week! She's coming here to visit me and I couldn't be more excited!! After her week here we will travel together to Hong Kong, China for lunar new year because I just so happen to be on vacation then! I got an awesome deal on a plane ticket and I'm very excited to travel with her again! I can't wait till she arrives! It's going to be grand! I will be doing winter intensive classes from Jan. 3rd-29th so Hong Kong will be a sweeeeet reward for working crazy 10 hour days again! :D  

Merry Christmas everyone & Happy New Year! Stay tuned for Heather & Annie do Hong Kong, should be a good one! <3 xoxoxo