Having my alarm clock fall on my head as I'm trying to turn it off in the morning is a great way to start the day. Wooo forehead bruising.
Sarah's really good question of the day: If it is customary in Korean society to live with one's parents until one is married, then who lives in all of the other studio apartments like the ones in my building??? I can tell you that most of them do not speak English so it's not all English teachers or anything like that. Hmmmmm, ponder ponder ponder.....
I think I may be allergic to Korea or something. I HATE being sick. And I never am. Except for now apparently. GAH. Germy, grimy, small children. They should stop coughing on my face. I got to go home early today because of the sickness. Good but bad at the same time.
On a side note, they have super cute stationary here. So expect some super cuteness in the mail if I have your address.
Korean character of the day: ㄷ - d/t sound, half way between d sound and t sound, non-aspirated
Korean word of the day: 소고리 (soh-goh-gi) - beef
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I sound like death
I've figured out why the whining of my kindergarteners is so grating. The Korean language can have a lot of up and down intonation fluctuation within a single syllable , which sounds perfectly nice when speaking Korean, but when you add it to English, it makes for the most horrible whining you have ever heard. I have one student in particular who can say absolutely anything and will talk like this so she just sounds like she is whining the entire time. Very much trying to get rid of this habit.
Speaking of my little munchkins, I'm like 90% sure that one of them has gotten me sick, those adorable, little germ covered munchkins. My voice is about 25% right now which is never a good sign consider I did no yelling or even very much talking yesterday. There is also a little cough thing going on. Really not cool.
This being my first full time job I'm still getting used to working 9 hour days. I had around 9 months off of anything that was very time consuming and then even college was only 4 hours max of class time a day and then I could do whatever I wanted with the free time, like study. Or eat. Basically, it was ridiculously flexible. That being said, I get home from being at work for 9 hours and I don't really want to move or do anything productive and I feel like I don't have time to do it even if I wanted to. I don't know how grown ups get used to it. For example, I really need to start getting my butt to the gym more than twice a week, but anytime that I do have that I could go I just want to eat, sleep or sit on my butt.
Asian girls have some sort of obsession with high heels which I don't understand. Don't get me wrong, I have a love affair with cute shoes and heels, but these girls are wearing heels around like they are sneakers. And they wear them all day. And they are not the sturdy kind of heels that look like you could do that and still be mostly okay, they are the 3-inch high, sharp, pointy stiletto type. With the amount of walking I do here, my feet hurt at the end of the day after wearing sneakers all day. The whole thing completely baffles me. I mean sure I am in the middle/tall range of height here for women so I don't feel like I need heels to even be average height like some women might but come on, is being three inches taller really that important?
Two food things that I am really annoyed with: bananas and peanut butter.
I love bananas, they are the most practical fruit ever and are a great breakfast food or snack. The problem is that pretty much anywhere you buy them here they are already ripe enough to eat and you can only buy them in bushels, they don't let you break off a couple like they do in the US. So if they are already pretty ripe and you have to buy a bushel, chances are that you will not be able to eat all of them before they get over-ripe unless you eat them for every meal or are a family of four who really loves bananas. I would think they would actually sell more if they just let people take the number that they wanted instead of 9 or 10. I personally like my bananas just slightly under-ripe, so this poses a problem for me. Today I did find one place that will let you break off however many you want but it's not exactly next door to my apartment and would be kind of a pain to make it over there every few days when I run out of breakfast food.
While they do have peanut butter here, firstly, it is prohibitively expensive. Like $6.50 for a small jar expensive. I have some that was left by Geoff (the previous resident/teacher), but it's a brand I've never heard of and it tastes funny and doesn't spread well. On top of that, it is smooth, not crunchy but the other two factors really outweigh the smooth vs. crunchy right now. In other words, it is not a kind that I would eat with a spoon as a snack as I so well love to do. Secondly, they do not have JIF. I have seen Skippy and Peter Pan and I have thought about buying one or the other but then I think, do I really wanna shell out $7 for some peanut butter that I just find marginal? If it was cheaper I probably would. But it's really not. Maybe I can order some on ebay......or apparently Amazon has peanut butter???? This is weird thinking about ordering peanut butter online.....
Korean character of the day: ㅈ - ch/j sound, half way between soft ch and j sounds
Korean word of the day: 오 (o) - 5
Bonus word: 바나나 (banana) - I really hope you can figure this one out.....
Speaking of my little munchkins, I'm like 90% sure that one of them has gotten me sick, those adorable, little germ covered munchkins. My voice is about 25% right now which is never a good sign consider I did no yelling or even very much talking yesterday. There is also a little cough thing going on. Really not cool.
This being my first full time job I'm still getting used to working 9 hour days. I had around 9 months off of anything that was very time consuming and then even college was only 4 hours max of class time a day and then I could do whatever I wanted with the free time, like study. Or eat. Basically, it was ridiculously flexible. That being said, I get home from being at work for 9 hours and I don't really want to move or do anything productive and I feel like I don't have time to do it even if I wanted to. I don't know how grown ups get used to it. For example, I really need to start getting my butt to the gym more than twice a week, but anytime that I do have that I could go I just want to eat, sleep or sit on my butt.
Asian girls have some sort of obsession with high heels which I don't understand. Don't get me wrong, I have a love affair with cute shoes and heels, but these girls are wearing heels around like they are sneakers. And they wear them all day. And they are not the sturdy kind of heels that look like you could do that and still be mostly okay, they are the 3-inch high, sharp, pointy stiletto type. With the amount of walking I do here, my feet hurt at the end of the day after wearing sneakers all day. The whole thing completely baffles me. I mean sure I am in the middle/tall range of height here for women so I don't feel like I need heels to even be average height like some women might but come on, is being three inches taller really that important?
Two food things that I am really annoyed with: bananas and peanut butter.
I love bananas, they are the most practical fruit ever and are a great breakfast food or snack. The problem is that pretty much anywhere you buy them here they are already ripe enough to eat and you can only buy them in bushels, they don't let you break off a couple like they do in the US. So if they are already pretty ripe and you have to buy a bushel, chances are that you will not be able to eat all of them before they get over-ripe unless you eat them for every meal or are a family of four who really loves bananas. I would think they would actually sell more if they just let people take the number that they wanted instead of 9 or 10. I personally like my bananas just slightly under-ripe, so this poses a problem for me. Today I did find one place that will let you break off however many you want but it's not exactly next door to my apartment and would be kind of a pain to make it over there every few days when I run out of breakfast food.
While they do have peanut butter here, firstly, it is prohibitively expensive. Like $6.50 for a small jar expensive. I have some that was left by Geoff (the previous resident/teacher), but it's a brand I've never heard of and it tastes funny and doesn't spread well. On top of that, it is smooth, not crunchy but the other two factors really outweigh the smooth vs. crunchy right now. In other words, it is not a kind that I would eat with a spoon as a snack as I so well love to do. Secondly, they do not have JIF. I have seen Skippy and Peter Pan and I have thought about buying one or the other but then I think, do I really wanna shell out $7 for some peanut butter that I just find marginal? If it was cheaper I probably would. But it's really not. Maybe I can order some on ebay......or apparently Amazon has peanut butter???? This is weird thinking about ordering peanut butter online.....
Korean character of the day: ㅈ - ch/j sound, half way between soft ch and j sounds
Korean word of the day: 오 (o) - 5
Bonus word: 바나나 (banana) - I really hope you can figure this one out.....
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
om nom noms
I have two new favorite Korean foods!! And of course they would be the ones that are covered in sauces and high in salt.
The first is called something like Chimdok, although I'm not totally sure that I would recognize it if it were written on a menu in Korean script. It's basically chicken legs, noodles, carrots, zucchini, green onion, potatoes and this things called dok that look like little sausages but are made from rice with a cheesy center, all simmered in a large bowl of some kind of soysauce based sauce that can be anywhere from a little spicy to really spicy. It's freakin delicious. But also tricky to eat because they only gave us spoons and chopsticks and using your fingers here is kind of frowned upon. I had quite the time trying to get the noodles on my plate and pull the chicken off of the bone so that I could eat it. It was still totally worth it.
The second is called tteokbokki (떡볶이 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteokbokki). The most basic version is just rice cake in a spicy chili pepper sauce, but the kind I had today had egg, ramen and onion in it and it was very tasty. (Oh hey, remember when Fergie came out with Fergalicious? Before that song I used to spell "tasty" correctly on the first try. Damn you Fergie.) I highly recommend it if you can handle some spice, although frankly, I've eaten salsa and Indian food that has been spicier. The Korean teacher that I went with was all worried that I wouldn't like it because it was spicy and I only like heat up to a certain point. It was definitely below my threshold but apparently it is pretty spicy for Korea.
They are really big on bar soap here. Like really big. I have not been in a single restroom where they have liquid soap. Even in the public bathrooms, they have bar soap on little handle things sticking out from the wall. I mean yes it does cost less, but I'm pretty sure it's less sanitary to have the bar sitting out and having everybody touch it. I also watched a woman wash her hands with the bar soap for literally at least 5 minutes while I waited in line for the bathroom. I thought maybe she was OCD or something and was surprised when she had left by the time I was back at the sink to wash my hands.
There is also a plethora of techy toilet seats like this one. They're warmed and when you sit down on them they start to make a running water noise, I guess to make you feel more comfortable with your pee noises? They are also all in Korean so I'm always afraid I'm accidentally going to hit a button and end up with water spraying up where I don't want it. I also half wonder if they talk, but since I can't read the buttons, I can't really find out.
Korean character of the day: ㅓ - eo, sounds like 'u' in 'but'
Korean word of the day: 떡볶이 (tteokbokki) - deliciousness described above
The first is called something like Chimdok, although I'm not totally sure that I would recognize it if it were written on a menu in Korean script. It's basically chicken legs, noodles, carrots, zucchini, green onion, potatoes and this things called dok that look like little sausages but are made from rice with a cheesy center, all simmered in a large bowl of some kind of soysauce based sauce that can be anywhere from a little spicy to really spicy. It's freakin delicious. But also tricky to eat because they only gave us spoons and chopsticks and using your fingers here is kind of frowned upon. I had quite the time trying to get the noodles on my plate and pull the chicken off of the bone so that I could eat it. It was still totally worth it.
The second is called tteokbokki (떡볶이 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteokbokki). The most basic version is just rice cake in a spicy chili pepper sauce, but the kind I had today had egg, ramen and onion in it and it was very tasty. (Oh hey, remember when Fergie came out with Fergalicious? Before that song I used to spell "tasty" correctly on the first try. Damn you Fergie.) I highly recommend it if you can handle some spice, although frankly, I've eaten salsa and Indian food that has been spicier. The Korean teacher that I went with was all worried that I wouldn't like it because it was spicy and I only like heat up to a certain point. It was definitely below my threshold but apparently it is pretty spicy for Korea.
They are really big on bar soap here. Like really big. I have not been in a single restroom where they have liquid soap. Even in the public bathrooms, they have bar soap on little handle things sticking out from the wall. I mean yes it does cost less, but I'm pretty sure it's less sanitary to have the bar sitting out and having everybody touch it. I also watched a woman wash her hands with the bar soap for literally at least 5 minutes while I waited in line for the bathroom. I thought maybe she was OCD or something and was surprised when she had left by the time I was back at the sink to wash my hands.
There is also a plethora of techy toilet seats like this one. They're warmed and when you sit down on them they start to make a running water noise, I guess to make you feel more comfortable with your pee noises? They are also all in Korean so I'm always afraid I'm accidentally going to hit a button and end up with water spraying up where I don't want it. I also half wonder if they talk, but since I can't read the buttons, I can't really find out.
Korean character of the day: ㅓ - eo, sounds like 'u' in 'but'
Korean word of the day: 떡볶이 (tteokbokki) - deliciousness described above
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Weekends are too short
Oy vey, so much to catch up on. I had a fairly stressful week during which I had sleep issues so that kind of killed any energy or creativity I had for blogging. I couldn't fall asleep on Wednesday night until like 4am and was surprisingly OK the next day but on Friday I was kind of a mess and all of the kids were just like "IT'S FRIDAY, I DON'T WANT TO BE IN SCHOOL" so it was kind of crazy and stressful.
Friday was this holiday here called Teachers' Day. It basically consists of kids bringing extravagant gifts for their teachers. The other teachers, having been here for more than 3 weeks, got more gifts because the students know them better. I personally got a pencil case, a huge box of these airy, chewy, cookie things, and six months worth of Omega 3 vitamins? It was very random. But kindergarteners handing you presents with cards that say "I love you Sarah Teacher" on them is just so darn freakin cute.
I realized a couple of days ago that the bills here are all different sizes, with the smallest denomination being the smallest in size and so on. And then I wondered why we don't do that in the US. It must be really confusing for blind people when they're all the same size.
One of the traditional dishes of Korea is called Bibimbab. I'd read about it and thought it sounded really good and wanted to try it. The description is basically rice with vegetables and meat on it and then an egg on top, sounds pretty good right? Severely disappointing. I got to try it on Saturday and it wasn't at all what I expected. The taste was something completely different from what I had imagined, they used some kind of spicy thing that I didn't like the flavor of, and it was sad because I had expected it to be really yummy. Le sigh. But now I know.
I keep seeing these 5 minute long commercials that are for an unattractive, white suit that basically seems to make you sweat a lot which they continuously demonstrate by ripping parts of the suit to expose various body parts that are running with sweat. Every time I see it I wonder if they're just pouring water down the person's body from above the shot and why in the world would anyone want to sweat that much. I guess they like being dehydrated?
Fun fact: 70% of Korean women have had some sort of plastic surgery. They are trying to make themselves more caucasian looking by have their noses done, their skin whitened, their single eyelids turned into double and implants in their cheeks. I mean I haven't been looking enough to notice but it kind of bothers me that that's such a societal norm.
Korean character of the day: ㅅ - s/sh sound
Korean word of the day: 사 (sa) - 4
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
I can has iphone?
Bank account: check
iPhone: check
happy happy day: check!
I finally am reachable within Korea, hallelujah it's a miracle!!! Good thing too, cause I'm starting to meet new people and I'm like "no sorry I don't have a phone, you can't invite me to do cool stuff like rock climbing and house parties."
There are tons if little tiny bugs flying around my apartment and i keep smushing them and they keep coming back and I don't like it. MUST SQUISH.
My kids were particularly good today. I got three presents in the form of food. This part of being a teacher is awesome. I had the manager of the school sit in on one of my classes today. Thankfully, she picked my favorite/best class. They are very charming and entertaining but still very much contained and not crazy. It's perfect. And they understand a lot of English and get along well.
Went to the super americanized area of Seoul yesterday for a "Couch Surfers" meeting with one of my coworkers. It basically felt like being in America with more Asian people. Kind of like Chinatown I guess. It was quite an entertaining time all around.
One of my parents friends is randomly in South Korea this week so I'm 90% sure I'm getting a free dinner out of it as well as just some entertaining company.
Korean character of the day: ㅣ- i vowel sound, sounds like double e in English ie feet, meet
Korean word of the day: 삼 (sahm) - 3
iPhone: check
happy happy day: check!
I finally am reachable within Korea, hallelujah it's a miracle!!! Good thing too, cause I'm starting to meet new people and I'm like "no sorry I don't have a phone, you can't invite me to do cool stuff like rock climbing and house parties."
There are tons if little tiny bugs flying around my apartment and i keep smushing them and they keep coming back and I don't like it. MUST SQUISH.
My kids were particularly good today. I got three presents in the form of food. This part of being a teacher is awesome. I had the manager of the school sit in on one of my classes today. Thankfully, she picked my favorite/best class. They are very charming and entertaining but still very much contained and not crazy. It's perfect. And they understand a lot of English and get along well.
Went to the super americanized area of Seoul yesterday for a "Couch Surfers" meeting with one of my coworkers. It basically felt like being in America with more Asian people. Kind of like Chinatown I guess. It was quite an entertaining time all around.
One of my parents friends is randomly in South Korea this week so I'm 90% sure I'm getting a free dinner out of it as well as just some entertaining company.
Korean character of the day: ㅣ- i vowel sound, sounds like double e in English ie feet, meet
Korean word of the day: 삼 (sahm) - 3
Monday, May 9, 2011
thank you sweet baby jesus!!!
I GOT MY ARC AND MY PASSPORT BACK!!!! WHICH MEANS THAT I CAN OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT!!! WHICH MEANS I CAN GET PAID!!! AND GET A PHONE!!!! WOOOOT!!! Pretty much the highlight of my week right there.
I have to say that so far, Seoul has some pretty sucky weather. Lots of clouds and rain. Acid rain in particular I might add. I can't say I've ever experienced acid rain before and knew that it was acid rain. Kind of weirds me out. But really normal rain is slightly acidic anyway it's just rain that is slightly more acidic because it has more hydrogen ions. It doesn't sound as dangerous when you put it that way but it apparently can wreak havoc on plant life and apparently your skin. I think my tolerance for so-so weather has been spoiled by too much time in Miami and LA.
I'm not sure whether I'm still experiencing some weird form of jet lag or not but I'm still having some weird sleeping pattern stuff going on. Before it was waking up at really early hours ie 6am and going to sleep at 8 or 9pm, now it has shifted to not being able to go to sleep until midnight or later and being really, really tired in the morning and not being able to get up. I realize that this is normal college student sleep schedule, but considering I woke up before 8am yesterday for work I would assume that I would be able to fall asleep before 1am especially with all the food coma from dinner.
New food words:
mandu - some type of dumpling, very delicious
dakgalbi - stir fried chicken, rice cakes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, chili pepper and some other thins I couldn't identify
rice cakes - taste like almost nothing, have awesome texture
dukboki - something that I haven't tried yet that apparently has chicken and is very spicy and I hear rave reviews
Also, I was informed of this, which I really must explore/try:
http://www.maangchi.com/
Korean character of the day: ㅁ - m sound, sometime shorter than English m so it can sound vaguely like a b
Korean word of the day: 이 (ee) - 2
I have to say that so far, Seoul has some pretty sucky weather. Lots of clouds and rain. Acid rain in particular I might add. I can't say I've ever experienced acid rain before and knew that it was acid rain. Kind of weirds me out. But really normal rain is slightly acidic anyway it's just rain that is slightly more acidic because it has more hydrogen ions. It doesn't sound as dangerous when you put it that way but it apparently can wreak havoc on plant life and apparently your skin. I think my tolerance for so-so weather has been spoiled by too much time in Miami and LA.
I'm not sure whether I'm still experiencing some weird form of jet lag or not but I'm still having some weird sleeping pattern stuff going on. Before it was waking up at really early hours ie 6am and going to sleep at 8 or 9pm, now it has shifted to not being able to go to sleep until midnight or later and being really, really tired in the morning and not being able to get up. I realize that this is normal college student sleep schedule, but considering I woke up before 8am yesterday for work I would assume that I would be able to fall asleep before 1am especially with all the food coma from dinner.
New food words:
mandu - some type of dumpling, very delicious
dakgalbi - stir fried chicken, rice cakes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, chili pepper and some other thins I couldn't identify
rice cakes - taste like almost nothing, have awesome texture
dukboki - something that I haven't tried yet that apparently has chicken and is very spicy and I hear rave reviews
Also, I was informed of this, which I really must explore/try:
http://www.maangchi.com/
Korean character of the day: ㅁ - m sound, sometime shorter than English m so it can sound vaguely like a b
Korean word of the day: 이 (ee) - 2
Sunday, May 8, 2011
FISHYYYYYY!!!!!!
I FOUND THE GIANT AQUARIUM. But I didn't have time to go see it. I was on a hunt for TOMS which I have been wanting for who knows how long. That was also successful. Formally, the color is called bronze, but they're just hella sparkley, just the way I like. I'm working on breaking them in/stretching them out.
Chicken strips for dinner = WIN. And we're not talking your ordinary run of the mill chicken strips, we're talking high quality chicken strips on a plate big enough for two sitting on a mound of homemade potato chips with some sort of sweet chili dipping sauce on the side and beer to wash it all down. It wasn't in the slightest Korean but it was extremely satisfying.
Nose back to the grindstone tomorrow for classes but then Tuesday is Buddha's birthday so we have a holiday which means I need to find some more touristy stuff to do.
Next adventure: figuring out how to pay last month's gas/electricity bill.
Korean character of the day: ㅗ - o vowel sound, like o in owe, low, toe
Korean word of the day: 일 (eel) - one (1)
Chicken strips for dinner = WIN. And we're not talking your ordinary run of the mill chicken strips, we're talking high quality chicken strips on a plate big enough for two sitting on a mound of homemade potato chips with some sort of sweet chili dipping sauce on the side and beer to wash it all down. It wasn't in the slightest Korean but it was extremely satisfying.
Nose back to the grindstone tomorrow for classes but then Tuesday is Buddha's birthday so we have a holiday which means I need to find some more touristy stuff to do.
Next adventure: figuring out how to pay last month's gas/electricity bill.
Korean character of the day: ㅗ - o vowel sound, like o in owe, low, toe
Korean word of the day: 일 (eel) - one (1)
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!!
While I don't know if they really celebrate Mother's Day here, I do know that I celebrate it and I sent my mother a lovely bouquet of flowers proving just such.
I don't know why I've been using a laundry hamper when I can just throw the clothes directly in the washer when I'm done with them. I mean it's not like I have to worry about other people needing to wash their clothes anymore. Something to get used to, and it's kind of awesome.
Also, it is apparently acceptable here to show your legs off practically to the bottom of your butt but it is not socially acceptable to show your shoulders or really any of your upper torso above your chest for women. This is completely counter-intuitive for me. Especially because I am not at all comfortable wearing a short skirt without tights or what not for fear of a strong breeze.
Koreans seem to brush their teeth at least 3 times a day. There's a little cabinet with UV light at school where the kids (and I'm assuming Korean teachers as well) keep their tooth brushes so that they can brush after lunch. Despite this, they still have numerous fillings from what I can tell. They don't have fluoride in their water or toothpaste though so this makes me wonder if it's really more about the fluoride and less about the number of times a day brushing your teeth that keeps your smile healthy. They should maybe look into that, at least as an additive to the toothpaste. They do, however, have some odd flavors such as "Fresh Forest" which I'm assuming must taste something like licking a tree.
Korean character of the day: ㄹ - r/l sound, halfway between and r and an l, the reason that Asian people stereotypically can't say anything with the letter l in it
Korean word of the day: 불고기 (bul-go-gi) - delicious, delicious korean barbeque beef
I don't know why I've been using a laundry hamper when I can just throw the clothes directly in the washer when I'm done with them. I mean it's not like I have to worry about other people needing to wash their clothes anymore. Something to get used to, and it's kind of awesome.
Also, it is apparently acceptable here to show your legs off practically to the bottom of your butt but it is not socially acceptable to show your shoulders or really any of your upper torso above your chest for women. This is completely counter-intuitive for me. Especially because I am not at all comfortable wearing a short skirt without tights or what not for fear of a strong breeze.
Koreans seem to brush their teeth at least 3 times a day. There's a little cabinet with UV light at school where the kids (and I'm assuming Korean teachers as well) keep their tooth brushes so that they can brush after lunch. Despite this, they still have numerous fillings from what I can tell. They don't have fluoride in their water or toothpaste though so this makes me wonder if it's really more about the fluoride and less about the number of times a day brushing your teeth that keeps your smile healthy. They should maybe look into that, at least as an additive to the toothpaste. They do, however, have some odd flavors such as "Fresh Forest" which I'm assuming must taste something like licking a tree.
Korean character of the day: ㄹ - r/l sound, halfway between and r and an l, the reason that Asian people stereotypically can't say anything with the letter l in it
Korean word of the day: 불고기 (bul-go-gi) - delicious, delicious korean barbeque beef
Friday, May 6, 2011
Any of you that know me really well can probably tell from the lack of wit in my writing thus far that I'm fairly stressed. When I'm stressed my sense of humor takes a hiatus. There are so many new things that take so much energy and create mucho stress. Also, the whole having a cold thing is definitely putting a damper on things. Thankfully, exercising again is helping some.
Speaking of exercising, I did not take into account the switch to the metric system in weights, so figuring out what to lift was a complete guessing game. Also, they have a handful of treadmills that use mph speed measurement and the rest use km/h which I didn't realize until today when I unknowingly got on one that was km/h, I was really confused when it got up to 5.1 and I was still walking at a leisurely pace. I can't wait until my hair is long enough to get all of the bits in front up in a ponytail again so I can easily have it out of my face while I run and sweat and all that jazz.
In the US it's a common occurrence to beep out cuss words to protect young ears. In Korea, apparently they blur out any kind of stabbing, scratching, gouging, etc. and then the bleeding that ensues. And by blur, I mean they will have a giant blurry spot over a man's torso as he is bleeding out and dying whether or not you can see his guts or just fake blood. You still know that he's bleeding and dying, you just can't see the part where the blood is coming out. It really took me by surprise the first time and I couldn't figure out why there was a blur cause there for sure weren't any naked people. Maybe I'm just desensitized but I find it not at all scarring to see a knife with blood on it in a movie. They also seem to skip over anything even remotely sexual, which I find a little more understandable. They play American movies on TV and you can tell when they cut scenes and guess what probably happened in them.
Found a couple of places right down the street to feed my nail polish addiction. I have also seen at least 5 nail salons within 2 square blocks of my apartment. Apparently they really like doing their nails in Korea.......
Speaking of exercising, I did not take into account the switch to the metric system in weights, so figuring out what to lift was a complete guessing game. Also, they have a handful of treadmills that use mph speed measurement and the rest use km/h which I didn't realize until today when I unknowingly got on one that was km/h, I was really confused when it got up to 5.1 and I was still walking at a leisurely pace. I can't wait until my hair is long enough to get all of the bits in front up in a ponytail again so I can easily have it out of my face while I run and sweat and all that jazz.
In the US it's a common occurrence to beep out cuss words to protect young ears. In Korea, apparently they blur out any kind of stabbing, scratching, gouging, etc. and then the bleeding that ensues. And by blur, I mean they will have a giant blurry spot over a man's torso as he is bleeding out and dying whether or not you can see his guts or just fake blood. You still know that he's bleeding and dying, you just can't see the part where the blood is coming out. It really took me by surprise the first time and I couldn't figure out why there was a blur cause there for sure weren't any naked people. Maybe I'm just desensitized but I find it not at all scarring to see a knife with blood on it in a movie. They also seem to skip over anything even remotely sexual, which I find a little more understandable. They play American movies on TV and you can tell when they cut scenes and guess what probably happened in them.
Found a couple of places right down the street to feed my nail polish addiction. I have also seen at least 5 nail salons within 2 square blocks of my apartment. Apparently they really like doing their nails in Korea.......
Korean character of the day: ㄱ - g/k consonant sound, halfway between g and k sound, non aspirated
Korean word of the day: 고기 (gogi) - meat
Thursday, May 5, 2011
I am le sickface
Two major discoveries:
1. FOUND FROYO!!! DELICIOUSNESS ENSUED!!!!!
2. Chocolate chex. Not chocolate chex mix, but chocolate chex. It's like having dessert but it's made out of vitaminy, breakfasty goodness. The angry chocolate chex man isn't very convincing but they are super addictive.
I am not used to walking around this much anymore. After a couple of hours all I want is a nap. I'm going to blame it on the cold that I'm 90% sure I have. The rest of my day has been relegated to doing things that involve very little movement in hopes that I'll start feeling better. Yuck. Yay for Harry Potter marathon and Transformers on the telly.
Korean character of the day: ㅔ- ay vowel sound, sounds like a sound in way, day, lay, say
Korean word of the day: 물 (mool) - water
1. FOUND FROYO!!! DELICIOUSNESS ENSUED!!!!!
2. Chocolate chex. Not chocolate chex mix, but chocolate chex. It's like having dessert but it's made out of vitaminy, breakfasty goodness. The angry chocolate chex man isn't very convincing but they are super addictive.
I am not used to walking around this much anymore. After a couple of hours all I want is a nap. I'm going to blame it on the cold that I'm 90% sure I have. The rest of my day has been relegated to doing things that involve very little movement in hopes that I'll start feeling better. Yuck. Yay for Harry Potter marathon and Transformers on the telly.
Korean character of the day: ㅔ- ay vowel sound, sounds like a sound in way, day, lay, say
Korean word of the day: 물 (mool) - water
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Early Weekend!!
In honor of Korean holidays (of which I don't really know the names), I had a half day of classes today, no class tomorrow, Friday or Tuesday. Exploration of Seoul GO!! This means I need to figure out the metro, something I have avoided so far.
My picture wall is up!! It will definitely be added to but I thought 90 photos was a good enough start. I'm still looking for a large map of Seoul for another wall.
The food here is really healthy compared to the US but the sodium content is way up and kind of counter acts all of the healthy stuff. I'm cooking dinner for myself tonight simply because I feel kind of dehydrated because of all of the salt.
I finally went for a run today and it felt phenomenal. I was thinking about going after work too just to make up for the couple of exercise-less weeks but as usual, I'm too tired to do much after work and trying to corral uncooperative children. I have found that I do a much better job of getting the quiet ones to speak than I do of getting the rowdy ones to stop speaking.
Korean character of the day: ㅂ - b/p consonant, half way between p and b, not aspirated
Korean word of the day: 밥 (bab) - rice
Monday, May 2, 2011
yummmyyyy
I know this is so anti-Asian, but I found baguette, and I'm eating it, and I love it. Today there was dried squid salad at lunch, I almost gagged a little bit, really not my thing. But the baguette is making up for it. And the chocolate milk. Weird dinner, I know.
First day of solo teaching today. So many things to keep track of, so many unruly kids to keep in line. I have trouble being strict enough cause they're just so darn cute and I'm too nice I guess. I really need to work on it. Classes were over at 6 and I didn't leave until after 7 just trying to get organized so I was at school from 9 this morning until 7 this evening. Which would explain my intention to go to the gym but my lack of follow through.
I found out today that I'm not going to be getting my ARC for up to 3 more weeks because they changed their policy this month for some reason. This means that I can't get a bank account which means that I can't get paid. It also means that I don't have my passport or visa which I feel rather uncomfortable about. I do have a copy but that only does so much.
I'm very proud of myself. I found a place to print off photos all by myself :D Soon my walls are going to be plastered in them and it is going to fabulous. I also want to find a large map of Seoul to put on one of my walls, but I haven't figured out where to do that yet, so if anyone happens across one and wants to mail it too me I wouldn't say no.
Korean character of the day: ㅏ - ah vowel sound, sound like a in father
Korean word of the day: 우유 (oo-you) - milk
First day of solo teaching today. So many things to keep track of, so many unruly kids to keep in line. I have trouble being strict enough cause they're just so darn cute and I'm too nice I guess. I really need to work on it. Classes were over at 6 and I didn't leave until after 7 just trying to get organized so I was at school from 9 this morning until 7 this evening. Which would explain my intention to go to the gym but my lack of follow through.
I found out today that I'm not going to be getting my ARC for up to 3 more weeks because they changed their policy this month for some reason. This means that I can't get a bank account which means that I can't get paid. It also means that I don't have my passport or visa which I feel rather uncomfortable about. I do have a copy but that only does so much.
I'm very proud of myself. I found a place to print off photos all by myself :D Soon my walls are going to be plastered in them and it is going to fabulous. I also want to find a large map of Seoul to put on one of my walls, but I haven't figured out where to do that yet, so if anyone happens across one and wants to mail it too me I wouldn't say no.
Korean character of the day: ㅏ - ah vowel sound, sound like a in father
Korean word of the day: 우유 (oo-you) - milk
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Sunday funday
My washing machine sound like it's about to explode when it goes into spin cycle. It kind of freaks me out. I also keep forgetting to take off my shoes when I enter my apartment, which I guess because it's my apartment doesn't actually matter that much but it would be good to get in the habit.
Grocery stores are hella confusing. Everything is written in Korean script, but some of it is English words sounded out and some of it is actually Korean so you can spend the time trying to read it and there's about a 50/50 chance that you'll be reading English words or that you'll just have no idea what it is. I can read the writing but I can't read it very quickly so I sit there looking like an idiot trying to sound something out really slowly and then trying to figure out if it's a word that I know. For example, I found some Sun Chips, but I didn't bother reading the flavor cause I figured it would be something I don't know anyway. Now that I'm looking at the bag, it says "스위트어니언" which if you sound it out sounds like "suh-oui-tuh-uh-ni-un" or sweet onion.
Spent today walking around, trying to get myself oriented and buying things that I need for example tissues because I'm 90% sure I'm getting a cold. Either that or I'm allergic to something here. Either way I need tissues.
There is apparently a Red Mango frozen yogurt store on the main street near my apartment. I think it must be hiding cause I definitely couldn't find it but it has moved to the top of my agenda of things to do. And when I find it I may end up living there. Mmmmm, froyo.
Korean word/phrase of the day: 배가 고파요 (pae-ga-gu-pah-yo) - I'm hungry
Grocery stores are hella confusing. Everything is written in Korean script, but some of it is English words sounded out and some of it is actually Korean so you can spend the time trying to read it and there's about a 50/50 chance that you'll be reading English words or that you'll just have no idea what it is. I can read the writing but I can't read it very quickly so I sit there looking like an idiot trying to sound something out really slowly and then trying to figure out if it's a word that I know. For example, I found some Sun Chips, but I didn't bother reading the flavor cause I figured it would be something I don't know anyway. Now that I'm looking at the bag, it says "스위트어니언" which if you sound it out sounds like "suh-oui-tuh-uh-ni-un" or sweet onion.
Spent today walking around, trying to get myself oriented and buying things that I need for example tissues because I'm 90% sure I'm getting a cold. Either that or I'm allergic to something here. Either way I need tissues.
There is apparently a Red Mango frozen yogurt store on the main street near my apartment. I think it must be hiding cause I definitely couldn't find it but it has moved to the top of my agenda of things to do. And when I find it I may end up living there. Mmmmm, froyo.
Korean word/phrase of the day: 배가 고파요 (pae-ga-gu-pah-yo) - I'm hungry
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