so, yesterday Betty and I went to the Korean public bath house for a bit of pampering. It is not a coincidence that yesterday was also the day that I discovered the benefits of nudist life. The public bath house is exactly what you would think: a large place where people go to bathe publicly. Naturally, the men and women are separated, but I more or less spent 3 hours traipsing around in the buff. Now, for a girl who doesn't like to show much skin and who likes to keep her body to herself, this was quite the experience. I wasn't really freaked out by it, though, because the atmosphere is so natural. They have the right idea over here...let's not be ashamed of our bodies and share in the joy of bathing together. Betty and I treated ourselves to the hour and a half long massage option. It was quite...vigourous. This tiny Korean woman packed quite a wallop. First, she exfoliated me until all of my dead skin cells ran away screaming in terror. At first I thought it would be a painful experience, but after I relaxed it was quite lovely. Then came the massage. Again, it was quite vigourous. Not in anyway close to the nice relaxing massages of my past life. The bath room itself has several large tub options. There's is a large bath (and by bath I mean shallow pool) filled with green tea, one with plain hot water, one with luke warm water, a cold one and finally, a sauna room. Women and children come for a social time together. It's so close and comfortable that they even scrub eachother down. It's much like the "Red Tent" atmosphere for anyone who has read that book.
A note on body image: it is no secret that over here in Korea I am considered "full-bodied" at best. Pretty much, I'm a fat girl. It's no problem though, because many foreigners are fat over here. I will say, however that I was a bit intimidated by the thought of being in the same room, naked, with all these asians and their tiny bodies. Of course, reality hit me and I feel much better about the world. It turns out that most normal people (surprise surprise) do not have perfect bodies. I guess when you don't have the luxury of airbrushing/makeup artist/stylist following you around everywhere, you tend to look...well...human. And trust me, that has a beauty all it's own. The most beautiful thing about it was the sense of belonging, comfort and community.
As a side note, if you're a white girl in a Korean bath house you will get stared at. The only thing more shocking than seeing a waygook (foreigner) on the streets of small-town Korea is seeing one naked in a bath house.
Today I went for a hike up a mountain with Betty. It was delightful. Good exercise and good conversation...what more could a girl ask for?
Oh yeah, I randomly get Monday off this week as the students and teachers are away on a three day field trip. WOOT! Shopping here I come. This girl is getting a winter coat. It may still be fall, but at night, on a motorbike, winter it is.
my final message to you today: Get naked and feel damn good about it!!
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Korea: Pot Pourri
Strange things I've seen in Korea:
1) a middle aged woman riding a plastic Disney tricycle around the dirt field in front of my school.
2) an H2 Hummer on the streets of Boseong. In the land of Hyundai and Kia, it is rare that one sees one of the greatest American monstrosities. I don't think the owner of said urban assault vehicle actually lives in Boseong as I have seen it only once. Indeed "inconvenient" would be an understatement if a resident of Boseong owned the Hummer...it sort of took up the entire road.
3) a brand new Cadillac at a festival in Boseong. As rare, if not more rare than the Hummer, this is the first rich man's vehicle I've seen in Korea. The owner was so attached to it that he felt it necessary to drive the car into the festival grounds where no other car dare go. Oh, the privileges of the rich.
Random cultural differences:
1) It is culturally unacceptable for women to smoke in public, so they hide in hallways, stairways and bathrroms.
2) Likewise, I believe it is rude for men to smoke in front of a man who is significantly older and/or a superior. (By the by, ALL men smoke here, and most of them love the drink)
3) You don't flush toilet paper here, it goes in the garbage.
4) Brewed coffee is a rarity...everything is instant. The most popular thing is packaged instant coffee complete with sugar and powdered milk or cream.
5) Corporal punishment is allowed in the schools. I just witnessed a girl getting hit on the hand with a fly swatter. Now, this is more humiliating than anything, but the boys schools are definitely a lot harsher.
6) No daylight savings time!! WHAT?!?!?! My world is turned upside down...inside out...'round and 'round! Wait..isn't that a song?
1) a middle aged woman riding a plastic Disney tricycle around the dirt field in front of my school.
2) an H2 Hummer on the streets of Boseong. In the land of Hyundai and Kia, it is rare that one sees one of the greatest American monstrosities. I don't think the owner of said urban assault vehicle actually lives in Boseong as I have seen it only once. Indeed "inconvenient" would be an understatement if a resident of Boseong owned the Hummer...it sort of took up the entire road.
3) a brand new Cadillac at a festival in Boseong. As rare, if not more rare than the Hummer, this is the first rich man's vehicle I've seen in Korea. The owner was so attached to it that he felt it necessary to drive the car into the festival grounds where no other car dare go. Oh, the privileges of the rich.
Random cultural differences:
1) It is culturally unacceptable for women to smoke in public, so they hide in hallways, stairways and bathrroms.
2) Likewise, I believe it is rude for men to smoke in front of a man who is significantly older and/or a superior. (By the by, ALL men smoke here, and most of them love the drink)
3) You don't flush toilet paper here, it goes in the garbage.
4) Brewed coffee is a rarity...everything is instant. The most popular thing is packaged instant coffee complete with sugar and powdered milk or cream.
5) Corporal punishment is allowed in the schools. I just witnessed a girl getting hit on the hand with a fly swatter. Now, this is more humiliating than anything, but the boys schools are definitely a lot harsher.
6) No daylight savings time!! WHAT?!?!?! My world is turned upside down...inside out...'round and 'round! Wait..isn't that a song?
Friday, October 14, 2005
kids go monkey poop over stickers
Today was a big sticker day. Oh mercy. As soon as I show some of these girls stickers they fall all over themselves volunteering to answer questions. It makes me feel good when my kids are happy, even if bribery is the key to their happiness.
In other news, I just watched 15minutes of the classic movie Demolition Man. For anyone who doesn't remember this movie, it is a shoot 'em up action movie set in a distopian (I think I'm over intellectualizing it) society in the mid 21st century, starring the ever-popular Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Why is this noteworthy? Well, I found it interesting that while all the swear words are kept in tact, the only thing that was dubbed over was "Taco Bell". In this future society, Taco Bell is the only restaurant available (distopian indeed!!), but as there are no Taco Bells in Korea, they over dubbed it with...."Pizza Hut". You betcha, there are indeed pizza huts in Korea. Yet another way America is pissing off Koreans, by making them fat. Although I must say that Pizza Hut in Korea is far less greasy.
Last weekend I was lucky to experience a Pansori Festival right here in Boseong. Pansori is traditional Korean music. They equate it with western Opera. I love this music! I sat watching a competition where there is one singer and a drummer as accompaniment. I have no idea what the singer was saying, but you could tell immediately that the story was tragic and ages old. One of the most wonderful things is that the old people in the audience get so into the music that they shout things during the song if the singer really moves them. As I sat watching I was almost brought to tears because the history of this music is so tangible. As simple as it is, with one singer and one drummer, the listener can feel the tradition seeping out of it. Western music, by comparison, is still in its baby years. I'm not negating the beauty of Western music (it is my first love), but when there is 5000 years of history behind a song, one can't help but be awestruck.
This past work week I've had it pretty easy. No classes on Monday or Tuesday due to student midterms - good for me, bad for the students. It was like mid term time at Western; all the halls were deathly quiet and the students looked pretty strung out. Just think - they are only 13-16 years old! At any rate, on Monday afternoon all the teachers went for a hike and I joined them. This is what I have to say about Koreans and climbing mountains:
There is no shortage of mountains in Korea, so most of the people enjoy hiking. I get the impression, after a few hikes, that Korean hiking is slightly different than hiking up an incline in Canada. Firstly, there is no wandering hither and thither making the path smoother and easier...it's pretty much straight up. Secondly, I'm fairly certain that they don't believe in resting - just make it to the top and then go back down. I was sweating and panting like, well, draw your own picture of that one. "Vanessa you're a good climber!" Me: *wheeze* "thanks" *pants* *passes out*. Lastly, making it to the top of one peak doesn't necessarily mean that it's over and you're going back down. Inevitably there will be another peak just a little further down the road. Oh mercy. Naturally, I taught some of the teachers the meaning of the phrase "Go hard or go home" as that seems to be their philosophy.
The next day I went and visited a temple with my afternoon teacher workshop. Yeah, I know, tough life. At any rate, the temple was beautiful. This particular one had an enormous iron statue of Buddah. This is quite rare apparently. What's more interesting is that the iron statue is the only original part of the temple that was left after the Korean war. All of the building were burned down and the bronze buddah statues melted with them, but the iron statue remained...nice! All of the buildings were reconstructed, though and they are quite ornate. Good eye candy.
Wednesday and Thursday passed without incident, and then came today. I woke up with a funny feeling and then, when I got to school, realized what it was...I was on my own again today. Mrs Kim had to go to Seoul. YIKES! I'm happy to say that it went much better today than the first time it happened. It was so fun! I teach an extra class on friday's for students who want to learn English more. I tried to teach them the camp song "the green grass grew all around". I think I had more fun than they did! heehee
I will leave you with this quote: (I promised myself I would write down when a Korean said something funny in English but they didn't realize what they were saying. This one is awesome!)
On someone's girlfriend: "After a year we made our love more deeply." (WHAT?!?!?)
what he really meant: After a year of dating, their relationship got more serious.
In other news, I just watched 15minutes of the classic movie Demolition Man. For anyone who doesn't remember this movie, it is a shoot 'em up action movie set in a distopian (I think I'm over intellectualizing it) society in the mid 21st century, starring the ever-popular Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Why is this noteworthy? Well, I found it interesting that while all the swear words are kept in tact, the only thing that was dubbed over was "Taco Bell". In this future society, Taco Bell is the only restaurant available (distopian indeed!!), but as there are no Taco Bells in Korea, they over dubbed it with...."Pizza Hut". You betcha, there are indeed pizza huts in Korea. Yet another way America is pissing off Koreans, by making them fat. Although I must say that Pizza Hut in Korea is far less greasy.
Last weekend I was lucky to experience a Pansori Festival right here in Boseong. Pansori is traditional Korean music. They equate it with western Opera. I love this music! I sat watching a competition where there is one singer and a drummer as accompaniment. I have no idea what the singer was saying, but you could tell immediately that the story was tragic and ages old. One of the most wonderful things is that the old people in the audience get so into the music that they shout things during the song if the singer really moves them. As I sat watching I was almost brought to tears because the history of this music is so tangible. As simple as it is, with one singer and one drummer, the listener can feel the tradition seeping out of it. Western music, by comparison, is still in its baby years. I'm not negating the beauty of Western music (it is my first love), but when there is 5000 years of history behind a song, one can't help but be awestruck.
This past work week I've had it pretty easy. No classes on Monday or Tuesday due to student midterms - good for me, bad for the students. It was like mid term time at Western; all the halls were deathly quiet and the students looked pretty strung out. Just think - they are only 13-16 years old! At any rate, on Monday afternoon all the teachers went for a hike and I joined them. This is what I have to say about Koreans and climbing mountains:
There is no shortage of mountains in Korea, so most of the people enjoy hiking. I get the impression, after a few hikes, that Korean hiking is slightly different than hiking up an incline in Canada. Firstly, there is no wandering hither and thither making the path smoother and easier...it's pretty much straight up. Secondly, I'm fairly certain that they don't believe in resting - just make it to the top and then go back down. I was sweating and panting like, well, draw your own picture of that one. "Vanessa you're a good climber!" Me: *wheeze* "thanks" *pants* *passes out*. Lastly, making it to the top of one peak doesn't necessarily mean that it's over and you're going back down. Inevitably there will be another peak just a little further down the road. Oh mercy. Naturally, I taught some of the teachers the meaning of the phrase "Go hard or go home" as that seems to be their philosophy.
The next day I went and visited a temple with my afternoon teacher workshop. Yeah, I know, tough life. At any rate, the temple was beautiful. This particular one had an enormous iron statue of Buddah. This is quite rare apparently. What's more interesting is that the iron statue is the only original part of the temple that was left after the Korean war. All of the building were burned down and the bronze buddah statues melted with them, but the iron statue remained...nice! All of the buildings were reconstructed, though and they are quite ornate. Good eye candy.
Wednesday and Thursday passed without incident, and then came today. I woke up with a funny feeling and then, when I got to school, realized what it was...I was on my own again today. Mrs Kim had to go to Seoul. YIKES! I'm happy to say that it went much better today than the first time it happened. It was so fun! I teach an extra class on friday's for students who want to learn English more. I tried to teach them the camp song "the green grass grew all around". I think I had more fun than they did! heehee
I will leave you with this quote: (I promised myself I would write down when a Korean said something funny in English but they didn't realize what they were saying. This one is awesome!)
On someone's girlfriend: "After a year we made our love more deeply." (WHAT?!?!?)
what he really meant: After a year of dating, their relationship got more serious.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
why Korea is cool: reason #47
Today I saw a police man (on foot) whistle down a car that was driving away.
That's right a police man ran - no, jogged - after a car, blowing a whistle, and the car actually pulled over.
Crazy talk, I says, kuh-razy!
That's right a police man ran - no, jogged - after a car, blowing a whistle, and the car actually pulled over.
Crazy talk, I says, kuh-razy!
Monday, October 03, 2005
daeWHAT? DAEGU!
Hi everyone!! Wowsers it's been a while since I've written anything, but don't worry, I won't overwhelm you with absurd details of my lucrative life in Korea. Well, in fact, there are no absurd details and life is hardly lucrative...but it's still grood!!
This past weekend I was lucky enough to have another 4 days off. Well, technically three days, as there was a JLP (jeollanamdo language program) teachers "meeting" on Friday. It was less than two hours long, hence the quotation marks. Carol, Shona (pronounced show-na), Roberta and I all tore up several towns this weekend! Three of us (not Roberta) arrived in Gwangju (the big city of the province) on Thursday night, got a room at the Windmill Motel, splurged for dinner and ate Kimbap for a whopping $3 (that's all together)! then went to a dance bar and showed those Koreans a few dance moves they ain't never seen.
Now, I must make a side note on the Windmill Motel. It is a "love" motel, where couples (or maybe groups) go to have, well, fun. As skeptical as I was about staying in a love motel, the rooms were really big and clean and the only indicator that it was not a normal hotel was the fact that the parking lot door had little flaps hanging down so that you couldn't see who was going in or out...scandalous! In Daegu we also stayed in a love motel, though this was slightly less swank and a little more skank...fully worth the $15/person/night, though.
Anyway, Friday we went to our "meeting" then went out for lunch, courtesy of the office of education. Here we met some new friends who had been in Korea for a few years. One, Riann, was super nice and took us under his wing in a brotherly way. After drinking too much Soju and Baekseju at lunch, we headed downtown where Riann helped Carol and I get cellphones (he had a connection a one of the billions of cellphone stores). The cab ride to downtown Gwangju was definitely noteworthy. With all the Korean alcohol still coursing through us at 3pm, Roberta somehow convinced the cabby to sing us the Korean national anthem, to which we replied with a rowdy version of O Canada. It was quite amusing - the cabby loved it.
Saturday was a big travel day as we made our way to Daegu City. A bit aboot Daegu: It is the third largest metropolitan city in South Korea (next to Seoul and Busan) and located East of Jeollanamdo (my province). There is a large US army base there, housing about 2000 soldiers, so there are many more western style restaurants and such there. I asked Anne, a Korean friend who lives in Daegu, what the Koreans think of the US presence and her reply, without a blink, was "pure hatred". Apparently the soldiers think they can get away with anything and everything. And indeed they can...so they do. I hope they are proud of themselves and the message they are sending about North American culture. *growls*
Sunday we spent shopping and exploring the downtown area of Daegu. I can't even describe what the throngs of people are like. Shona, from toronto, said "this is a lot little Toronto, only times 2..or 3... or maybe 5". It was literally a sea of people. It was here that I learned I was claustrophobic - who knew? Sunday evening we decided to take it easy so we went to a DVD bang, which is basically a private movie theatre. You go in, pick a movie, and watch it in your own room with a big screen. We watched Coach Carter - it was arsome.
Monday (today) I was on a bus from 10-3:30 - nice. Naturally, I drugged myself up on the gravol. Take THAT, vomit comet!!! Mwahahaha.
Back to the daily grind tomorrow. And by "daily grind" I obviously mean my fan-spanking-great jorb!
I hope everyone is well!
This past weekend I was lucky enough to have another 4 days off. Well, technically three days, as there was a JLP (jeollanamdo language program) teachers "meeting" on Friday. It was less than two hours long, hence the quotation marks. Carol, Shona (pronounced show-na), Roberta and I all tore up several towns this weekend! Three of us (not Roberta) arrived in Gwangju (the big city of the province) on Thursday night, got a room at the Windmill Motel, splurged for dinner and ate Kimbap for a whopping $3 (that's all together)! then went to a dance bar and showed those Koreans a few dance moves they ain't never seen.
Now, I must make a side note on the Windmill Motel. It is a "love" motel, where couples (or maybe groups) go to have, well, fun. As skeptical as I was about staying in a love motel, the rooms were really big and clean and the only indicator that it was not a normal hotel was the fact that the parking lot door had little flaps hanging down so that you couldn't see who was going in or out...scandalous! In Daegu we also stayed in a love motel, though this was slightly less swank and a little more skank...fully worth the $15/person/night, though.
Anyway, Friday we went to our "meeting" then went out for lunch, courtesy of the office of education. Here we met some new friends who had been in Korea for a few years. One, Riann, was super nice and took us under his wing in a brotherly way. After drinking too much Soju and Baekseju at lunch, we headed downtown where Riann helped Carol and I get cellphones (he had a connection a one of the billions of cellphone stores). The cab ride to downtown Gwangju was definitely noteworthy. With all the Korean alcohol still coursing through us at 3pm, Roberta somehow convinced the cabby to sing us the Korean national anthem, to which we replied with a rowdy version of O Canada. It was quite amusing - the cabby loved it.
Saturday was a big travel day as we made our way to Daegu City. A bit aboot Daegu: It is the third largest metropolitan city in South Korea (next to Seoul and Busan) and located East of Jeollanamdo (my province). There is a large US army base there, housing about 2000 soldiers, so there are many more western style restaurants and such there. I asked Anne, a Korean friend who lives in Daegu, what the Koreans think of the US presence and her reply, without a blink, was "pure hatred". Apparently the soldiers think they can get away with anything and everything. And indeed they can...so they do. I hope they are proud of themselves and the message they are sending about North American culture. *growls*
Sunday we spent shopping and exploring the downtown area of Daegu. I can't even describe what the throngs of people are like. Shona, from toronto, said "this is a lot little Toronto, only times 2..or 3... or maybe 5". It was literally a sea of people. It was here that I learned I was claustrophobic - who knew? Sunday evening we decided to take it easy so we went to a DVD bang, which is basically a private movie theatre. You go in, pick a movie, and watch it in your own room with a big screen. We watched Coach Carter - it was arsome.
Monday (today) I was on a bus from 10-3:30 - nice. Naturally, I drugged myself up on the gravol. Take THAT, vomit comet!!! Mwahahaha.
Back to the daily grind tomorrow. And by "daily grind" I obviously mean my fan-spanking-great jorb!
I hope everyone is well!
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