Dear China,
Hey, it's me Jinuk. I've got to tell you, I really try liking you. I really, REALLY do. I mean, come on now, practically everything I own is made by you! Sometimes it's hard to like you though. Why? I'm an English teacher in Korea and let me tell you something, you have caused absolute chaos in my life!
Now I have I was really forgiving in college when I took all of those Chinese history classes. Let me tell you, sometimes it was hard to forgive ya because reading some of those books, learning those names, remembering ALL OF THOSE YEARS AND DYNASTIES... whoo.. it was rough. I moved on though, I got over it. I continued to like you.
You're not always so nice to Tibet and do some jacked up things in Africa but that's okay. Sometimes its hard to like everyone and to be nice to everyone. It's understandable. Totally forgivable.
And the Olympics? Okay, maybe you cheated, maybe you didn't. Whatever it is you have some freakin good gymnasts. It is okay by me. Cheat or don't cheat, it all looks good.
BUT recently is where you've crossed the line and this is a line that should never EVER BE CROSSED.
As everyone in Korea knows, snacks are a HUGE part of the Korean diet. Delectable goodness such as Chocopie, Kkancho, Pepero have all been staples in the diets of Korea's youth for years. Until, say, 3 weeks ago, eating snacks wasn't an issue. Then MELAMINE from China snuck its ugly little head into chocolates in Korea and the country has gone crazy since.
How does this effect a 22 year old English teacher?? Any English teacher in Korea can attest for me and say that in between classes children munch of snacks like they haven't eaten for years. They also love sharing their snacks with their teachers. I love this about Korean children. Sharing really is caring. Lately, though, snacks have been a little strange. Lately all of these childrens snacks have been homemade. Homemade is generally good, right? Probably, however, I don't know if Korean moms know how to bake things properly. Cookies come out like hard, tasteless cardboard. Strange concoctions like Saltines and ketchup have been making appearances. It is all a little terrifying..
So China, for the love of God, the love of Capitalism, and the love quite possibly one of your only supports in the Republic of Korea, please please please stop this melamine madness. It is not only hurting you. It's hurting me too..
With Love,
Jinuk!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
I'm still alive!
Fear not world! I am still alive. I've just been a bum and haven't been updating. Anyhoo what have I been up to you ask? Well work has been the same ole same ole. Go to work at 2, plan for two hours and then work until 10. Come home, grade papers, go to bed, repeat. Weekends are usually spent out with friends. Fun fun fun.
This past week was a little special though. Why? Because it was a holiday meaning we had Friday off! WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!
Diana finally made it safely to Korea and spent the weekend at my place. Another woohoo!
At night we went out with my coworkers but during the day we wandered around Seoul.
We managed to see Gyeongbok Palace. Now, I've been there before, but it was at night so seeing it during the day was a totally different experience. It was so picturesque and seriously looked exactly like it came from a period piece drama.
Don't let the picture fool you, they're real people!
Big drum BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Reunited and it feels so goooooooooooooood!
Since Diana was here this weekend it was the perfect excuse to see Ms. Stephanie. We all did Camp Adventure in Korea two years ago and it was the first time all three of us had seen each other together since. It was definitely a lot of fun.
As the day continued we managed to make our way to Yeouido. This past weekend there was a fireworks festival thing in Yeouido. The fireworks were pretty amazing but the lame part was that A. there were trees in our way and B. there were soooooooo many people around. Oh well, I am determined to see fireworks again sometime soon (perhaps New Years???).
Anyway these two things were probs the highlight of the weekend. Long weekends are always fun but it SUCKSSSSSSSS going back to work on Monday. Oh well. I leave you with some fabulous eye candy. Or should I say eye foody?? Eye desserty? I don't know..
*green tea chiffon cake. on the right is a yogurt fruit cheese roll.
I love you Migo. You have the yummiest cakes EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR
This past week was a little special though. Why? Because it was a holiday meaning we had Friday off! WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!
Diana finally made it safely to Korea and spent the weekend at my place. Another woohoo!
At night we went out with my coworkers but during the day we wandered around Seoul.
We managed to see Gyeongbok Palace. Now, I've been there before, but it was at night so seeing it during the day was a totally different experience. It was so picturesque and seriously looked exactly like it came from a period piece drama.
Don't let the picture fool you, they're real people!
Big drum BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Reunited and it feels so goooooooooooooood!
Since Diana was here this weekend it was the perfect excuse to see Ms. Stephanie. We all did Camp Adventure in Korea two years ago and it was the first time all three of us had seen each other together since. It was definitely a lot of fun.
As the day continued we managed to make our way to Yeouido. This past weekend there was a fireworks festival thing in Yeouido. The fireworks were pretty amazing but the lame part was that A. there were trees in our way and B. there were soooooooo many people around. Oh well, I am determined to see fireworks again sometime soon (perhaps New Years???).
Anyway these two things were probs the highlight of the weekend. Long weekends are always fun but it SUCKSSSSSSSS going back to work on Monday. Oh well. I leave you with some fabulous eye candy. Or should I say eye foody?? Eye desserty? I don't know..
*green tea chiffon cake. on the right is a yogurt fruit cheese roll.
I love you Migo. You have the yummiest cakes EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Monday, September 15, 2008
Bowl Cut
Dear Korea,
My name is Jinuk. I am from the United States of America. Being in Korea thus far has been an interesting experience for me. The style, in particular, has been the most interesting. Now, let it be known, my family is Korean so some things aren't too much of a shock but come on now, what is with the revival of the bowl cut?!!! WHY?!!! WHY IS IT BACK IN CIRCULATION?!!!!
Please Korea, tell me how this is sexy, fly, fabulous, chic
Okay, at best, its cute. Does this, however, qualify for being stylish? In vogue?? I don't think so. Sure, my clothes may be a bit out of style but I know a bad thing when I see it. When I am walking around the streets of Seoul I easily spot at least 5 people with this style. In fact, one of the kids I teach has one. Her hair has grown out though so it looks more like a mop cut.
WHY ARE MOPS AND BOWLS BEING ASSOCIATED WITH PEOPLE'S HAIR?!
Now Korea, I didn't get angry at you when long pointy spiky bangs were in style, I wasn't mad when the man perm was the object of many men's affection but this cannot continue!
Perfectly attractive people are losing all sex appeal with the bowl cut. The bowl cut also makes it hard to differentiate men from women. Okay, that just be my own problem. Still, it is not okay!
JUST SAY NO TO THE BOWL CUT!
My name is Jinuk. I am from the United States of America. Being in Korea thus far has been an interesting experience for me. The style, in particular, has been the most interesting. Now, let it be known, my family is Korean so some things aren't too much of a shock but come on now, what is with the revival of the bowl cut?!!! WHY?!!! WHY IS IT BACK IN CIRCULATION?!!!!
Please Korea, tell me how this is sexy, fly, fabulous, chic
Okay, at best, its cute. Does this, however, qualify for being stylish? In vogue?? I don't think so. Sure, my clothes may be a bit out of style but I know a bad thing when I see it. When I am walking around the streets of Seoul I easily spot at least 5 people with this style. In fact, one of the kids I teach has one. Her hair has grown out though so it looks more like a mop cut.
WHY ARE MOPS AND BOWLS BEING ASSOCIATED WITH PEOPLE'S HAIR?!
Now Korea, I didn't get angry at you when long pointy spiky bangs were in style, I wasn't mad when the man perm was the object of many men's affection but this cannot continue!
Perfectly attractive people are losing all sex appeal with the bowl cut. The bowl cut also makes it hard to differentiate men from women. Okay, that just be my own problem. Still, it is not okay!
JUST SAY NO TO THE BOWL CUT!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Teaching
So I've finally finished my first week of classes! Woohoo!!! Teaching isn't as hard as I thought it would be but at the same time it isn't as easy as I thought it would be either. My classes are really cute though, so that makes teaching even the hard stuff a lot more fun.
I will prove to you just how cute they are!
Here is one of my classes. This is my super cute super smart class. I'm missing three boys in the picture. When I took out my camera they all ran way. Sad panda. The girls, on the other hand, jumped all over the chance to have their pictures taken. I swear 80% of the kids I teach wear glasses. I actually teach a total of five classes. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I teach three and Tuesday and Thursday I teach two.
Kids these days are so smart. They know how to use computers, cell phones, they speak multiple languages. Even my uncle's daughter (okay, not my real uncle) she can text like nobody's busy and shes only 10!!!!!!!! Maybe I'm just old. I certainly felt old when I asked one of my students when she was born and she said she was born in 1999. Another one of my kids said he was born in 1993. 1993!!!!!!!!!! I can't imagine what its like to be born in the 90s or even the 2000s. I am definitely feeling like a grandma here...
So I don't know about what its like back at home ( oh how I miss you Portland!!!!) but its still pretty warm here. What's the best thing to do when its hot? EAT ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!! Korea has incredible ice cream here. What's even better is that you can get it with ice! Okay, that probably sounds a little weird but it makes eating ice cream so much more enjoyable and refreshing!
Yesterday I met some friends in Gangnam and we had pizza. After eating pizza we decided it would be best to eat patbingsoo. So patbingsoo is Korea's take on an ice cream sundae. Basically what it is is ice with ice cream, fruit (or in some cases fruit cocktail, you know, from a can) red bean and depending on how fancy the place you're at is, dduk (rice cake/mochi).
Well I was in a group of 12 people so we decided to get two HUGE bowls of it. When I say huge, I mean HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
This picture doesn't do it justice and yes, there are tomatoes in there. Look to the right. That's a tomato. Yum Yum. NOT
Me in relation to the huge bowl of patbingsoo. This picture still doesn't do it justice.
Its so big you have to eat it with a shovel like thing. Okay, I lie, but they definitely do give you shovels for it! Eww, my hair is not looking so fly here.
I'm having fun in Korea but I still really miss home. YOU ARE MISSED HOME! SISTERS AND FRIENDS, YOU ARE ALSO MISSED!!!
I will prove to you just how cute they are!
Here is one of my classes. This is my super cute super smart class. I'm missing three boys in the picture. When I took out my camera they all ran way. Sad panda. The girls, on the other hand, jumped all over the chance to have their pictures taken. I swear 80% of the kids I teach wear glasses. I actually teach a total of five classes. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I teach three and Tuesday and Thursday I teach two.
Kids these days are so smart. They know how to use computers, cell phones, they speak multiple languages. Even my uncle's daughter (okay, not my real uncle) she can text like nobody's busy and shes only 10!!!!!!!! Maybe I'm just old. I certainly felt old when I asked one of my students when she was born and she said she was born in 1999. Another one of my kids said he was born in 1993. 1993!!!!!!!!!! I can't imagine what its like to be born in the 90s or even the 2000s. I am definitely feeling like a grandma here...
So I don't know about what its like back at home ( oh how I miss you Portland!!!!) but its still pretty warm here. What's the best thing to do when its hot? EAT ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!! Korea has incredible ice cream here. What's even better is that you can get it with ice! Okay, that probably sounds a little weird but it makes eating ice cream so much more enjoyable and refreshing!
Yesterday I met some friends in Gangnam and we had pizza. After eating pizza we decided it would be best to eat patbingsoo. So patbingsoo is Korea's take on an ice cream sundae. Basically what it is is ice with ice cream, fruit (or in some cases fruit cocktail, you know, from a can) red bean and depending on how fancy the place you're at is, dduk (rice cake/mochi).
Well I was in a group of 12 people so we decided to get two HUGE bowls of it. When I say huge, I mean HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
This picture doesn't do it justice and yes, there are tomatoes in there. Look to the right. That's a tomato. Yum Yum. NOT
Me in relation to the huge bowl of patbingsoo. This picture still doesn't do it justice.
Its so big you have to eat it with a shovel like thing. Okay, I lie, but they definitely do give you shovels for it! Eww, my hair is not looking so fly here.
I'm having fun in Korea but I still really miss home. YOU ARE MISSED HOME! SISTERS AND FRIENDS, YOU ARE ALSO MISSED!!!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
First weekend in Seoul
Hmm... I notice a pattern starting here. First blog in Korea, first post, first weekend.. Hopefully after a few more days I'll be more adjusted and everything won't be a first.
Anyhoo.. my weekend!! So my weekend started on Friday with my mom and my aunt (well, my second cousin's wife) picking me up from my officetel and whisking me off to their home. Sisters of mine, if you are reading this, their house is soo soo SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice. Its a three story house and has a very zen feel to it. In addition, there are fabulous views of the mountains. Its really beautiful up there. Halmoni and haraboji are doing great but they definitely look a lot older. Samchon is exactly the same. Still short, still really thin. Only thing thats changed about him is that his hair isn't big and he's a business man.
Moving on. So the next day my aunt took me to get a cell phone. Ugh, let me tell you, it is so hard to be here without a phone. Payphones are really hard to find and when you do find them they aren't always so clean and its hard to hear the person you're talking to. For these reasons and more my aunt decided that she would just sign me up for one.
When you're here as a teacher on an E2 visa you generally have to wait until after you receive your Alien Registration Card (ARC) to get a cell phone and bank account set up. If you have a friend who is a Korean citizen, they can help you bypass all the waiting by setting up things for you in their name. That's what my aunt did for me resulting in a really cute cell phone
The best thing about the phone is that, well it works and that I can watch tv on it.
After getting my phone I went to meet my friends and Justin. I went to school with the both of them but its been a year since I had seen either of them so I was pretty pumped to see them. First we went to Deoksu Palace because Shane had never seen a palace before. The palace itself was really beautiful but there were these ridiculous pigeons there. I swear, they were as big as chickens. Since I'm not a big fan of birds it was a bit traumatizing seeing them so big.
When we were leaving the palace we noticed all of these people in traditional clothes so we stuck around a bit longer and asked a person working what was going on. The person informed us that there was going to be a demonstration of a password ceremony. We decided to wait and watch it.
It was really interesting since they people in the demonstration were playing instruments and things. Their expressions were so serious. I had an urge to run up and poke one of them but decided against it. Not so mature to do.
Deoksu Palace is really close to City Hall and since Shane had never been there we walked on over. Apparently over the weekend there was a "water festival" promoting filteration of the city's water or something like that. It was cute because there were these shooting fountains and children were running around through them. Made me think of Portland and the Rose Garden
We got free bottles of water, empty water bottles and cell phone things. It was great since it was SO hot.
If you live in Seoul you know that City Hall is really close to a lot of popular shopping districts. My friends and I headed towards Myeongdong to look for shoes. Let me tell you how bizarre it is for me to go to Myeongdong with guys. I love Myeongdong and have spents countless hours there but I have never once been the only girl in the group when going there. Because of this instead of hitting my normal shopping spots I just looked at a lot of shoes because I guess thats what boys buy? I don't know maybe it was just the guys I was with.. still fun nonetheless.
After doing some eye shopping (Korean people call window shopping eye shopping) we went to a cafe like place. The place we went to is called Coffee Love. It is a really nice, chill place. I liked the atmosphere a lot! Instead of ordering coffee I got tea.
This picture doesn't do it justice!
Shane and me
I would've taken pictures of Justin but he always gets weird whenever I try to take his pictures. What a loser. Next time I'll get you Justin...
Sunday I got a rice cooker and found trash bags! It was a great way to end my weekend if I do say so myself
Anyhoo.. my weekend!! So my weekend started on Friday with my mom and my aunt (well, my second cousin's wife) picking me up from my officetel and whisking me off to their home. Sisters of mine, if you are reading this, their house is soo soo SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice. Its a three story house and has a very zen feel to it. In addition, there are fabulous views of the mountains. Its really beautiful up there. Halmoni and haraboji are doing great but they definitely look a lot older. Samchon is exactly the same. Still short, still really thin. Only thing thats changed about him is that his hair isn't big and he's a business man.
Moving on. So the next day my aunt took me to get a cell phone. Ugh, let me tell you, it is so hard to be here without a phone. Payphones are really hard to find and when you do find them they aren't always so clean and its hard to hear the person you're talking to. For these reasons and more my aunt decided that she would just sign me up for one.
When you're here as a teacher on an E2 visa you generally have to wait until after you receive your Alien Registration Card (ARC) to get a cell phone and bank account set up. If you have a friend who is a Korean citizen, they can help you bypass all the waiting by setting up things for you in their name. That's what my aunt did for me resulting in a really cute cell phone
The best thing about the phone is that, well it works and that I can watch tv on it.
After getting my phone I went to meet my friends and Justin. I went to school with the both of them but its been a year since I had seen either of them so I was pretty pumped to see them. First we went to Deoksu Palace because Shane had never seen a palace before. The palace itself was really beautiful but there were these ridiculous pigeons there. I swear, they were as big as chickens. Since I'm not a big fan of birds it was a bit traumatizing seeing them so big.
When we were leaving the palace we noticed all of these people in traditional clothes so we stuck around a bit longer and asked a person working what was going on. The person informed us that there was going to be a demonstration of a password ceremony. We decided to wait and watch it.
It was really interesting since they people in the demonstration were playing instruments and things. Their expressions were so serious. I had an urge to run up and poke one of them but decided against it. Not so mature to do.
Deoksu Palace is really close to City Hall and since Shane had never been there we walked on over. Apparently over the weekend there was a "water festival" promoting filteration of the city's water or something like that. It was cute because there were these shooting fountains and children were running around through them. Made me think of Portland and the Rose Garden
We got free bottles of water, empty water bottles and cell phone things. It was great since it was SO hot.
If you live in Seoul you know that City Hall is really close to a lot of popular shopping districts. My friends and I headed towards Myeongdong to look for shoes. Let me tell you how bizarre it is for me to go to Myeongdong with guys. I love Myeongdong and have spents countless hours there but I have never once been the only girl in the group when going there. Because of this instead of hitting my normal shopping spots I just looked at a lot of shoes because I guess thats what boys buy? I don't know maybe it was just the guys I was with.. still fun nonetheless.
After doing some eye shopping (Korean people call window shopping eye shopping) we went to a cafe like place. The place we went to is called Coffee Love. It is a really nice, chill place. I liked the atmosphere a lot! Instead of ordering coffee I got tea.
This picture doesn't do it justice!
Shane and me
I would've taken pictures of Justin but he always gets weird whenever I try to take his pictures. What a loser. Next time I'll get you Justin...
Sunday I got a rice cooker and found trash bags! It was a great way to end my weekend if I do say so myself
Thursday, August 28, 2008
First real post in Korea
Hello world!! So I've been in Korea for a few days and have settled in a bit. At first things were pretty rough for me but they're slowly getting better, day by day. I have a really cute apartment. I made a video tour but youtube wont let me upload and it won't let me upload here so my video tour will have to wait.
Onto better things...
So yesterday I finally went out and had yummy food and some fun. Since I've gotten here I've been cooking for myself in my apartment because I haven't found the courage to eat by myself at a restaurant (all of the other foreign teachers at my school are on vacation so I haven't been able to meet/make any coworker friends). Luckily my friend Jill is in Korea and we were able to meet up!! We went to Myeongdong.
It was super great to see a familiar face. It was even better to be able to eat delicious food with a friend.
Some pictures of food we inhaled for ya:
Okay, so when we were actually eating I didn't take pictures but this is a picture of the exact same stuff Jill and I were eating from the same restaurant! We chose from a set menu. In our set we got Samgyupsal (Korean bacon), another kind of pork, and beef in addition to lots of yummy side dishes, onions, and mushrooms. Oh yeah, we also got a bottle of soju as a "service" but we didn't drink too much of it.
After a delicious dinner we decided to walk around and decided that having dessert was a really good idea. So we stopped by Lotte Department Store and went up and down looking for this one cute cafe like place that I went to last year. We eventually found it and got two beautiful and delectable desserts!
Super yum! Jill got the fruit one and I got the round one. Can you guess why I chose the round one? For those of you who know me, you know I love hearts (yeah, it's a bit silly, but everyone has their thing). If you look closely at the round cake you'll see that there are tiny little hearts on it.
One weird thing about Jill's cake was that there were two tiny little berries on it. We couldn't figure out what they were but when we tried them we came to the conclusion that they were tomatoes. Oh Korea... while tomatoes are indeed a fruit, they aren't really sweet.. and on a dessert? Nice try but no cigar.
After lovely dining we took it to the streets. Myeongdong is a fashion district and so there are tons of clothing stores and lots of street vendors selling their goods. One thing that's really great about Korea is that Koreans love to use English randomly. A lot of things don't make sense but if its in English, you've got yourself a winner.
This sign was the best of the evening.
People never believe me when I talk about how big Dunkin Donuts is here. Korea really loves Dunkin Donuts as you can see in the picture. Here it is in all of its glory.
Pretty sweet if you ask me. Didn't go in but I will definitely go sometime soon because yeah, that looks pretty sweet!
Well that's all for today so enjoy!!!
Onto better things...
So yesterday I finally went out and had yummy food and some fun. Since I've gotten here I've been cooking for myself in my apartment because I haven't found the courage to eat by myself at a restaurant (all of the other foreign teachers at my school are on vacation so I haven't been able to meet/make any coworker friends). Luckily my friend Jill is in Korea and we were able to meet up!! We went to Myeongdong.
It was super great to see a familiar face. It was even better to be able to eat delicious food with a friend.
Some pictures of food we inhaled for ya:
Okay, so when we were actually eating I didn't take pictures but this is a picture of the exact same stuff Jill and I were eating from the same restaurant! We chose from a set menu. In our set we got Samgyupsal (Korean bacon), another kind of pork, and beef in addition to lots of yummy side dishes, onions, and mushrooms. Oh yeah, we also got a bottle of soju as a "service" but we didn't drink too much of it.
After a delicious dinner we decided to walk around and decided that having dessert was a really good idea. So we stopped by Lotte Department Store and went up and down looking for this one cute cafe like place that I went to last year. We eventually found it and got two beautiful and delectable desserts!
Super yum! Jill got the fruit one and I got the round one. Can you guess why I chose the round one? For those of you who know me, you know I love hearts (yeah, it's a bit silly, but everyone has their thing). If you look closely at the round cake you'll see that there are tiny little hearts on it.
One weird thing about Jill's cake was that there were two tiny little berries on it. We couldn't figure out what they were but when we tried them we came to the conclusion that they were tomatoes. Oh Korea... while tomatoes are indeed a fruit, they aren't really sweet.. and on a dessert? Nice try but no cigar.
After lovely dining we took it to the streets. Myeongdong is a fashion district and so there are tons of clothing stores and lots of street vendors selling their goods. One thing that's really great about Korea is that Koreans love to use English randomly. A lot of things don't make sense but if its in English, you've got yourself a winner.
This sign was the best of the evening.
People never believe me when I talk about how big Dunkin Donuts is here. Korea really loves Dunkin Donuts as you can see in the picture. Here it is in all of its glory.
Pretty sweet if you ask me. Didn't go in but I will definitely go sometime soon because yeah, that looks pretty sweet!
Well that's all for today so enjoy!!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
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