Crunky! (Joel)

Okay, I think it's time to begin Joel's introduction to korea. We'll see how long it lasts (probably today), but I'm hoping I can add something every day or so from here on out.

So first up has to be the iconic "Crunky." No korea blog is complete without it. I don't know whether it was just one of Wonka's experiments gone wrong or what, but everything about this candy bar just doesn't quite work. At first you think it's just another botched english title and it is supposed to be "crunchy" like a crunch bar which it exactly what it looks like. But then you bite into it with a "crunk" rather than a "crunch" and you realize just how aptly named the bar actually is. Basically, stick to candy bars you're familiar with here. The drinks however are another story.

Happy Lunar New Year

Today is the official lunar new year, although in Korea the holiday lasts for three days. Unlike the Chinese, who go all out with the partying to celebrate the new year, Koreans focus on their families. Most return to their ancestral homes and eat with their families. Lots of people wear hanboks, or traditional Korean dress. The best part--for kids anyway--is when they bow to their elders and get money in return.

Since we don't have a Korean family (obviously), we decided to go to a Buddhist temple complex in the mountains just outside Daejeon. It was a great experience--so peaceful and beautiful. It must be amazing in the spring and fall when the trees are in bloom/changing colors--we're definitely planning on going back then!

Outside the main temple.


Inside the main temple (the only one where it's ok to take pictures).

The undersides of the roofs of two adjacent buildings at the temple complex (the main temple is to the right).

Closeup of the intricate painting on the roof.

The walls of the temple are painted with scenes from Buddha's life. Here's one of Buddha's first sermon, at Sarnath (in India). Why am I including it here? Because I've been there!


If you want to learn about the temple, you're in luck--I took a page from Mom's book and took a picture of the sign. (Click on the picture to make it bigger.)

Here's the drum they sound in the mornings. Note the dragon on the corner of the roof!

Extra! Extra! Kimchi Cures Bird Flu!

Anything positive that happens in Korea is because of kimchi. No SARS outbreak a few years ago? Kimchi. North Korea hasn't attacked? Kimchi. OK, so that one's a joke, but you can tell how much Koreans love kimchi by observing the research proposals that get approved. Maybe kimchi does cure bird flu...I'm sort of hoping it doesn't, though, because then I'll actually have to eat the stuff:


Actually, I try to eat a little piece of kimchi everytime it's served. Usually it tastes horrible to me, but once in awhile I find it's actually tolerable. A couple of people have told me that if you keep trying it, eventually you'll start to really like it--now they can't live without it. I remain a skeptic, but I figure it's worth a shot. Because Joel is a freak, he likes kimchi--he liked it the very first time he tried it. To me it just tastes like fermented nailpolish remover.

Panty Teacher

We went out to eat tonight with some foreign teachers who work at a school next to ours, and I heard a story tonight that made me scared. One of the Canadian teachers bent down to pick something up and the very top of her underwear showed. Now the kids call her Panty Teacher. This happened a long time ago, but they still call her that. Today she went to make some photocopies for kids who forgot their books and she could hear her class chanting, "Panty Teacher! Panty Teacher! Panty Teacher!" She laughed about it, but I'm going to be verrry careful with my lowrise pants in the future!

One more day of winter session, hooray! Then a 3-day weekend for the lunar new year. We were going to go to Seoul since we haven't been yet, but everyone we talked to said to forget it--traffic will be horrible and everything will be closed. So. No Seoul yet. We will probably go to some shrines to see the traditional new year ceremony. I'll be sure to post about it if we do!

Missing the Goid

(Click on pics for full size)

Supervising moving day.

The teepee beast in her lair.

Hard at work.

Sweet dreams.

Mind Your Ps and Fs, Part Dul

waffle = wapple
wife = wipoo
skin food (a cosmetics brand) = skin pood

Literal Translation

Here's a conversation from our survival Korean book. First is the literal translation followed by the actual translation. I'm starting to think it might be easier to just skip the literal translation...

John: Peaceful are?
Flight Attendant: Yes. Peaceful are? Korean well do wow.
John: No, Korean well don't know.
Flight Attendant: No, well do. But a little tired are?
John: No, okay. Stay in peace.
Flight Attendant: Yes, thank you. Go in peace.


John: Hello.
Flight Attendant: Hi. You speak Korean well.
John: No, I don't know much Korean.
Flight Attendant: Sure you do. But are you a little tired?
John: No, I'm okay. Bye.
Flight Attendant: Thanks. Bye.

Gyeonji Fishing (Joel)

I got to go ice fishing with one of the adult students and their gyeonji fishing club last weekend. It was a lot of fun. They use traditional korean fishing rods called gyeonji rods which look a bit like twisted fly swatters. You catch big fish with them in warmer weather, but for ice fishing it doesn't really matter what you use. Ice fishing yields little fish called bingeoh. They're probably 3-4 inches long and quite tasty, but eating a whole fish is a hard to stomach. We had them grilled and batter fried, but they eat them live with a bit of red pepper paste.

I'm laughing pretty hard here since I think I just almost fell on my butt and Tavis is commentating on my courageous effort to haul this lunker in.

It was cool getting out of the city. The countryside is really beautiful. I think in the spring it will be really awesome. The road up to the lake we fished at is lined by cherryblossom trees most of the way.

I hope we see them when they're flowering like this in the spring.

Dig a bowl next to your fishing hole to hold the fish and then fry them all up when you're done.

It wasn't all edge of your seat excitement. Most people were there just to have fun with their families or drink some soju with friends away from the crowded city.

Shoe Withdrawal

I'm afraid I'm suffering from shoe withdrawal. I've been wearing the same two pairs of shoes to school, my Pumas and my black ballet flats, because I've been too lazy to dress up for winter session. I haven't even gotten to wear the gorgeous shoes Joel got me for my birthday:

After next week, when we don't have morning classes anymore, I'm definitely putting these to use--as long as the warm spell holds on. If it gets cold again, all bets are off.

Shoe shopping in Daejeon isn't exactly the greatest. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really feeling the platforms for this spring. Unfortunately, I haven't seen even the slightest hint of a platform in the stores around here. I'm hoping Seoul will have a little more to offer. We may head up to the capital city next weekend since we have three days off for the lunar new year. Until then, I'm stuck with Internet window shopping...

Such a nice, ladylike platform with a sexy conical heel. (Miu Miu)

If I could spare the $700 these cost, I would so buy them.

(Christian Louboutin)

Love these for summer! (Burberry Prorsum)

I'm not sure these could be worn in real life, but I'd sure like to try. (Lanvin)

Pics from zappos.com, style.com, and ebay

Food, Glorious Food

Joel is adventurous when it comes to trying food here...sort of. Twice now he's ordered food without knowing what he was getting. The first time, he ended up with a plate full of spicy octopus. I like octopus fine (though a whole plate of it is a bit much), but he can't stand seafood, so I traded my soup for his octopus. Then yesterday he accidentally ordered a plate of shrimp and corn fried rice with a soft-cooked egg on top. Since he doesn't eat seafood or eggs, guess who had to give up her yummy plate of jayuktabap (spicy pork and rice).

Tomorrow we're going with Isabelle to E-Mart and she's going to tell us what everything is. It should be quite enlightening. I'm looking forward to getting some of the kim that we tried here at school the other day (kim is dried seaweed, like what sushi rolls are wrapped in). The kind we just tried tastes like popcorn! It's so yummy and not at all fishy, and it's really crispy. The only problem is, there are, like, 100 types of kim at the store. That's where Isabelle will come in handy!

Going to the grocery store is definitely an experience. In the produce and meat sections there are employees with microphones who try to attract people to whatever product they're highlighting. They're kind of like carnival barkers, but for food. We might go to Costco tomorrow, too, which would be good--we hear they have a lot of Western food there. We really need to get some meals down that we can eat at home--sometimes you just don't feel like going out, and on nights where we work until 9, we need to bring dinner unless we want to wait until we're done teaching. It's a little challenging, though, when you only have a glorified hot plate to work with. We may buy a toaster oven one of these days, but even then the options are limited. I'm hoping Costco will help us out on that score.

2005 Reading List (Fiction)

Last year I started keeping track of the books I read because I realized I tend to read a book and then forget it unless it was really awesome. As if that's not nerdy enough, I rated the books on a scale of 1 to 5 stars (based purely on personal enjoyment). I thought I might as well share the list with all of you book lovers out there because I know I'm always on the lookout for the next great book to read. Because Joel isn't done teaching for another 4 hours and I'm stuck here at school, I've added commentary, you lucky ducks!

Here they are (drumroll please):


1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov ****1/2
As brilliant as everyone says it is, but the molestation stuff is a little too much of an ick factor for me to give it 5 stars. (Thanks to Jenna for getting me to finally read this!)

2. Runaway by Alice Munro ****
Munro is a master of the short story, so I thought I’d check out her latest collection. She makes it look easy, but her stories are so much better than 90% of the stuff that's out there.

3. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson *****
I really liked this book, partly because the setting is similar to the one I grew up in (even though it’s set 20 or 30 years before I was born, let’s face it—rural Iowa just hasn’t changed that much). The book sucked me right in and left me wondering how M.R. managed to say so much in such a simple story. (Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer)

4. Atonement by Ian McEwan ***1/2
Didn’t like this one as much as I thought I would, maybe because I don’t like plots that hinge on false (criminal) accusations. The first part--the setup--was my favorite, though my friend Dana thought the first part was slow and the second part (lots of WWII and, well, atonement) was much better.

5. Natasha by David Bezmozgis ***1/2
Pretty good, especially for a debut short story collection. The stories are all connected, focusing on the son of a Jewish family from the USSR that has immigrated to Toronto—an interesting setting (I swear!).

6. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2-3) ***
Not nearly as wonderful as it should have been. Although it was just published this year, it was written in the manner of an old-fashioned novel…to a fault.

7. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene ****
The book is way better than the movie (with Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore). Unfortunately, I saw the movie a few years ago, which spoiled the surprise ending . Not that the movie is bad or anything, but I just didn’t get the same sense of the main character. If I hadn't already known the characters' underlying motivations, I probably would have given it 5 stars.

8. The Easter Parade by Richard Yates ***1/2
Melodrama just the way I like it. I should mention that this book is thoroughly depressing, but highly entertaining--I read it in one sitting.

9. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville ****
Moby-Dick was my own personal Moby-Dick of the year (ha, ha...sorry). A pain to get through, but worth the trouble. It’s like traveling from Chicago to Paris for the day and then back—exhausting and full of hours of boredom, but you’re left with a few brilliant memories. Plus by the end you'll be an expert in 19^th-century whaling. What more could you ask for?

10. the curious incident of the dog in the night by mark haddon **1/2
Meh. Too hyped compared to the actual reading experience...it's not a bad book though.

11. The Stranger by Albert Camus ***1/2
At least it was short. A few awesome parts but overall fell short for me, mainly because the protagonist (at least, I think he was the protagonist) was such an idiot. Maybe existentialism isn’t for me.

12. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *****
Lovely, lovely, lovely. One Hundred Years of Solitude is technically better, but I enjoyed this book more. A true romance.

13. Saul and Patsy by Charles Baxter **
A lot of good stuff in here about the dynamics of long-term relationships and life in the rural Midwest, but overall I didn’t get into it.

14. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd **1/2
Pretty good story, easy read, but the plot it didn’t quite ring true for me, at least in the way the author presented it…seemed a little like a Hallmark movie. Lots of unique details though.

15. Aloft by Chang Rae Lee ***1/2
Great observations about aging and family and such. The narrator is a bit of a jerk but doesn’t realize it, which was fun to read but also sometimes annoying.

16. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer ****
I wasn’t sure how much I would like this short story collection, but it was really quite good and a fast read. Lots of distinct, memorable characters.

17. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson ***
I read this one because I liked Gilead so much, but it was too artsy for me. Beautifully written but ultimately boring, although I liked the premise a lot. Totally different from Gilead.

18. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene *
Sorry, Graham. I listened to this one on audiobook and that might have had something to do with my dislike—the narrator’s voices for the characters were so grating! But in general I just don’t think this story of gangsters in 1930s Brighton (England) has aged very well, and I didn’t feel much for any of the characters except the first guy, who gets killed in the first few pages.

19. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon ***
A fun coming-of-age story, though it has a dark side that snuck up on me. I started Kavalier and Clay, Chabon’s novel that won the Pulitzer, but I couldn’t get into it so I dropped it. I was surprised how easy this book, his first novel, was to read.

20. Loving by Henry Green ***
A good start but ended abruptly; great characterization and setting of the scene. A satirical look at British servants in Ireland during WWII.

21. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling *****
The fourth book is still my favorite, but this book was so much better than the last. This one is my second favorite in the series so far.

22. Television by Jean-Philippe Toussaint ****
If you like television a bit too much, you’ll like this book. If you hate television, you’ll like this book. About a guy working on an academic paper who finds lots of ways to procrastinate with TV, whether it involves watching TV or obsessing over watching too much TV or watching the world as if it were on TV.

23. Orlando by Virginia Woolf ***

Not bad, not overwhelming. I’m surprised this book was so popular in its day, not because it was poorly written but because of the subject matter--the life of a man who lives for several centuries and turns into a woman midway through.

24. Madeleine Is Sleeping by Sarah Shulien-Bynum ****

I loved the way this book was written, and I liked the fairytale-like story, but it was a little too graphic for my taste. (2004 National Book Award finalist)

25. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd **
Meh. Good premise but the execution left something to be desired.

26. People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia ***1/2
Experimental novel published by the folks at McSweeney's. A wildy creative modern fairytale that I enjoyed, but it was awfully slow going, probably because this sort of thing's not my cup of tea.

27. Nothing Serious by Justine Levy ***
About a 30-something Parisian woman whose marriage--and life--has fallen apart. "Glam lit," whatever that means. All I know is that it's a good read.

28. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell ****
I didn't think I would like this book, but I did. A lot. I finally decided to read it after it won Powell's/The Morning News' Tournament of Books. It takes a little while to figure it out (the structure is...unique), but it's worth the effort.

29. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Proust *****
If you read my post back in October about Proust, you know I didn't enjoy the first book of the series, Swann's Way, and I wasn't sure how the second book was going to be. It was so. much. better. A lot fewer descriptions of the countryside, and a lot more action. So yeah. Proust is a genius.

30. How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton ****
This one's not fiction, but I read it while I was reading Proust, and I loved it. Lots of practical applications of "lessons" from Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

31. The Sea by John Banville ***1/2
A man's wife has died and he comes to term with his loss as well as a loss that occurred in his childhood. Maybe it was a little overhyped, but I read it in a day, which is a compliment of the highest order. (Winner of the 2005 Man Booker Prize)

32. The Adventures of Maqroll by Álvaro Mutis ****1/2
I loved this book. The only downside is that it's a series of 7 novellas, and it takes a little while to get into each one. I'd never heard of it until I read somewhere that Gabriel Garcia Marquez (who has a brief cameo in this book) highly recommends it. I highly recommend it, too ;)

Any suggestions for 2006?

Mind Your Ps and Fs

In addition to teaching at school, this week Joel started teaching corporate classes at a certain megacorporation that makes Kleenex, toilet-paper dispensers, diapers, and other fine products. One class is from 11-12, Tuesday through Thursday. The other class, however, is on the same day, from 6:30 to 7:15. In the morning. Most of you probably know that Joel is the quintessential night owl, so getting up at 5:45 a.m. has been...challenging. We have our fingers crossed that the class doesn't last--apparently it's the brainchild of a certain manager who hasn't even shown up to class yet, and no one really wants to come into work that early when they already work from 7 to 7.

Korean language non sequitur: There is no F in Korean, so they pronounce Fs in English words as Ps. For example, Joel's class was talking about movies and one kid mentioned "Pago." What? "The movie in Minnesota?" Oh, Fargo. Which is actually in North Dakota, but I think most of the movie is set in Minnesota (?).

Some other examples:
Carrefour (a French department store) = Carrapoo (it's so fun to say this one to taxi drivers)
Passion Wold = Fashion World
VIP = Very Important Poreigner (OK, so Travis made this one up, but it's so true!)

go back to be a relationship easily

Here are some "English" t-shirts we've seen while shopping. If any of these make sense to you, seek professional help immediately.

This one comes in a nice, skintight spandex.

Bathing Ape--the new superhero on the block.

Words fail me. (Joel bought this 'Adidas' shirt for me for Christmas.)

So Old

I'm 28 years old in Korea!! This is messed up. The way I understand the Korean system, you start out at age 1 when you're born. This year I'll be turning 27 in American years, so I'll be turning 28 in Korean years, which means when Koreans ask my age I'm supposed to say I'm 28 because that's what I'll be when I have my birthday. This was explained to me by a Canadian, though, so maybe I'm wrong. Like, I still don't get why I should say I'm 28 even though I won't have my birthday until November--then I'll be 28 (27 in US years). Even though rationally I know I'm 26 in the US system (the one that counts for me!), it's a major shock to suddenly age two years. If this keeps up I may be 40 by the time we get back!

Give Me Caca, Please

You can stop snickering now--caca means discount in Korean. You can haggle with street vendors and in small stores, especially if you're going to buy a lot of stuff. We went shopping at an outdoor mall this past weekend but we didn't have the guts to try to get a discount. Actually, we only bought one thing--I got a sweater. The salesguy gave me my receipt and started speaking to me in Korean, and I managed to say "Sorry, I don't understand" in Korean. Then he led me outside and gave my receipt to two men at a table, and they stamped the receipt. We picked a good weekend to go shopping at that particular mall (Fashion World, pronounced Passion Wold-u by Koreans)--for some reason they were giving out roasted yams when you bought anything. They gave me twice as many yams as I could possibly eat (the sweater was only ~$25), so Joel and Travis and I ate as many as we could and gave the rest back.

I've decided I'm the least photogenic person on the planet (trust me, I have lots of evidence to back this theory up), but Joel is making me post the yam pictures anyway.

Travis and me eating yams in front of the yam stand.

Me with my yam and my new purchase.

The Joys of Cable

For a long time we only had, like, 30 channels, 27 of which were all Korean, 3 of which were English part of the time. We kept hearing rumors of Sex and the City and Oprah being on basic cable, but we definitely didn't have those channels. Finally William called the cable company for us and it turns out it was just a matter of pushing a certain button on the remote control (which, of course, is all in Korean so we don't know what the buttons mean other than volume, channels, and power). Now we have 60 channels, 53 of which are in Korean and 7 of which are in English most of the time. I've gotten to see Sex & City, Oprah, and even random episodes from random seasons of The Tyra Show (America's Next Top Model). Then there are all the movies, like Legally Blonde and My Best Friend's Wedding. The only downside is that a lot of martial arts movies are on, and, even worse, ultimate fighting, so we have to have a few debates over whether we should watch Friends or some crappy Steven Seagal movie (or worse, a reality show about ultimate fighters who have cauliflower ear and are named Grizzly Bear).

Tonight I was going to post pictures of our weekend, but I misplaced the camera-computer cable and spent all evening looking for it. Luckily I found it--OK, Joel found it--so tomorrow you will all be blessed with pictures that involve yams. And shopping malls. And that's all I'm going to say for now!

Travel Fantasies

After lunch today Travis, Joel, and I looked over a 2006 calendar to see when holidays fall (i.e., when we have enough time off to travel). My list of places to go is longer than our list of holidays, but that doesn't keep me from adding to it! Here's what I have so far.

Must See
Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, etc.)
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Kyoto (feudal Japan's capital city)

Really, Really Want to See
Tibet
Nepal
Thailand
Cambodia
Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan (to visit my friend Leah)

Would Like to See
Vietnam
Laos
Fiji

First Day of School

Today was the first day of winter break. I was supposed to start teaching today, but Joel is teaching for me until I get my visa, which should be in a couple of weeks. He only had one class today, so that was good. (The other days he has 2-4 90-minute classes). He said it went better than he expected--I think he was relieved at how well it went. We have certain books to use and we're on our own as to how to present the material, so it's not actually too difficult (so far anyway!). During winter break we have morning classes so we had to get up at the crack of dawn. Okay, so it was actually 9:00, but it felt early to us! Usually we go in at noon for lunch and stick around until 9 or so at night, so we've gotten into some bad sleeping habits.

Tonight we ran into some teachers who live in our neighborhood. We met them a couple of weeks ago when we were walking home from school because their school is right next to ours and their apartments are right next to ours (though not in the same building). So we went to eat with them and some of their friends at a kalbi restaurant (where you barbeque pork and then eat it in lettuce wraps). Most of the teachers are from Canada but two are from the US. It's nice to meet some new people and expand our social circle, which at the moment is pretty darn small (i.e., Travis). Travis trains a lot for hapkido, so he's pretty busy and doesn't know a lot of people here. Good work, good food, good conversation--not a bad first day of school.