Previously La Dolce Vita, which documented my time spent living in Perugia, Italy, Restless Seoul will be my way of sharing my experiences in South Korea. Enjoy!
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Passing the One Month Mark!
First, here's another song I'm obsessed with:
This is Taemin's single "Danger." You might (but if you're my typical American reader you might not) recognize Taemin from the group SHINee, who I also love. This is from his solo debut. I always listen to this song after or in conjunction with last blog's obsession, Mamacita by Super Junior:
A lot of my weeks have been spent watching some (read: this) music video or other, since Super Junior can win awards and stuff based on youtube views and album sales and other things that I don't understand but I just like the video so I watch it a lot. Please watch Mamacita if you get a chance!
Anyway, I'm sure that your visiting my blog is contingent upon my kpop recommendations,but I digress.
HAPPY JUST OVER ONE MONTH IN KOREA TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
In just that short (long?) amount of time, my Korean has gone from "non-existent" to "barely existent" (I can read the alphabet), I can use chopsticks reasonably well, and the anxiety level I get from having to go anywhere/do anything/order food by myself has gone from "cripplingly terrifying" to "mildly panic-attack inducing!" Although I do now have my arsenal of Korean foods that I can read, so I just look for those on menus, so I suppose it's down a peg to "really really really really uncomfortable please stop staring at me oh god these people do not want me in their country send help I'm going to McDonald's but even there they might think I'm an idiot since the only way I know how to order is by pointing or saying a number." So things are looking up, really.
In funny news, my bedframe broke when Tina was over last weekend for the holiday:
To update: My school felt so bad that they sent the school maintenance guy over to fix it. I am currently typing this post from my mattress, which is situated firmly on my fixed frame. My coteacher was astounded that I had slept on the mattress on the floor for like a day. Everyone's concern was touching, although I blame Tina entirely. Even though I wanted her to come over, and had her sit on the side of the bed that broke, and in general it was not her fault. Whatever.
Anyways, Korea. Some days I want to curl up in a ball and never leave my apartment because it's really hard to do things here. And some days I want to get on a plane and go home to a country where I speak the (not official) language. Some residual inadequacies I felt during grad school have not been lessened by coming here.
But most days? I love it here. I love my apartment (even with its quirks: my shower has TOO MUCH water pressure), I love my area (I live in Mokdong, which I am beginning to learn is on the higher end of awesome as far as Seoul is concerned), I love my school (seriously, it's the best), I love my coteachers (I finally figured out their names on the messenger app we have on the computer, despite my icon depicting me as a man), I love being so close to Tina (the same timezone is already a relief), and sometimes I honestly love all the attention I get for being a foreigner. It's nice to be told you're beautiful whenever you wear your hair different, or be told how impressive you are when you finally grab a noodle with chopsticks (seriously, they are the hardest thing ever to grab...) or when you utter a phrase in Korean and everyone is astounded. I like hearing that students who used to sleep in English class are now trying, or students who never tried on tests are getting 90%. It's awesome.
You know what else is awesome? 5 DAY WEEKENDS.
We had a holiday called Chuseok, which a lot of people refer to as "Korean Thanksgiving" but that's mildly inaccurate since the holiday predates the Thanksgiving tradition. I don't know much about it since I'm not Korean and haven't been here for too long, but I do know is it results in this:
LOOK AT HOW MANY SEATS ARE OPEN. ALL OF THEM.
Empty subways station.
I don't know if I've ever stressed how crowded Korea is. A freaking ton of people live in Seoul, but are in fact not from Seoul. Go figure. This holiday is pretty important for families, so a looooooooooooooot of people leave Seoul AND IT IS AWESOME. No fighting for seats on the subway. No one shoving you out of the way to get to the door 3 stops in advance. No giant wall of Koreans coming up the stairs as you try to make your way down. It is a ghost town and it is great.
We took advantage of a deal to go to Everland (on Monday, one of the actual holiday days where people would be doing family stuff), which is an amusement park similar to Disney. There are different themed areas (American Adventure, Europe, that sort of thing). We went on quite a few rides and didn't have to wait long for the famous T-Express, which "is the first ride of this type in Asia, and the first to utilize 3 trains. It is the world's fourth steepest wooden roller coaster. It is also the wordl's ninth fastest, fourth tallest, and sixth longest wooden roller coaster."
I took exactly 1 picture at Everland.
This photo, courtesy of Wikipedia, is the T Express.
It was awesome! It was a pretty hot day, but we got to wander and act like kids again. And question our sanity as we faced the steep drop a second time (I believe it went something like WHY DID WE DECIDE TO DO THIS AGAIN/THIS IS WHY I HAVEN'T RIDDEN A ROLLERCOASTER IN YEARS).
The day after Everland (for those of you keeping score at home, Tuesday), Tina took me to see my real living quarters, aka Gyeongbukgung Palace aka a reeeeeeeeeeeeeally famous palace here in Seoul. Strangely (not really) I thought that I should take more pictures here than at the amusement park, so here are some of them with vague explanations since I don't remember what Tina told me:
I am a big fan of the ancient (not as old as you think since it was rebuilt after being destroyed, but still) and modern together
Admiral Yi Sun Shin. Dude was a BADASS. For now, WIkipedia highlights: "Perhaps his most remarkable military achievement occurred at the Battle of Myeongnyang. Outnumbered 133 warships to 13, and forced into a last stand with only his minimal fleet standing between the Japanese Army and Seoul, he still managed to destroy 33 of 133 Japanese warships in one of the most astonishing battles in military history" and "With the Japanese army on the verge of being completely expelled from the Korean Peninsula, he was mortally wounded by a single bullet. His famous dying words were, 'The battle is at its height...beat my war drums...do not announce my death.'"
King Sejong, who oversaw the creation of Hangul so they wouldn't need to keep using Chinese characters.
Look this is Hangul, the Korean language. Yeah, looks kind of hard to learn, RIGHT? But it has waaaaay less to learn that Chinese or Japanese.
We got there at the changing of the guard.
Only the king can walk in the middle of the steps.
The throne room!
My lovely guide. Seriously, her knowledge of Korean history is impressive.
Explaining the floor heating system.
This is one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken.
This was used to host parties with foreigners.
Authentic Joseon Dynasty CCTV
Look! I can fit through a Joseon Dynasty-sized door!
Authentic Joseon Dynasty emergency equipment.
It's a big deal that this roof is blue because it's suuuuuuuuper expensive.
Seoul streetcar
I was a lion too! They had lion costumes that weren't as elaborate as the one I saw in Jeonju.
Look at all the worlds colliding in this one photo. Beautiful.
On Wednesday I ventured out to Gangnam (yes, like Psy's song) for some brick oven pizza with some awesome orientation people. It was glorious.
I don't think you understand how monumental this is.
After a frantic but short and awesome 2 day week, it was the weekend again! I had a reunion with my people from orientation (SHOUTOUT TO GROUP 2 FOR BEING THE BEST ORIENTATION GROUP EVER!!!) and I got to experience navigating the subway home while slightly inebriated and I still managed to catch the last train to my area! Success!
So overall, I still have a lot of highs and lows here. Still no real internet in my apartment. No cell phone. I am not a registered alien yet. I still am pretty frantic about lesson planning. Some days I notice people staring and sometimes I don't. But I am very happy, especially with so much accomplished and so much to look forward to.
NEXT WEEKEND WE ARE GOING TO THE SUPER JUNIOR SUPER SHOW AND I AM BEYOND EXCITED.
For fun: we were doing some kind of chant for my 6th grade class, and my coteacher made up moves for some of the words. What was one of the words? Sorry. What was the move? Why, the famous Sorry, Sorry dance from Super Junior, and I got to impress my kids by knowing the dance. The album/song came out like 5 years ago, but it's still pretty famous.
Mostly I'm Sorry, Sorry not Sorry,Sorry for always posting about Super Junior. I'm stoked for the concert.
I am not stoked for a full week of teaching, but I finally get to meet my 3rd graders! I also will hopefully be able to get into the swing of things more.
I keep seeing everyone posting about it being Autumn weather back home. Meanwhile I'm over here like oh look another week of all 80 degree weather. -_____- I cannot wait for it to cool off so that wearing pants is not a death sentence. Alas.
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