Lazy Sunday...

I feel lazy today. However, I have been awake for 3 hours already and it's a Sunday morning... So... I guess that's alright. My friend from Seoul stayed over and had to leave early, so I've been up since then.

What's been going on in my life? Been pretty busy with work, etc... But happy to start going out again soon and excited to partake in any sort of World Cup celebrations. Woo! And, of course another source of my excitement is that Gina Ahn is coming to Korea in less than a week!

Yay! I adopted a bunny named Namsan, after the mountain where he was found wandering about. Apparently, he was dropped off there by some careless person, which is where this girl Ashley found him. She named him Namsan and fostered him for a while, but because she has to go back to the US soon, put him up for adoption on the Korea Animal Rescue site. My coworker, Jen, has been looking for pets and happened to see him. He was the most appealing to me out of all of the bunnies I checked out, so I headed over and adopted him! It was crazy being at Ashley's place- she stays with her sister, who is a military doctor at the US base, so it was literally like being transported back in America. A separate shower in the bathroom... shelves lined with American food... AHH. So nice. She gave me a piece of string cheese for the road, which was awesome, and her sister gave me these Korean books, which was great. I'm going to do some volunteering with ARK next Saturday, I hope!

Hmm. Let's seeee. Also will be playing some soccer soon, with this women's league on Sundays. Should be fuuun. :)

Things seem to be looking up. The last couple weeks were kind of stressful, with work and such, and I think being around work more than usual the past couple of weeks caused me to get swept up in some of it way more than I ever do. Kind of overreacted about a couple things which I feel silly about now. Complaining is silly because I am only here for a relatively short time and I am happy to have this opportunity to be in another country and get a chance to save a bit, which I am grateful for. But I came here for the experience, I could make money anywhere, and I had to step back and remember that. I was also really sick this past week which was crappy but I feel a lot better now. Drank lots of fluids/vitamin C (there's this drink called vita, really beeta, 500, that works well).

In other news, I broke my camera!!! I wanted to get lots of pics of stuff, including Namsan, but it's been hard without the camera! I've already missed a few photo opps, which made me sad. :[ I'm going to get a new/used one asap from G-Market, essentially a Korean Craigslist. (Less sketchy than the real deal, though).

The way I broke my camera was pretty hilarious, though. I was on the subway, slowly drifting off to sleep on the Bundang Line, like everyone always does. It's pretty much the thing to do. Then, I feel something really wet and I was confused, woke up and realized that my bag was soaked. A huge bottle of water I had in my bag broke and everything was drenched. I tried to remain quiet and calm but this guy standing near me noticed and proceeded to try to help me. I said no no thanks (ahnyo,ahnyo comme sam nee dah). Buuuuuut, no he insisted. So, he fumbled with my stuff and proceeded to dump my giant bag of water in the middle of the subway car so the floor was all wet and muddy. haha. It was ridiculous. Everyone was like, ???

Yeah. Hilarious, though.

Oh, new term starts tomorrow= yay! I actually get to have a class from the start, which should be good.

Here are some pics I took of Namsan via Macbook. He's Macbook-shy, though. He's a great bunny and he seems very happy. He prances around and when he does good things, like pooping in the appropriate place, I reward him with apples. Apparently, you have to train rabbits through positive reinforcement ONLY. Unlike dogs, they're used to being prey and will be frightened of you and will not learn if you scold them for doing something wrong. I usually just say no or look at him when he is about to PEE ON MY BED, which is his main problem right now. It's very annoying, and he only does it when I leave the room. I think it'll get better and then I can leave him out of the cage for extended periods of time when I'm not home. Oh, he also chewed the cord to my Macbook charger, but that was my fault because I left it out unattended.

hahah. this last one is my fav., for obvious reasons.

Well

Ah. So, I've been writing in my journal about my experience and differences between America and Korea and all that cultural adjustment kind of stuff because I'm realizing I'm reaching the phase of my time here where I don't feel the need to comment on everything and be like "OH OK THAT'S DIFFERENT THAN IN AMERICA." (I am still making a list to blog about at some point though).

I still do it, usually when I'm with fellow foreigners, if it's something completely new to me. Or I make a mental note so I don't forget to write about it or acknowledge this difference. Basically though, the things that used to make me laugh, like corn pizza, are just blending into the scenery. Don't get me wrong, I still suck at using chopsticks and my Korean is total crap but I am getting more and more used to it here.

And with that, came the first time I was legitimately frustrated. It lasted a moment. A fleeting, head-ache encouraged longing for the sweet simplicity of a shopping mall filled with people who spoke my language and did not feel the need to stare at me. A place where I could hold a shoe in my hand ready for purchase and not get ignored and disrespected as I tried to communicate to them. A place where the bathing suits are plentiful and dressing rooms are secluded havens separate from the wandering eyes of passerby. A place... like America.

I felt like crap and started to become agitated as I walked through a sea of well-dressed Korean people through the Coex mall, sat down and ate my kim chi jjigeh alone as the Korean peeps around me watched me while they ate what was dubbed on a nearby poster as "authentic New York pizza," which in actuality was Sbarro. Normally, I would eat away, pleasantly amused by the casual irony of the moment but not TODAY. No, that instance just added to the tally of grievances that led me to my eventual GRR I NEED TO LEAVE THIS MALL OH WAIT I HAVE TO TURN AROUND AND GO BACK IN BECAUSE I STILL HAVE NONE OF THE ITEMS I CAME IN HERE FOR & I KNOW I'M A FOREIGNER AND I GET IT BUT I'M ALSO A PERSON AND JUST WANT TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS THAT AND NOT AS A FOREIGNER FOR LIKE 5 MINUTES, THANKS moment.

Yeah. It needed a CAPS. Culture shock was briefly mentioned in one of my lessons the other day, and the way the book described it made me realize that I have never had culture shock in any real sense. I've had culture "omigah everything's in a different language and the airplane was an excellent invention having transported me in such a relatively short amount of time given the actual miles we have traversed," but never culture shock. *Note: I recognize my disregard for dashes in the previous two dash-worthy statements.* Yet, this moment I had was interesting to me because in a way, I was seeing my surroundings as I would perceive them if I were in the US, as a fully-functioning, easily blending into the canvas, as Stella the person and not Stella the foreigner who knows and accepts her role as such. I think it happened in part, because I am constantly in the bubble of Chungdahm, surrounded by foreigners and English fluency. I manage outside of the bubble fairly well now, I get on the right trains, buses, can read the characters and have my ahnyoungs, nehs, random somewhat useless words like dog and cat and basic questions down nicely, but I don't know Korean. Furthermore, this is not MY country. I expect to be treated fairly in most regards, and yeah, like every culture Korea does have it's faults in the way that it treats outsiders, but so does the US. What it boils down to, essentially, is that I'm always going to be a foreigner, but if I don't want to be perceived as simply this and nothing more and have the most satisfying experience that I can, then I need to quit my whining and strap on the Hangul hat and get going with this!

Essentially, my frustration melted away fairly easily partially because I walked into a shoe store and the sales people were dancing and clapping but also because all of the little great moments that make me happy flood back into my brain... Such as how the woman who lives near me deepened her voice to make her dog say "Ahnyounghaseo" to me the other day, the adorable babies I see on the streets in matching outfits or those times when some random person yells "HELLO!" to me with a smile, and I quickly remember why I love Korea.

Hate to end on a bad note, but I've been pretty preoccupied this evening trying to think of what is going to happen North-South since the South is probably going to take strong economic measures against the North after confirming that they were most likely behind the bombing of the navy ship. I feel that this strong reaction is exactly what KJI would want because it gives him an opportunity to say that the South is trying to instigate the undermining of his regime, and use this as a justification for any sort of attack. BLAH I really hope things can be worked out diplomatically and that the bombing of the ship was part of scare tactics to try to instill confidence in the legacy of KJI's regime via his son. I know the economic situation there is dire, so maybe KJI will refrain from combat under conditions of economic support. I know KJI is a lot of talk and that a war would harm them more than help in the end, but I also don't feel comfortable instilling my trust in the possible rationality of an irrational man with the third largest stockpile of biological weapons on the planet aimed at the city I reside 20 miles away from.

Last week!

So I've been busy, trying to get up early to freelance to pay some bills to avoid wire transferring before I got my bank account set up and my first pay check, but now I think I may just have to wire transfer some of my won. Will be a little less busy next month and I want to really start working on my Korean! I am determined!!! Oh. But actually, will probably still be busy studying for LSATs which I just signed up to take in Seoul in October. mleh!

Anywho, LAST WEEK.

Last week, I was busy doing prep test with the kids, having a half day where I hung out with a Scottish friend of mine and took a taxi which resulted in my ending up magically near my apartment without knowing my address and very limited Korean. AMAZING!

Last weekend, our directors took my co-workers and I out in the Chungdahm bus for our much-awaited and frequently rescheduled outing weekend! After getting in the bus at around 8a.m., listening to various Korean bands and Celine Dion compilations, and being offered food every 5 minutes, we arrived at one of the demilitarized zones on the North-South Korean border. It is one of the less popular DMZ locations, on the coast. It was pretty though.

Chungdahm bus! It's pretty nice! I think we made more of a mess of it than our kids do.

People in the back! Lisa, Tony, Tony's gf Sam, who is visiting from Chicago for the month, and Audrey.

Not too far from Suji, where I live. About two hours away ... Looked pretty.

DMZ. Buddha, offering peace, facing the North. I thought this was really interesting... and pretty. :) There was also a Mary statue but it was harder to see.

South Korea. I think it said "one mountain" or something.

Then, we went to Seoraksan National Park. It was really nice, even though it was too windy to take the gondolas up the mountain. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and there were pretty statues. It was good to see some traditional Korean stuff for a change, as most of what I see here is pretty modern. I really want to go further South at some point to the "traditional town" where people dress up in traditional clothing, etc.

I also had my first encounter with silkworm larvae, which many Koreans enjoy. They were serving it here and a couple of people tried it but it didn't really appeal to me. :x 

After we walked around Seoraksan and ate for the 2039203th time, we set off for our directors' time share, where we we spent the night.

Wishing stones!

Ahh I love this picture!

Here are some pics of where we stayed, near Pyeongchang, possible site of the 2018 Winter Olympics!

The "Swiss Chalet." This place was hilarious. There were Santa Clauses and nutcrackers everywhere.

GAH

GAH so much to update! So behind!!! I know I shouldn't be updating right now because I typed in "blobber" instead of "blogger".com which leads me to believe that perhaps the alcohol I have consumed has affected my typing abilities to some extent.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I promise I will update though. two entries worth, chock full of great Korean goodness.

Ahn young!