Afterburn and Seoraksan

It’s a rainy Monday and I’m sitting in my local coffee shop, Coffee Avenue, drinking a delicious and adorably presented latte and trying to decide on what to write this blog post. The trouble is there are so many great happenings in my life that I could choose from:

How about the hiking group I found, Climbing in Korea. Not only do they go on challenging, beautiful hikes, but also they are a group of friends who are not only wonderful people but accepting to boot! I hiked Dobongsan with this group and felt like I had found the community I have been looking for here in Korea. Afterwards a bunch of us went to an international festival in Itaewon (a neighborhood in Seoul) and spent a great night hanging out in the street and in bars. Even though I had just met all of them that day, it felt like I was hanging out with a group of close friends. That was a truly wonderful Saturday.

Or I could blog about the Monday I spent last week walking around Insadong street market with my friend Phoebe. This market sells traditional Korean folk art, Buddhist icons, contemporary art by Korean artists, traditional Korean food, and just about everything Korean you could want. It’s a truly wonderful neighborhood and so much fun to explore! It made for a great photography adventure as well.

Or I could tell you all about the incredible yoga studio that I joined! It’s called Celebrity Yoga (yeah okay, the name is a little goofy) and it is run by this beautiful soul Ball. He’s not from Korea, in fact I’m not sure where he is from, but he is an incredible Yogi. His classes are challenging but also welcoming. I can feel myself getting stronger every week. It probably helps that I go every day of the week except Mondays. It is really fantastic to feel my body getting strong again. And beyond that, experiencing my body through yoga is really improving my self-esteem and increasing my self love.

Oh, I KNOW! I’ll tell you about the indie-rock festival that a Korean guy took me to a couple weekends back. It was called the Ssamzie-Sound Festival and on its 14^th year, it is the oldest music festival in Korea. It was SO much fun! I jumped around in a mosh pit to a Korean punk band, threw my hair around headbanging to a Korean metal band, and saw a performance by a legendary Korean band. Every Korean in the crowd had their arms around the shoulders of the people next to them singing along to every song.

Oh man, or I could tell you about my trip to the Zoo with my friend Patrick! Arg, I can’t even write a little cutesy paragraph about that day. Hopefully I’ll actually blog about it. The zoo here was really awesome.

Shoot guys, I’ve written almost an entire page just telling you about the things I’m NOT going to blog about in this post.

In my day-to-day life, I’ve made a breakthrough in teaching. I am finally figuring out HOW to teach. It is increasing my enjoyment of my job so much more than I can say. I’m learning what questions to ask the kids to guide them to the right answer without just telling them the right answer. In response, my classes are more fun and I can tell that the kids are understanding the material, whereas before I felt like I was just overwhelming them.

Unfortunately I don’t respect the business practices of the company that I work for. But that’s Korea’s private Academy system for you.

Now that I’ve written a page long introduction, I’ll get to the actual events that I planned to blog about today, how’s that sound?

As with all weekends here in Korea, this weekend was full of exciting new adventures.

Saturday: Korean Burn Afterburn Party

You will remember, or if you don’t allow me to remind you that early in September I went to an event on the west coast of Korea called Korea Burn, a regional “Burning Man” inspired event here in Korea. It was a wonderful weekend full of beautiful souls and included Megan partying way too hard.

Well this weekend was the Afterburn party held here in Seoul, in one of the biggest party neighborhoods, Hongdae.

The party started with a Potluck. And fun fact about Megan, I LOVE to cook! Cooking is one of my favorite activities, and I love taking traditional recipes and getting crazy with them. So for the potluck I decided to make curried lentils (so sort of like an Indian Dahl, but curry flavored) with cabbage, sweet potatoes, and persimmons! It was delicious, if I do say so myself.

The pot luck was really delicious. There was a great mix of food Korean and foreign (okay, mostly foreign) and I got to reconnect with friends from the Korea Burn. It was great to see them again after a month apart.

The potluck ran from 7-10. I got there about 8. My friend Patrick came with me. He should probably feature in this blog more often since he’s basically my best friend in Korea and we hang out several times a week. So anyway now my readers know Patrick. Moving on…

10-11 was the “Open Stage” portion of the night. I brought my flowpoi with me to dance so I signed up to do glow poi. However, an absolutely inspirational spinner by the name of Shin was running the event. We had met in passing before but this weekend was the first time we really had a chance to talk. He generously offered to let me use his fire poi. So I got to SPIN FIRE! It was SO fun and felt amazing to dance with fire again. I had missed it so much. I managed to leave my fire poi in Massachusetts on the morning I left for Korea last July, so that is why I have been disconnected from that art form during my time here.

A video is on its way, I just don't have that yet.

So I danced with fire. I got very good feedback from people in the audience. That is always nice to have. My friends Kali and Caroline danced with a fire hoop, both of them were beautiful! And then Shin spun poi. I can’t even put into words how absolutely incredible he is with fire poi. Watching him set my soul on fire and I finally feel inspired to start practicing again. His dancing reminded me why I started in the first place.

The rest of the night was spent dancing and laughing with friends. A really spectacular Saturday. Unfortunately I had to leave early because I had signed up for a trip to Seoraksan National Park the next day and needed to wake up at 6:30am.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Trojan Marching Band for conditioning me to be able to party hard until the wee hours of the morning, and then wake up at 6:30 and fight the fuck on through a long day.

Sunday: Seoraksan National Park

So Seoraksan National Park. I had been hearing about this place since I got here in July and knew that I wanted to make it out there before winter hit. The park is, I think, only 2-3 hours from Seoul without traffic. We left Seoul at 8am and were hiking by 10:30. A real trip to climb Seorak Mountain (San = Mountain) usually takes 2 days, or at least you need to start hiking at 5am, so we were doing a short hike by Seoraksan standards.

But we were not alone.

I kid you not, I have never seen so many Koreans hiking at the same time. It was a beyond ridiculous but made for a very amusing day.

Except near the top, where we were all crammed onto a wooden platform. On a normal day this platform is probably a great place to take in the view. On this day, it was a great place to feel like livestock.

Myself and a few other people from the group decided to take a “quick” (read: 30 minutes) detour to the top peak of this hike. The view from up there was truly incredible. But all the views all day were incredible.

 

Hiking down we encountered the most traffic. It was literally stop and go on these stairs on the way down. The traffic was caused by places in the trail that were slightly perilous and so only one person could walk through it at a time. Again, on a normal day this would not be a problem. But when most of the population of Korea is on the mountain, it caused some traffic.

But why, you may ask, was the entire population at Seoraksan on this particular weekend?

This weekend was supposed to be the best for fall foliage in Seoraksan. And once we’d made it up and over the pass the foliage started to show itself and let me tell you, it was worth it.

I was born and raised in New England and as such I am no stranger to Autumn. In fact, it is my favorite season. But I’ve spent the last 5 years living in Los Angeles in perpetual Summer. This weekend for me was almost like a rebirth experience. Being in among the fall leaves, smelling crisp autumn air and watching the colorful leaves blow in the wind was cathartic on so many levels. I spent a good hour walking by myself along the canyon taking pictures of leaves and feeling so spiritually connected with the Earth. It was beautiful.

The end of the hike was an absolutely stunning walk along a stream at the bottom of a canyon. Gorgeous foliage. Gorgeous views. And thankfully no traffic.

Afterwards we all went to a restaurant to drink beer and eat dinner. I had hot bibimbap.

Then we piled back onto the bus to sit in traffic for 5 hours back to Seoul. I slept for 2 of them and spent the other 3 hours watching the Korean countryside go by. It was nighttime so the views weren’t that great but it was a nice chance to think.

The Korean countryside is really beautiful.

So that is my update on my life here in Korea. Every weekend is different from the last. I am always excited, always experiencing new things. All in all, I think I’m overcoming the culture shock. I am less enamored with everything I see, but overall much happier. I feel like I am myself again, just myself living in Korea. This is going to be a great year, and at this point I’m starting to understand why people would stay for a second one…

Love you all!

Culture Shock

It has been so long since I’ve updated I don’t know what to write about. So many things have happened I think we all just need to accept that some aspects of my life wont be included in this blog.

Aspects. That is a word I spent a good 5 minutes trying to explain to my students yesterday.

First, an update on teaching. To be honest I am not completely loving it. At the same time, I have to recognize that I am still new at teaching and it is a skill that needs to be developed. Some days I dread going to work but then I get there and the day goes by so fast. Mostly it is the middle school students that I do not enjoy. I LOVE my elementary kids. They wear me out but teaching them is so much fun.

I also have to admit that my negative feelings towards my job may be an expression of my overall psychological state the past couple of weeks. Culture shock is hitting me hard. Much harder than I expected. Everyone tells me that the first 3 months are the most difficult. Well I’m into my 3^rd month now so I’m just trying to take each day as they come. Culture shock is a sneaky process. Lets go through it a bit, shall we?

First there was the “honeymoon phase” where I loved everything in Korea. I definitely went through this. For about the first month I thought everything was so cool. And it is, this is a crazy country. During the honeymoon phase I was in awe.

Then I noticed the awe beginning to fade. Suddenly I found aspects of life in Korea to be annoying. Koreans always walking in my path or bumping into me elicited an unnecessarily strong reaction. I found myself thinking of LA more often and with a greater sense of longing.

Then Marc came to visit for a little over a week. Suddenly I wasn’t alone all the time. I had someone with whom I could explore Seoul. Someone who was familiar. Once he left, the culture shock really set in. My solitude hit me like a ton of bricks and I found myself on a Thursday morning hiking down a mountain crying my eyes out. I let myself cry for a couple of hours and ever since then I have felt much better. I think I was trying to pretend even to myself that everything was fine, that I was happy and healthy when in reality I was hurting inside. It is HARD to move to a country where you know NOBODY and you can’t speak the language. Every day is a challenge. Making friends is a daunting task for me (but I’m glad that I’m being forced to do it). But its exhausting and I needed a day to admit to myself that yes, I was hurting and yes, that was okay and part of the process.

Moving to a new country is no easy adventure. It is an incredibly challenging and overwhelming one. But at the end of every day I have to conclude I am happy with the decision I made and wouldn’t go back to America yet even if given the opportunity.

I also recently bought a 3 months unlimited pass to a Bikram yoga studio in Gangnam. They do all of their classes in English. Most classes are 90 minutes long with a few 60 minute classes. It is exactly the physical challenge and mental clarity that I have been craving since arriving here. And now that I finally feel like I’m coming up for air after drowning in the waves of culture shock I am able to focus on myself again and take time every day to practice yoga.

I want to make sure I end this on a positive note so in summary, yes culture shock has hit me hard and yes I have been incredible homesick the last few weeks. At the same time I am loving life here more than ever. The honeymoon phase is over but as I settle into a normal routine and a life here in Korea I am discovering more things about myself that I love and I can tell I am at the beginning of what is becoming an incredible journey into self awareness.

Perhaps I’ll write a post soon where I describe my amazing trip to Busan. Or all the crazy things I saw on Marc’s visit, or any of the other outrageous things that happen to me on a daily basis. For now writing about culture shock has exhausted me. In conclusion: here are your first photos of me in Seoul.

Eagerly awaiting 삼겹살 Samgyeopsal. (I'll get into what that is in another blog post. 3 layered pork. BBQ.)

 

Me at the top of Gwanaksan, my favorite mountain so far in Seoul. 

Till next time!

Korea Burn Mostly

Keeping this blog post short may be the greatest challenge I’ve yet faced in Korea. So much has been happening.

First, lets confront my teaching. It is going surprisingly well. I’m starting to really get the hang of things. I have some classes that I absolutely love and have so much fun with. My 4pms on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday are all a riot and I’m worn out by the end but always happy about it. And my 7pm upper level listening class on Fridays is really fun to teach and I love talking to the kids. Last week I asked them who they thought the strongest woman in history was and a bunch of the boys in their class said “my mother”. Gut instinct too, they didn’t even think about it. I loved that.

Today in my 4pm class I was helping the kids brainstorm for their essay topic, “if you were moving to the U.S. what 3 things would you bring and why” and one kid shouted out “my parent’s credit card”.

There are also classes that I really do not like teaching. Classes where the kids are quiet, reticent, never want to talk, never participate. But the high energy fun classes more than make up for that.

Okay moving on to my general life.

I’m really into cooking these days. I already was into the cooking when I lived in California, but it is so much more of an adventure here because I have access to totally different ingredients. It makes it a lot more fun, and a lot more interesting. I also do not have an oven, only a stove. I’ve taken to taking pictures of everything that I cook.

That is a dish I made a few weeks back, I think it was cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, possibly an egg, curry flavoring most likely, with seaweed, bean sprouts, and sesame seeds. Most likely.

I’m still loving my new apartment. My neighborhood is adorable and has a street lined with restaurants nearby. I got utterly delicious lamb skewers last Friday night.

Phew. Seoul continues to be awesome. I continue to love it with brief periods of missing California and America in general mixed in.

Moving on. Korea Burn.

Two weeks ago I traveled southwest to a place called Gijipo Beach to go to the Korea Burn festival. The beach was outrageously beautiful. In fact I’m discovering when I travel out of Seoul that all of Korea is utterly gorgeous.

I went to the burn with one of my co-workers and a friend of hers. It was a really, really good time, just a wild and crazy party on the beach. I partied too hard right upon getting there and (though I had a fantastic time) I did not do anything I had intended to do, didn’t take pictures, didn’t get contact info for anyone that I met, didn’t teach poi, or even really spin poi… I guess the lesson here was don’t be attached to outcome. I had an incredible time nonetheless.

After my period of extreme drunkenness I found myself hanging out with a guy from the airforce. I definitely did not expect to go to Korea Burn and spend the whole night with a military guy. That being said, I had some of the most interesting conversations of my entire life with this guy. We talked about Afghanistan, Korea, PTSD, what it is like to kill someone, our different views on life and our different philosophies. It was really a very stimulating night for me and not one I will soon forget.

The best part? We never got each other’s contact info and I packed up and left before he ever woke up. I have a picture of him, but in his world I’m just a girl he met briefly at Korea Burn who disappeared at dawn. I find that so wonderfully poetic.

I did manage to fit in some fire spinning. I met a great guy from South Africa named KB who let me borrow his poi. We had a great conversation afterwards about different people’s personal styles in spinning. I love meeting other spinners and he was a particularly commucative one.

Did I mention I didn’t sleep at all that night? The sun rose as I was watching the ashes of the men burn. And shortly thereafter I was gone. Back to Seoul where I had a new type of Korean food, something called 찜닭Jjim-Dalk. It is a DELICIOUS chicken dish with a soy sauce base and glass noodles and yum yum yummmmminess.

I continue to love every type of Korean food that I encounter.

Okay I need to stop here because I've exhausted myself writing this. I still need to talk about the absolutely phenomenal weekend I just had in Busan so stay tuned, hopefully I'll get that post up before this week is over and I've got another week's worth of amazing experiences that I cannot possibly fit into one blog post.

I love you all.

My Very Own Apartment!

I realize it has been quite some time since I last updated you on the adventure that is my life these days. So although so very much has happened, I am going to try to stick to just one thing: my new apartment!

That's right folks! As of 2pm today Megan officially has her very own apartment in Seoul! It's like I really live here or something. I've been living in (very nice) temporary housing for the last month. It was a lovely, spacious penthouse type apartment but it was completely empty and it wasn't mine. I think that was a psychological block. I was living out of a suitcase for a month! I unpacked the essentials but left everything else in the bags until I moved into "my place".  I didn't realize how much it was getting me down until I got into my own place today.

This place isn't a palace, in fact it is a very small studio. But it is mine, and I already love it so much.

#1 reason I love it? Wood floors.

Let me repeat myself.

Wood. Floors.

I think those are commonplace in Seoul, but in the ghettos of Los Angeles they are NOT and I have been lusting after some wood fucking floors for about 5 years now. Finally they are mine. I guess patience really is a virtue. Mama was right.

Also, I now live by myself. Commence absurdity. Commence constant nudity. What? I'm alone behind a locked door. Shit is going to get weird.

I would like to back up, I have been blessed with a series of absolutely wonderful roommates over the last 5 years. People who were patient with my antics, agreeable, and generally easy to live with. But for the last year I have been longing for the solitude of my own place. I am an introvert and introverts need our time alone to recharge. This will be my nest and I am so excited to start setting it up.

Tonight, however, I am being Korean and sleeping on the floor. And not only I am I sleeping on the floor, oh no, I am sleeping on a pile of my jackets on the floor. Complete with airplane neck pillow.

What can I say? I'm a classy bitch.

But the apartment came with a really nice desk and bookshelf. 

All I want to pick up is a mat to sleep on, and some drawers for clothes, something to hang clothes from. Maybe a table. A sofa even... I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Mostly I need storage.

Anyway I'm super excited about my new place. Its adorable and me sized (except even in Korea I can't reach the stupid top shelf in the kitchen cabinets, short girl problems).

Tomorrow the scavenger hunt around Seoul commences. Objective: furnish this apartment. I'll bring my camera and hopefully return with lots of amusing stories and pictures.

I love you all and miss Los Angeles very much. But moving into this apartment just made Seoul feel that much more like home.

Week 3: Homesickness, Epic Partytime, Magical Hiking

I cannot believe I have already been here for 3 weeks. Time is flying. And it is amazing to see myself becoming more familiar with (parts of) Seoul. As a man said to me in the subway tonight "I have lived here for 40 years and still feel like I am new". This city is gigantic.

 Teaching is going well. Oh, except I gave one class the middle finger. They were being brats. It was an instinctive reaction. I heard someone sassing me so I flipped them off. Then I realized that "someone" was a 14 year old Korean boy. It all ended in laughter but I did have a brief moment of panic right after doing it.

 So much to talk about.

 I had my first true bout of homesickness this weekend. No matter how much I love it here, there is no escaping the fact that I have moved across the world. I am in a new country where very few people speak my language. Every day I am forced to adapt and every day is challenging. Simple things like ordering food become huge accomplishments. And making friends, which is happening, is happening slowly. A long day of miscommunication without friends to share it with can be emotionally exhausting. So this Saturday I had my first experience of laying in bed, looking at pictures of LA and holding back tears thinking about all of you, my wonderful friends. Also thinking about the mountains, and the freeways, and all sorts of nonesense. But then I talked to Josh on skype, laughed it off, and went out to party in Hongdae.

 I am glad I am able to experience the homesickness and move on. But I wanted to include it in this post so that I can a) be honest with both myself and all of you, and b) include it for those of you who are considering doing what I am doing. My advice is DO IT! But don't expect it to be easy, it's not, but nothing really worth doing is easy.

 Okay HONGDAE.

Party neighborhood north of the river, across the city from me. I went out there for the first time Saturday night. Super fun. It's a college area so very full of young hipsters (but all of Seoul really seems to be...) The party was thrown by a guy that I actually had met back in LA, he is a UCLA (sucks) grad who lived with some people from the marching band. The party was SUPER fun. I had a blast! It was in a converted garage/warehouse type of setting with lots of graffiti and a really grungy, underground feel. Totally my style. Met lots of cool ex pats AND met a Korean guy. I convinced him to take me out to eat after the party so I got to try a new kind of Korean food WITH a Korean (this is the best way to do pretty much anything in Korea, I am discovering).

We ate 설렁탕

 설렁탕 (Seoullangtang) is a local dish of Seoul. It is a soup with a white broth that they cook overnight. It is made from ox bone and had some kind of beef in it, and noodles. And then we added rice and salt and kimchi and it was soooo yummy. I love love love the food here. And I'm sorry I did not have my camera with me this night so there are no pictures.

 BUT NOW If you are still with me and want to keep reading I will describe the most WONDERFUL hike in the world... with way too many pictures.

 So this weekend I hiked 관악산 (Gwanaksan) 산 (san) is the word for mountain. It was so incredibly beautiful! So first I walked from the subway station over a big hill (the directions said to take a bus but buses still frighten me a bit... so I walked) and got my first view of the mountain that I was going to climb.

I walked down the hill to Seoul National University and then proceeded to get lost for a bit looking for the entrance. By following some older Koreans in hiking gear I managed to find this:

For those of you who cannot tell, that would be a hole cut into a chain link fence. I figured since the Koreans were doing it, it was okay. I got some funny stares from old Korean men on the other side, but  I think that was because I was foreign, and not because I was crawling through a fence.

Once through the fence, I had to confront my second obstacle:

Fording the river. For good measure:

Thankfully Korean people are super nice and some men on the other side pointed me to the easiest way across. (Not pictured.. sorry)

I carried on up the stairs and found myself on a wide paved road in the woods littered with Koreans in hiking gear. I headed in the "uphill" direction and hoped for the best.

Thankfully I saw this helpful sign! "A path up a mountain" is literally what it says. I love the english translations on signs here, they are always fantastic. So I followed the path up the mountain, it was lovely and went alongside various streams that fed into the river I had to ford at the beginning. 

All along the way I saw Korean families having picnics, both in pagodas like the one pictured above, and also on any spare empty rocks along the path or even in the river. Its customary in Korea to buy some gimbap or other food and beer and magkeolli (Korean rice wine) and then hike up most of (or hardly any of) a mountain, drink, eat and be merry. I really love the Korean approach to hiking.

Alright so another note about Korean hiking: in America we build our trails with switchbacks, to make the going a bit easier as we climb giant hills. This either didn't occur to the Koreans, or it did, and they just prefer every hike they ever do to be a kind of outdoor stairmaster.

Regardless I was booking it up this hill. Mostly because I had other shit to do that day, but also because it just begged to be booked up.

Almost at the top!

The top was a mystical, religious experience, as the tops of most mountains around Seoul seem to be for me. Not only did I have this spectacular view:

And this one:

And this one:

(Added my feet for good measure, to prove I'm actually the one behind the camera)

But while I was up here alone on top of a gorgeous mountain in Seoul I could hear the sound of Buddhist monks chanting from a temple in the distance. Seriously.

I'm in fucking Asia right now.

That thought goes through my head at least once a day, and especially when things like the sound of Buddhist chanting are part of my average weekend.

In case I needed further evidence that I belong here, I saw this on the way back down.

Some women selling food and produce at the bottom of the mountain.  I bought 김밥 (gimbap) which is essentially Korean sushi for my post-hike snack.

Oh also, for your amusement:

That would be a truck selling hiking shoes at the bottom of the mountain. There were also stands selling knock off north face apparel. For the Koreans hiking is a time to show off your gear, its sort of like an outdoorsy fashion show. Its all about status, as most things in Korea.. or at least Seoul, seem to be. I don't have fancy dry-fit clothing, but I've got my trusty hiking boots so I don't feel too out of place.

In fact I feel like Korea fits me like a glove. Except for the fact that I'm foreign. I wish I could take pictures of the Korean's faces when they notice me coming up the hill. It's priceless every time.

And just because I haven't posted one yet, here is a picture of a somewhat typical street in Seoul (main road, the alleys are a bit different)

Alright if you actually made it all the way to this point in this post, I applaud you. I realize it was a bit of a marathon post (and I was trying to keep it short!) so thank you for reading!

I'll try to update more often in the future or something. Maybe.

Till next time!

Gangnam Style

I survived my first week of teaching. In fact, I would go so far as to say I destroyed my first week of teaching. They threw a lot of curveballs at me. First off, I am not teaching the levels I was trained to teach. The good thing is that all the classes are basically the same, just some more difficult than others. In the hours before each class I sat in my classroom frantically prepping for class getting more and more nervous but once class started and I got into my groove I really enjoyed myself. I think I’m actually going to like this job. I got to teach a master’s level class on Friday called issue debate. I didn’t know I was going to be teaching it until 10 minutes before I had to start, so I literally had no time to prepare. The class had four boys in it all of them fluent in English. It was really relaxing, we talked about domestic surveillance for a while until they ran out of things to say, and then we talked about whatever I could think of. I asked them their opinions on North Korea, Reunification, Japan (that was interesting, they really don’t like the Japanese) and all sorts of things.

My job is great. The kids are adorable. Some of them are annoying but the adorable ones make up for it. Oh, and they are terrified of me since I am new, white, blond, and a woman, so I’m using that to my advantage while I still can.

Moving on to the more interesting topic… Seoul’s nightlife.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Balls.

This city is insane. Let’s just stick to Saturday, shall we?

I went for a hike with 2 people from work. They are really nice and have taken me under their wing pretty thoroughly (without their help I would NEVER have survived this week). And they are very fun. So hiking; apparently Koreans love to get to the top of the mountain, drink a bottle of rice wine, then walk back down. We neglected to get the rice wine, so we had to wait to start drinking until we got back to their place. So we started drinking at 2pm, which according to my friends was “really late” for a Saturday. Love it.

Drank all day, went out to eat multiple times. Including this dish called 부대찌개

Pronounced Bu-Dae Jiggae, translated “army base soup”. It’s a thick stew. During the Korean War the US army base threw out a lot of food, including macaroni noodles, bits of hot dogs, spam, and beans. The Koreans put all these leftovers into a stew and called it Army Base Stew. It was delicious! All the food here is delicious, I have yet to try something I don’t like. But I’m still looking.

So we hang out at one girl’s apartment. I met a whole slew of people all of whom were nice. We watched the Olympics (the only event I saw was rhythmic gymnastics, of this entire Olympics. I have now decided I must learn how to ribbon dance).

Around 11ish we decide to go out. The original movement was towards Itaewon (the international district) but we ended up staying in Gangnam instead.

Got to Gangnam, thought we were going to go straight to a club but none of us were drunk enough for that. So we bought some bottles of Soju and stood around drinking them on the street. No funny looks, this is standard behavior for Korea.

Decided no club yet, went to a bar called Woodstock that just plays classic rock songs, you can request anything. I don’t think there was a single Korean in the bar, entirely ex-pats. I met an English guy who has been in Korea for 6 years and doesn’t know any Korean. Each year, he said, he signs on for “one more year”. And this year is his 6^th. I think I’m going to be here for a long time.

The bar was fun. They played Bohemian Rhapsody. Epic sing-alongs were had.

Then we left the bar and I very enthusiastically requested we go to the club. At this point I am still with a group of 7 or so people. It is 3:30am.

I walk into the club with only one other person. I immediately order a Long Island. I would like to repeat at this point in our story it is 3:30am.

In the club the FIRST song I hear is Gangnam Style. Yes. The club is all electronic music.

All the Koreans stand in lines facing the stage. I stood up on the balcony watching them all. It looks like an American club only different. A Korean boy starts talking to me. He ends up taking me home. Riding in the cab with me, walking me to my door and saying goodnight. I get home a little before 6am. The sun is coming up.

It was so wonderful to have a guy take me home with no strings attached. He was just being nice. In some ways Korea today is a bit like 1950’s America in terms of gender relations. In terms of technology and some other things they are way ahead of us. But gender relations are still pretty retro. Luckily I’m not a Korean woman, I’m a terrifying blonde foreigner so I can get away with not being all passive and demure. But it was still really refreshing to have a guy be genuinely nice without expectations of getting something in return.

Sunday involved a massive hangover and lots of Ramen.

I absolutely love it here. I do get homesick for certain things from the US, especially Los Angeles, I miss her so much, but I know she isn’t going anywhere, and in a year I’ll have that same level of attachment to Seoul.

Tata for now my loves.

Seoul: First Impressions

Hey guys,

This is my third attempt to write my first blog post. The problem being each time I sit down to write it more has happened, so I have to either eliminate some stuff, or write a novel. I think it’ll probably end up being a novel.

So first, my arrival was not without its struggle. I had to take a bus from Incheon to the apartment where I (thought) I would be staying for 1 week. Stayed on the bus 3 stops too long. I’ve got all my possessions with me, it is hot, I am sweating, I do not speak Korean, I am panicking. Luckily Koreans are SUPER nice to foreigners so some girl looked at my bus ticket, hailed a cab for me, and explained to the cab driving where to take me. Amazing. So I get to the apartment and  turns out I’m here in this apartment until September, but whatever. It is a super nice apartment, like nothing I could afford, however there is NOTHING in it. As in my first night in Korea was spent sleeping on a pile of blankets. Nightmare scenario? Check.

The apartment was also without a working stove, hot water, or internet. Winning.

I now have a mattress and all of the above things. But no furniture, whatsoever. I think I dream about tables.

Okay so teaching is really difficult. Think back to all those teachers you maybe hated or loved in middle school, the ones that gave you a tough time or who were really nice… they are all HEROES! And intelligent people, it takes a lot to figure out exactly how to teach little kids! I’m on day 3 and it is a struggle. The kids don’t give me feedback so it is hard to understand if I am going through the material too quickly or too slowly or what. And my night classes, from 7-10, are like pulling teeth. The kids will NOT engage in the class. At the end of last night’s class they sat around showing me their phones.

Oh that’s another thing, I don’t have a phone. I know for a fact I had a dream last night about getting a phone. I can get a prepaid one right now, but can’t get a plan until I get my Alien Registration Card on August 27^th. Once I do though, I’m for sure getting that new Samsung galaxy III.

Guys, Korea is fucking awesome. This place is outrageously cool. It has hiking, I hiked to the top of a mountain and got the most amazing view of Seoul.

It also has the most delicious food ever. I’m obsessed with Korean food. I’ve had KBBQ twice now, incredible both times. And this dish called Galbi twice, at least I think that is the name. The language barrier makes dining out a bit daunting. But I will learn the language. My job is just so intense right now I don’t have the headspace to think about what I want to eat, let alone learning a new language.

Oh also, they make AMAZING pastries here. A shop called Paris Baguette is on literally every corner and they have a HUGE selection of the most delicious pastries. Also they have salads, I realized that a few days ago and it significantly increased the quality of my life. You really need to search for fresh vegetables here, in the market they are pretty expensive. Anyway my favorite pastry is a garlic sweet potato one. I just had it for breakfast. In America I never really craved pastries and never ate them, but for some reason here they are my go to comfort food.

Okay one more thing before this turns into an essay…the nightlife here is INSANE. And I haven’t even been to a club yet. The bars never close. Seriously. There is no last call. Koreans just drink all day erry day. And the clubs stay open until 8AM!!! 8AM!!!!!! I walked around Gangnam last Saturday night just watching all the drunk people make fools of the themselves. Also there are no open container laws.

Basically Soeul makes NYC look like child’s play. And electronic music is huge. So I think I’m going to be very, very happy here.

Thanks for reading! I know that was a whirlwind update without too many specifics but I’ll try to update with my frequency so that you guys can hear some of the ridiculous stories from my life in Seoul.

Much love

(PS: Blogspot has decided my name is Sensual Destruction, I'm not sure why but the internet has spoken, so let's go with it)