April at a Glance

T.S. Eliot started his famous poem "The Waste Land" with the line, "April is the cruellest month," and were I to write a poem about my April, it might start with something similar. Not that it was a bad month, but it was certainly the most tiring, gruelling, stressful, and busy I've had in a long, long time. It started with Juan's visit and concluded with my Dad and Donna's a few weeks later. In between those two very busy periods I had lots of work to accomplish as I was tasked with developing and teaching a three-part writing class over a period of three weeks. In addition, I had to complete a variety of menial tasks. And of course Jenny also kept me busy. But as tough as April was, I wouldn't have traded it for any of the other months I've spent here--the work really was worth the results it produced.

The family visit went quite well overall. There was a little trouble with the food (particularly raw seafood, an abundance of spiciness, quirky vegetable dishes, and foods I just couldn't explain in English) and the cultural oddities, but the rest was quite successful in my opinion. They were able to meet Jenny's parents, who treated to an excellent seven or eight course meal at the first meeting. The next day they rented a van and both families took a drive to Gyeongju for a look around at Korean cultural sites. We were again treated to a nice lunch and a spectacular duck dinner at a restaurant that overlooked placid rice fields and gentle mountains. I should also mention that we had a mid-afternoon coffee break at a gorgeous lakeside cafe. More about that in a subsequent post...

Jenny and I had an eventful month as we met each other's parents and tried to plan out the future a little more. We haven't reached any definite conclusions about the next year yet, but we do have a Plan A and a Plan B that we'd like to pursue.

Next week I'll go into more detail, perhaps also mentioning the four day trip to Japan.

Juan's Trip

If you are a regularly reader (not that I can imagine that there actually would be such a person) you would have noticed that I didn't post an entry last week. Well, it was because nothing much happened until the weekend when Juan showed up for a visit.  Juan arrived at the train station on Saturday night, and David and Hye Song were kind enough to drive me there to pick him up. We all went out to eat some samgyupsal and Juan was later introduced to the game of darts. On Sunday we went to play soccer at the World Cup Stadium practice field--the first grass field I'd played on since being in Korea--and I has a none-too-impressive premier there. Oh well. I took Juan to my church's Bible study, then we met up with Jenny for dinner before going to play some pool at Billibow. 

We got up early on Monday morning to hike up Palgong Mountain where a 1,400-year-old hatted Buddha sits on the summit to receive worshipers and pilgrims and the thoughtful masses who wish merely to contemplate his serenity. Juan found it hard to make the journey, and so it took us much longer than I anticipated for us to reach the top and return to the bus. Because of that, I was a little late to work, but I was able to switch classes. Tuesday was a day that will go down in my memory forever: the day I ate dog soup. Juan, Kai (a Korean student), and I took a taxi a few minutes away from Wall Street to a sketchy-looking place that smelled quite foul. We were ushered into a small room that looked as though it had been a child's bedroom a few decades before it's current operational status as a dining room. We were promptly served a boiling soup within which was a healthy (in all senses of the word) portion of dog meat and vegetables. I eagerly enjoyed my soup, finding the taste to be quite good. Juan, however, and perhaps to his credit, found it difficult to stomach the meat. I ended up eating about half of his portion after he gave up on it.

Wednesday we went to Chilseung Market so Juan could get some souveniers. Unbeknownst to me (since it was my first time there), boiled and roasted and gutted dogs were in abundance at the market for your casual perusal and photo-taking pleasure. We partook, as Facebook can now attest for you. We saw lots of seafood as well, and ended up not getting any souveniers at all. We instead went to Doctor Fish, the place where you can dip your feet into a fish tank to have them nibbled on. From there, I went to work whilst Juan enjoyed a 90-minute Thai massage. On Thursday, Juan had to catch the train to Seoul to depart, so we went to the train station and said our goodbyes after a quick but packed trip.

Other than that, I saw the Renee Zellweger film about her going to Minnesota (I don't know the name, because the title was translated into Korean) with Jenny and we had a nice date in the now-warm weather. It's like Daegu went straight from winter to summer, with no time for spring. She still has a cold, but when she gets to feeling better we might go to Gyeongju. My dad and stepmom arrive on the 23rd, which now seems like just a few days away. I'll have some time off work then, which I'm looking forward to. It's tough not having a spring break this year....but not having to teach high school is more than ample compensation.

Meet the Parent

Normal work week, with the exception of the an introduction to Gorilla Burger, a newish restaurant that serves ridiculously large, savory, and delicious burgers at a decent price. It's unheard of in Daegu, but nevertheless, they are there. I had my first taste and David, Doug, and I have agreed that eating there is to become a weekly event.

Juan is coming this weekend to stay about a week. I'm hoping it'll be a great time. My dad's coming three weeks from today, so I'm also looking forward to that.

Jenny and I are doing well these days. We saw the movie The Reader on Saturday. Not a fan. It was absurd to me and not much romantic at all. I was dumbstruck by the selfishness exhibited by the characters, which while quite realistically depicted, was frustrating and exasperating to watch. Plus it was a little creepy. Oh well. I met Jenny's mom on Saturday night at a coffee shop. She was a stereotypical Korean woman: well-dressed, polite, direct, observant, and faintly formal. Though Jenny translated all our conversation back and forth, I could tell she studied my words and face with scrupulous attention. Jenny told me later that her mother, who had never before seen a foreigner up close or heard one speaking to her, was surprised by my "yellow eyelashes and strange eye color." Apparently my appearance was too alien for her to adjust to comfortably, but I expect comfort will come with time. After all, I hardly notice I'm surrounded nearly exclusively by Koreans. It just seems normal now.

I finished Song of Solomon (did I mention that already?) and am now halfway through The Painted Veil. I'm looking forward to finishing it and moving on to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night but I'm enjoying Veil for now. It's just a little too normal to enjoy, considering what I've read recently. My mom's also sending me Moby-Dick in an Easter parcel which I'm greatly anticipating (for many reasons) and I'd like to cracking on more of these books that I've got on the shelf, although it looks as though April may not be my month for getting lots of personal time for reading.

There's more to tell but I don't know that it's necessarily suitable for the blog at this point. But I can tell the next month is going to be fantastic, and May even better...

Weekend in Pohang

The last week was amazingly lucky for me at work. Each day I was scheduled for six classes, but massive cancellations dropped me down to four (and one day three, if I recall correctly). It was nice to have the extra time, because the previous weeks had been so busy and also because the National Program Manager came down from Seoul to observe each of us teachers using the new curriculum in a class. I was observed on Wednesday and the student in my class was brilliant. She had just recently returned from a few months in Ireland and so her conversation skills were higher than average and she made very few mistakes. Thursday all of the Korean staff had to go to this computer training for about two hours, so several teachers and the NPM manned the front desk to handle student bookings. I learned how to make reservations and more about my company's booking policies, and as mundane as it seems now that I'm typing it, it was pretty enjoyable.

Friday was my day off. I lazily got up and piddled around my apartment washing clothes and dishes, then around noon I took off for Pohang, where Jenny teaches. I got there around 2p, and thus had a few hours to kill before she got off work. I went to one of the six or so beaches in the area and walked around for a bit, but the weather was chillier than I thought so I just read a book at a coffee shop. We then met up at this 'mall' for dinner and a movie--Slumdog Millionaire. We both enjoyed the film and talked about it over gelattis afterwards. That night I stayed in a jjimjilbang and I overcame my final cultural apprehension. While I've stayed in these places before, I was never fully accustomed to the male nudity that is expected of inhabitants, and thus I stayed covered and necessarily more awkward than anyone else. However, I got over it and acted (almost) just like the Koreans, enjoying the spas and pools and showers sans clothing. I decided that staying in a jjimjilbang is the benchmark in cultural adaptation: if you can feel comfortable with fifty other guys while striding around a pool, spa, and shower in your birthday suit, you can handle just about anything else that comes your way.

Saturday Jenny was feeling more sick than before, but she was a trooper. We ate some duck for lunch (actually, alot of duck) before boarding the bus for Daegu. The bus dropped us off right by an E-Mart (the Korean version of Super-Walmart) so we picked up some groceries in anticipation of cooking a meal at my place. When we arrived, I promised to cook up some spaghetti for us for dinner, and so began the preparations. However, Jenny soon realized that the mastery of cooking I had previously alleged was more bluster than substance and she immediately assisted my flawed efforts. So we worked together with the few ingredients I had to make a decent meal, but to our mutual disapproval. Jenny was also none too pleased with the fact that I had only one fork, one knife, and two spoons. She (oddly enough) expected a bachelor living in a foreign country to have a full set of silverware. The following day when she came back to cook spaghetti 'properly,' she arrived with a bagful of extra silverware from her mother, so now I'm more adequately equipped to handle guests.

Sunday was a re-do. I went to a department store before church and got some better groceries, and after church and a special shopping trip + hair cut we again cooked spaghetti. This time the result was much better and the sides and desserts and coffee were all perfect. We spent the better part of the evening talking over plans and making big life decisions.

When I look back on these days I see myself as different, much different, than the previous months in Korea. I'm still the happy, jovial, fun-loving, adventurous person as before, but I feel a gravity about my decisions and behavior that didn't exist previously. It's definitely not a bad thing, but it's a noticeable difference in my life. I guess I'm just transitioning from the last vestiges of carefree youth towards the more serious phases of life.

Roller Coasters and White Day

Part I

Roller coasters are one of my favorite things in all the world. I love the thrill and excitement they provide while simultaneously offering security and safety. Indulge me as I wax metaphorical with them for a minute. Roller coasters (typically) take you up a smooth incline only to drop you dramatically with pressure such that you might never otherwise feel in all your life. They are filled with ups, downs, twists, turns, loops, and periods of braking and acceleration. They make me feel thrilled, excited, surprised, terrified, happy, carefree, overwhelmed, unhinged, and safe--all within sixty seconds. Where else can you get such an experience? 

Real life.

For me, this past weekend was the beginning of real life. I'm not going to expand on the specifics right now, but it should suffice to say that I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. I've spent twenty-five years on the smooth, up-hill, preparatory incline, and in the last month I reached the zenith. You know the zenith if you've ever been on a roller coaster: the 0.5 seconds when you can see your car three miles away in the parking lot and the entire surrounding countryside in the blink of an eye, right before you drop recklessly down the tracks. This past weekend was that drop, the drop that lets you know you aren't on a merry-go-round eating a lollipop and waving to your mom but on a ride for grown-ups who could pass out, vomit, or, better yet, thrive in the experience. My life now is that fast-paced drop that tells you that you have begun the real ride. I'm happy to say that so far I'm thriving with the challenges and the new-found excitement, but I've got a bit of that nervousness that accompanies any fall of a hundred feet or more at high speeds. But I know God is my harness and that regardless of the spins and loops and brakes and boosts I won't go flying off the tracks. 

The roller coaster has really started and there's no where else I'd rather be.

Part II

March 14 was "White Day" in Korea, and as racist as it sounds, it has nothing to do with white people. It's actually Valentine's Day reloaded, because February 14 is when girls buy guys something, and White Day is when the guys return the love with gifts of their own. Naturally, I had to participate--and I was happy to do so, I should add--and so Jenny and I met on Saturday evening and had a nice date in a department store. And yes, I realize that sounds ridiculous, so I should elaborate. In Korea, department stores are the equivalent of shopping malls, and so the one near my house includes a grocery store, a wine shop, a food court, nice restaurants on the tenth or twelfth floor (I can't remember which), a Starbucks, and a host of other things typically found in a mall. So I bought her some roses and wrote a lovely poem in her honor, and we ate at a Japanese place. Following the meal Jenny, who had her hair done that day, picked out some hair clips and a hair dryer that I was also happily obliged to purchase as White Day gifts (by the way, I'm totally clueless as to why March 14 is called White Day. Pi Day is so much more reasonable to me) before getting some coffee.

At the coffee shop our conversation moved into serious territory and it's now more clear than ever that this is the most serious relationship I've ever had and things are moving in the right direction, albeit speedier than I expected. It was sometime in the evening that I hatched this roller coaster scheme--it seemed apt for the situation. The talk was really positive and helpful and we both got a much better understanding of where we are heading, so I'm really glad we had it.

Sunday morning I got up before 7am to play soccer. It was cold at first but it warmed up some, and after doing some laps and drills, I felt ready to play. Unfortunately my left leg wasn't so eager, and midway through one of the games it cramped up on me and I had to do some quick stretches to avoid some serious pain. According to David, cramps are the result of a lack of salt, although if someone else has more scientific answers, I'm open to them. I was invited by the team to play with them on April 5 at the practice field next to Daegu World Cup Stadium, which will mark the first time I've played on grass in almost a year. That will be exciting.

More exciting on April 5 is Juan's visit. He told me yesterday he has purchased his plane ticket, so he'll arrive on the 5th in the late afternoon or early evening and will stay here for about a week. I'll be working up an itinerary for his time here, but I can already tell it'll be a fun but exhausting month come April. But I'm really, really looking forward to it. His visit will also be a trial run for my dad and Donna's visit two weeks after that. Life's getting happily busy--all part of the roller coaster experience, I think.

Peace and love--

The Farm

Seems like I've been to busy enjoying life to make some time to sit down and write this out. Work's been busy still--there's this project we've been (collectively?) working on for about two weeks that is nearing completion, and that will give me back some of my breathing space there. It's not been bad, but I haven't had the time to read and/or that I like.

Saturday I went to the Daegu Arboretum (sp?) and had a picnic while reading Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon. Ji Hye (Jenny) was at work in Pohang until the afternoon, so we weren't able to meet up until 6p or so. So I went to the tree park and enjoyed the warming weather, despite being stared and wondered at profusely at the very Korean park I had found myself in. Honestly, I sometimes feel like I know exactly what it's like to be a celebrity. For example, I happened to pass a school that let out at exactly the time I was walking to the tree park, and hundreds of middle-school and early high-school aged kids stopped their conversations to stare and comment about my passage in the street. Many of them waved and attempted a feeble hello, but more were in awe at my mere presence in their world. It's actually a feeling I enjoy at times, but it's the constant attention and my inability to shut it off when I'm sick of it that sometimes gets to me when I'm tired on the subway or walking hurriedly home after a long day. Anyway, Jenny and I met up for dinner, choosing a Japanese place. For dessert we found a gelatti place, and we began a hand of poker before we were told it was not permissible on the premises, so we had to relocate to our favorite wine bar a few blocks away. We shared a bag of chocolate popcorn that Vicki Parman had sent me while we whiled away a few hours chatting and playing poker. But Jenny was quite tired from her first week at work, so we left by midnight.

Sunday I went to a farm with some coworkers. It was a plan several weeks in the making and a good opportunity to enjoy some Korean traditions in a rural setting. I enjoyed lots of activities there that I'd never experienced (or hadn't in a long time)--riding in the back of a pickup, digging out veggies from a field, making some kind of rice krispie treats, herding and collecting rabbits, picking strawberries and eating them right off the plants, smashing rice with a hammer, playing jokku, and chopping wood off a block. It was a good day. See my Facebook album for more explicit details.

Watched Watchmen--not that impressed. Too many unexplained phenomena turned me off to the story--it was never clear which part to take at face value and which part to enjoy as fictionalized. Been writing a bit of poetry each week--getting happier with the results. Hope to actually crank out a short story some time this month. Nothing special coming down the pipe this month, but the next one will be busy. Weather's been good, as has everything else. More details as they happen.

The Buscapade and Other Adventures

One of the best parts about being in Korea has to be that as I look back on each month they seem to better than the previous one. It's certainly no exaggeration about February, which was one of the best months I've had, ever. 

The last week was a bit like a roller-coaster--twists, turns, ups, downs--but a good week nevertheless. I guess I'll start with the bizarre bus story first. Ji Hye planned to move to Pohang on Sunday evening to begin her teaching job the following day, and she was to take the bus from this area of town that has a few bus terminals that offer bus transportation to different parts of the country. I had wanted to give her a going-away gift, but I was busy much of Sunday and so was she with packing. Well, around 5p I was drinking a black tea latte with a friend at a coffee shop when I suddenly spied Evian water for sale. Evian water isn't really anything super special, but it's not easy to come by and it's Ji Hye's second-favorite kind of water and one that she had asked me to get her sometime. So I hatched a plot. I would buy the water, find out when she was getting to the bus terminal, and surprise her with the small gift while she waited for the bus to take off. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

After subtly getting a rough idea of when she was taking the bus, I went back to the coffee shop and got the bottle of water. I also wrote her a little note with some teaching tips that I had learned the hard way in my few years in the classroom, and that seemed appropriate seeing as how Monday was the first day of school. I took the subway towards the side of town with the buses and then went to the express bus terminal to wait for her. Then I realized the problem--the bus terminal I was at didn't have any buses going to Pohang. I didn't panic because I knew there was another terminal nearby. So I walked over there, but to my amazement, that terminal also had no service to Pohang. Luckily (so I thought) I saw a third bus terminal with passengers queueing, and I hiked it over there. To my double surprise, this terminal also had no service to Pohang. I decided that prayer was better than panic, and after that I felt like I would find her regardless of the quickly vanishing window of time. I had the bright idea to call a Korean friend to ask about buses, but he was clueless. I was basically on my own. Finally, I found a fourth bus terminal, but again, no luck. However, instead of walking out dejectedly, I thought to ask the employee where I could get a bus to Pohang. She politely wrote out directions that I should give to a taxi driver--apparently I was in the right area, but there was a separate, remote bus terminal some blocks away that I would otherwise not be able to find. I happened to be out of cash save for an emergency $10 that I keep in my wallet, so I pulled that out and told the taxi driver where to go. He hesitated when I told him my location, knowing it wouldn't be a big fare, but he relented and took me over. Meanwhile, I wanted to keep all of this a surprise from Ji Hye, so I sent her a text wishing her a good trip, hoping to find out where she was. As the taxi driver pulled up to the right terminal, I got her response: "I'm in the bus now."

It seemed like all my effort and time was for naught. I called her, knowing that the gig was up. When I told her where I was, she was so surprised that we both laughed about the misadventure, and I asked how long she'd been on the bus. She said that they'd actually just left and that they were waiting at a stop light. Sure enough, I looked down the road a bit and I could see a big bus sitting in the middle of three lanes of traffic waiting for a light to change. I ran off in the direction and she hurried to the door of the bus, and the slightly befuddled driver obligingly opened the door to admit the passage of the Evian and letter to Ji Hye. It was an amusing moment that lasted just a second, because the light soon changed and she was off. We both found the situation extremely funny and really silly, but I was soooo happy that I could actually give her something as simple as a bottle of water for her trip. 

The rest of the week was interesting as well. I taught Ji Hye to play Texas Hold'em, and it turns out she's a natural. We played for a few hours at an all-night ramyun noodle place, and played more on subsequent evenings on Facebook. Saturday night I invited David and Hye Song over to play GoStop and poker with me and Ji Hye. David absolutely destroyed me in GoStop and I was soon out of money and had to borrow from Ji Hye just to keep playing. It would've been more shameful, but the fact that Ji Hye didn't win any rounds made me feel better. =) It was definitely David's night in that game, so we switched to poker. I'd been playing a lot recently, and early on I won enough from the other players to pay back the borrowed money to Ji Hye. However, paying her back significantly lowered the amount I had to bet with in following rounds, and I ended up busting and having to borrow the money back again.... She's really, really good at games like that and it's awesome that we can play for hours on end and enjoy ourselves a ton. 

I think I may have found a new best friend.