Drum Crew

After our dynamite performance at the Tongin Elementary School Exhibition back in October of 2011, we took a bow with our crew of fellow drummers with a combination of adrenaline and relief. Nothing so great can last forever, we thought.

Well, we were wrong.

Here are some pictures from the winter leg of our "Hang on to your Kimchi" tour at a nearby nursing home on Gangwha Island, which is just 10 minutes west of us.

Unfortunately, the long video of the performance is too long to post here, but I'll put it on facebook for those of you who poke around that site.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our openers for the performance, Genny K. and the Indigo Sisters (see below).

Dear sweet Sue. I don't think she's this small in real life.

Everyone got a flower balloon.

                          

 

Pumpkin pie in Korea? God bless America!

    The answer to your question is a resounding "yes!" The food was authentic. The word on the street was that the church got the food from a nearby US army base. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie. Above you see Marian, one of our pals from southern Seoul. We get to hang out with her every Sunday at church and have recently started exploring various lunch spots around Seoul. Last week we went to a really cool place called "Little India" (See below: The decor was so great. Colorful fabric everywhere, lanterns, a mural of a palace, and a sitar hanging on the wall. There was even a spiral staircase with tiny elephants hanging from the rail leading to "the zen room") in our favorite area of Seoul called Insa-dong. This area has the most locally-made/hand-made goods. The main street has a great atmosphere and the side streets are full to the brim of exotic antiques and asian calligraphy shops.  On the right of Marian you see Dave, our chum who lives just northwest of us. He comes over almost weekly and we cook dinner together and play Dominion or Carcasonne. In true Thanksgiving fashion- we're thankful for his friendship. We always have a good time with Dave. 

     In the Thanksgiving picture, we are in the basement of the church directly beneath the sanctuary. Finding this church has made all the difference. I'm certain that my adjustment has gone so smoothly because of it. The congregation is quite wonderful. Both Jordan and I really feel like we're part of a church family even though we've only been attending a little over a month. We go to the 10:00 service and the group is small enough (maybe 150 people?) that we've been able to make friends fairly easily- although I confess it's still really very difficult to remember the names of our Korean acquaintances.

     Upcoming events: Jordan and I are going to see Handel's Messiah in Seoul on Monday! Supposedly, it's a big annual event. It sounds very impressive. Here's the interesting bit: it will be sung in Korean. I have a feeling this will be one of our most memorable experiences. Then on the 10th, I'm going to go into Seoul for an afternoon of Christmas cookie baking and decorating with some ladies from church.

     Much love to everyone back in the US. We're doing really well, but we sure do miss home. It will be sad to be away over the holiday season (with that said, we sure love emails and updates from your side of the  world!) Oh but fear not---we may be far far away but we most definitely have a Christmas tree (approximately 4 feet tall). We put it up just the other night, and our new "Baroque Christmas" cd has been serenading us in the most pleasing and festive way.

cheers,

Kelsey

The Rise of Routines

OK, it’s no secret to anyone who is reading this that this update is long overdue.  I won’t spend much time making mewling apologies, but we all know that it’s deserved.  So here it is: I’m sorry that Kelsey and I are so bad at the internet.  Particularly me.  I know we said we would keep this “online journal” (I still and always will refuse the word “blog”) so everyone could track our time in Korea and share our adventures, but we failed at that intention very quickly.  Sorry.

Anyway;

As the days started to fly by, we were busy.  Getting into the groove of teaching and figuring out how to live in this strange new country were very taxing endeavors.  Now the weeks are starting to fly by and it’s nearly December.  Holy smokes.  So things are moving right along and though there are daily adventures and funny occurrences, there is not a whole lot happening that warrants an urgent online journal post.  “Nothing to write home about,” as they would say.  So, since we needed to update so desperately, I figured it was a good time to describe our routines; hoping to shed some light on the peculiarities of daily life in Korea.

I reckon this first post will describe the daily routines that are the same regardless of the day (weekdays, of course), and then I’ll talk about our weekly routines later.

Morning

A few weeks ago I decided to reverse my lifelong habit of sleeping in.  I decided that the benefits of being an early riser were too good to ignore any longer.  That said, our morning routine is quite new.

We get up nowadays at 6:30am, which is obscenely early for me.  Luckily, my Korean phone came with the Cavalry “First Call” reveille as an alarm tone, which jolts me out of bed like a bolt of lightning to my soul.  First, I get up and turn on the hot water.  There’s a control panel by the light switch where you have to hit a button if you want the option of hot water.  It takes about five minutes to warm up (then you have to be careful, cause it’s hot).  Then: wash face with cold water/work out for 30 minutes (or study Korean—depending on the day)/shower, etc/have our breakfast and devotional.

Koreans eat the same kind of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  So a typical breakfast for them is rice, kimchi, and some sort of meat or veggie dish.  Because of that cereal is really expensive and there’s not much variety.  So Kelsey and I have been trying to kick the habit, and take the time to make a more substantial breakfast.  We usually have eggs, toast, tea, and sometimes oatmeal.  Then we leave the apartment by 8:15 so we can both be at school by 8:30.

My walk to school is along the main road of our town on the uneven patterned-brick sidewalk.  I pass by as all of the shops are opening for the day.  There’s one main intersection where I have to cross the street, and that’s always a bit precarious because Korean drivers are very unpredictable.  On market day it’s a bit of a pain because everyone is setting up their stalls along the sidewalk and there’s one vendor that sets his table with merchandise (belts and miscellaneous junk) to take up the whole sidewalk and then puts his chair in the road.  So in order to get around him, one must walk in traffic.  It’s great.

Kelsey’s walk is a lovely jaunt through the rice paddies, veggie gardens, and some ramshackle houses.

School Day

(Jordan’s average day.  Kelsey’s is similar, to an extent)

I teach either four or five regular classes a day.  The rest of the time is for planning lessons, piddling around on the internet, or playing ping-pong with my co-teacher, Seo Jeong-Woo (Dylan).  I have four 6^th grade classes and three 5^th grade classes, each of which I have several times a week.  Dylan and I try not to rely on the textbook CD-ROM too much, because most of the activities are kind of stupid.  It’s great to do our own activities and games and stuff with the students, but it takes a lot of work to keep up.

We have lunch at 12:10 every day.  The cafeteria food is really quite good.  It’s a nice way to experience different Korean foods.  There’s always rice, some sort of soup, kimchi, another veggie dish, and then a meat dish.  Except for Wednesdays, which are basically “other” days.  Sometimes we have American(ish) food, Indian, “Italian”—all Koreanized, but still a nice change.

After lunch, Dylan and I go have a coffee in the “teacher’s room,” which is basically the main office.  Apparently Koreans always drink instant coffee, and from little paper cups.  There was quite a bit of excitement about a month ago when we got a machine that dispenses a paper cup and then fills it with “coppy” or “cappachino,” which basically taste the same.  After coffee, Dylan and I usually play ping-pong for 20 minutes or so (depending on whether or not we have a 5^th period class).

Kelsey and I both have “after-school” classes that vary from day to day.  These are extra work, but also extra pay!

The school day ends at 4:30 for us.  The students are done at 2:30, except for their extracurricular stuff.

Evening

Evenings are when we have the least consistency.  The only real objectives are to eat dinner and relax.  Occasionally we’ll see people or have something special going on.  Dinner has been difficult to figure out because we don’t understand how to use half of the ingredients at the grocery store.  Also, we don’t have an oven.  It never occurred to me how little use most Asian cuisine has for ovens until we got here.  Korean food is no exception.  Where there should be an oven there is a fridge designed just for kimchi.

We try to be in bed by 11:00.

Conclusion

So.  In conclusion…our day to day workweek is actually quite ordinary, despite being in Korea.

I promise to post more about everyday life soon.  We’ll get better at this online journal thing.

--Jordan

Lots and lots of pictures

Ok this is the first time I've put photos up, so I hope it works out. Sorry these are way way way overdue.     Here're a brief overview of the pictures below:

--- Seoul- over Jordan's birthday weekend we went to explore a really old and quite impressive palace. And yes, I am holding a waffle. It is common to encounter waffle street vendors. Another reason to love Korea. 

--- Our Saturday trip to an nearby island just west of us. We took the bus, ferry, and bus again in search of the beach- at first we were dropped off in what appeared to be the middle of a field without a sand granule in sight, but after a bit of conversing with some local folk (mostly gesticulating) and perseverance with the map, we found the beach (ok fine- Jordan found it). Twas delightful. Everyone was fishing, swimming, and having a good time.

--- Next you'll see a humorous handful of pictures that showcase our recently acquired knack for traditional korean drumming. Other than the fact that we don't speak Korean and sometimes have no idea what the instructor (the guru on the right) is saying, Jordan suffers extra tribulation on account of his height. You'll notice, (with a few laughs I hope) that dear Jordan has to put his drum stand up on the stage so he can reach the thing. 

---Next we come to one of the best parts about Seoul: soccer. We've gone to see 2 FC Seoul games and to go to their last home game next Sunday. It's such great fun. We only wish we could speak enough Korean to join in on the chants. We've compromised by clapping and mimicking sounds here and there. Note Jordan's spiffy new jersey. He blends right in.

---Next- hiking. We recently went on a 3 day hiking trip to Gangwon-do, which is a province northeast of us with gorgeous jagged mountains. The hike on the second day took 11 hours to reach the summit and back again, but the view was well worth the effort. Absolutely beautiful. It was unlike any terrain I've ever seen, and the autumn colors were breathtaking. 

---And finally, here's the real gold mine of photos-we finally got to dress up like ninjas. We're waiting backstage to perform the drumming number we've been practicing for a festival/exhibition put on by Jordan's school- Tongjin Elementary. Most of the people in our drumming crew are Tongjin teachers, but the man who is posing with Jordan is one of my favorite fellow teachers from Seoam Elementary.

Hope you enjoy these. 

More to come!