I need to . . .

I need to clean.
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

Wee. I need to clean. I am slowly chipping away at things I need to get done. I’m a little behind on my correspondence so I am going to get that under wraps. Tomorrow will be a post on the elections, which is interesting. Right now I’m listening to an old mix, I didn’t realize I had, it’s got “Destroy Everything You Touch,” from Ladytron’s Witching Hour. I think I have that on like three play lists besides my own. Good song. Anyways, it’s a lovely day. I need to get some things down and then head out. I need to head down to Itaewon for some second hand book buying. I’d like some more Lawrence, but I will see. I’m finishing up St. Mawr. Noli me tangere, hits a spot but it‘s time to be a bit of heathen again. I also need to get some info from a friend on Thailand. I’m now planning to head to Tokyo during the July/August break for a long weekend. I will then be traveling to Thailand after my contract is up. I really want to experience a different culture. So we will see how that works out. But, that’s the way it is with everything. I need to start a new play list. I’ll see what I can dig up. I need new music, and I love looking for it. Need to get of the beaten path, I’ve got too much mainstream stuff. Also, I need to start slapping together a resume so I can start selling myself. Yeah, slaving myself to the money machine(maybe too much Lawrence). I’m sorry this is a kind of a to do list for me. But, it lets the people know what I’m doing. (Oh, looks like I’m going on base to meet people. I’ve never been on base. This should be interesting.) Maybe my need post stems from people around me doing things. Maggie is heading off to the States to get ready for her show in Scotland. Two different people I know got married this past weekend. Even my students are moving to new places. One of my friends already has a place and a condo waiting for him when he gets back. Time to get moving. I like that. I like that I may not know where I am going, but I’m moving myself forward. I don’t want to be slave, but I don’t want to be heedlessly running on a hamster wheel just for movements sake. It’s all good. : ) Time to get moving.

Nacho Libre!

I would like to state to state I dislike telemarketers. What is worse than being called by a telemarketer? Well, try having it happen after you've only been asleep for two hours. On top of that trying to explain you don't speak Korean, in Korean as you try to wake up. Then have it happen again, and then again thus obliterating any chance of actually sleep. Ugh. The most frustrating part was the fact they were confused by a foreigner having a cell phone. Foreigners call people? They seemed confused that a foreigner had a cell phone. Think outside the box, please.

On the other hand, being tired and up leads to me surfing the internet. And I found this gem. Jack Black has made a movie called Nacho Libre. In this movie, he plays a cook at an orphanage. At night he is a Mexican wrestler to make money for the orphanage. I love it. It's right up there under "Snakes on a Plane."

Also, speaking of excellent, though of a different caliber. Julie Taymour is directing a production of Grendel, the opera based of an excellent book(so says Alison). Alison is also going to get to see this glorious work. If you haven't seen Titus, go forth and rent it. Although it does have some very disturbing scenes, it is beautifully done.

Ah, it's going to be a coffee day. Luckily, Krispy Kreme has a decent cup. I dislike Starbucks. I hope peeps are good.

Family

first_thanks
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

Family dreams.
My mother and I talked a bit today. There is a topic of conversation which keeps coming up over and over again as we have these transglobal chats. It's about wishes and dreams.

My mother and I have this dream. One day we get the whole family together and just spend time together. I would bake and cook us a meal. And we would just sit around and talk, maybe listen to some music. I think I'd make lasagna. Definately some cookies, oh or black forest cake(traditional birthday cake). Over the last umm nine months we've thought about this happening.

It's not likely to happen anytime soon. I'm still in Korea. I don't know where I will be moving to when I get back. Dad is in Kiribata. Jeremy and Jenevive are in Maryland, with an option of Qutar. Josh is still indefinatly unavailable. Lee, Paul and Ka are in Racine. Our family is spread out, as it has been for years. This is evident in the fact the best picture I have of my family only has two actual family members together. Mom and I realized it's been nine years since the last Christmas were we have all been together(unless we are wrong). That's a while. So right now Mom is hoping for some divine intervention and we all end up spending Christmas at her still hypothetical alpaca farm.

I just want to say, I love my family. I think it's good occasionally to examine things, to put things into perspective. Even though we are scattered, we are still a family. My family is great. My mom is a women who is accepting of life's changes, while fighting for what she believes in. She has big dreams and an even larger faith which isn't easy after the things she's gone through. My father shaped who I am and now he is challenging himself, hopefully growing in the Peace Corps. Jeremy is for lack of a better way of putting it an interesting person, he was an interesting kid too. Jenevive is the sister I never had, but always wanted. Lee is Lee, great. Josh is well, a know it all, but a good kid. He is strong, but then he has to be. Paul is an amazing young man. So in short, I'm very thankful for my family. I'm especially thankful since when I came into this world, there was no family. I'm lucky. But even lucky people have dreams, and I dream of having all of my family together, just sitting around talking, eating mountians of food I've cooked for them and listening to music. Here's to dreams.

pillowstealer

pillowstealer
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

This is my cat. His name is Ego. (Hey, I was dating a psych. major at the time.) Anyways, he is the best cat in the world. Really. Right now he is staying at my mom's until I get back. Why am I saying he's so great. Well, he's playful, smarty, cute, cuddly, and just wonderful. He also steals pillows. There has been many a night were I've woken up with not an inch of pillow because some one has slowly pushed my head off the pillow. Ego has been keeping my brother Jeremy company these last months. Mom just send me an e-mail about his latest adventure. Jeremy and Jenevive were folding a sheet and Ego decided to stand in the middle of it. They decided to pull up to get him off, well in typical Ego fashion, he decided he loved it and wanted them to keep doing in. Besides loving to play with laser pointers, Ego also enjoys anything that moves, Neverwinter Nights, tv, birds, boxes, Joe's shoulders and me. I miss my cat. Soon though I will be home. Good bye pillow. : )

The twinkie is happy.

Most of these are mine.
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

I will not be taking these childern to the zoo.
I really like my kids, but spending the day herding forty odd hyperactive childern at the zoo is not my idea of fun.
Especially, since it would involve trying to get them not to throw things at the animals. Some of them haven't learned not to hit or kick their fellow students. I will not be going this thursday to the zoo instead two of the male teachers will be going. I will have the morning off. Oh, sometimes it's nice not having to be a token foriegner. ; )

Renewal

Interesting. I needed to talk to my assistant manager about my air ticket home. I wanted to make sure that they could hold my ticket until I got back from Japan. The thing was, she wanted me to resign for longer. It was nice to know they like me enough to resign me, since I get absolutely no feedback on how I am doing from them. The thing is it made me wonder why I am going home and if I’m making the right decision.

I really do like my job. I really enjoy “teaching” kids, especially since it is always interesting, they seem to be learning and all of us enjoy the experience. I’m going to miss teaching them when I leave. My co-workers are nice. Jasmine has been great, and I’m sure we will keep in touch after I leave Korea. I haven’t learned as much Korean as I should, although I am trying to rectify that. Korea has been an interesting learning experience for me.

Korea has not been an easy experience for me. I knew it was going to be hard, but I either wasn’t ready for it or was in denial about it. I thought, yes I would be cut off from people, but most of the previous year I was cut off from people and alone. I didn’t realize how much visits from friends and phone conversations kept me grounded and connected.

I have never had to explain what I am so many times as when I’ve been in Korea. When I meet people in America, I’m just Kate. In Korea it depends on if they are Korean or if they are a foreigner. If they are Korean it goes, Korean? You don’t speak Korean? Why don’t you speak Korean? When are you going to learn how to speak Korean? You poor girl. If it is a foreigner it’s, Do you speak Korean? You don’t, why? Oh, you’re adopted. Are you going to find your birth mother? Are you going to learn Korean? I’ve never had to explain myself so much in my life. It’s like explaining why you are abnormal again and again. What’s wrong with me, nothing. I just want to be left alone.

I don’t belong here. Just walking down the street, or getting a cup of coffee yells to me you don’t belong here. And I don’t. I’m really not Korean and I never will be. Maybe that’s part of the problem I was searching for something that I thought was missing, the Korean part of Korean-American, but the thing is I’m American. Nothing is missing. I just miss home.

There will be things I miss about leaving Korea. In a way Korea has been good to me. I’ll miss having my own place, a decent paying job, my job, the kids, the food, the opportunities for travel, and the some of the experiences, but it’s time to go home. Thank goodness. What happens when I get home, well that’s going to be another story.

Random signage

Random signage
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

Random bits about what is going on in Korea:

Koffi Annan has left Korea. He is traveling around Asia. The next head of the U.N. is probably going to be from Asia. Korea is one of the countries that will be nominating a canidate to fill his place. He also came to discuss Dokdo.

Dokdo is an island claimed by both Korea and Japan. Long history, both want it, only one will triumph. They even have t-shirts, "Save Dokdo."

Korea is gearing up for the World Cup. Koreans are really, really. very, extremely nationalistic. They really want to win, is putting it too mildly. Many of the kids are wearing red jerseys sporting the logo,"Reds Go Together." Most of the advertising revolves around the World Cup right now. There is even a song and a dance. Seriously. World Cup season is going to be interesting.

Elections are looming and will take place at the end of the month.

Also, some people are still championing Dr. Hwang, trying to get him re-enstated. Yeah, I've seem them at festivals and such. Very loyal.

Umm, what else, the weather is great. I'm enjoying it before the humidity hits. People are already starting to in namyeong(which is cold buckwheat noodles served a variety of ways, maybe pictures later).

The kids are still great. I have take a picture of them on a review day. They like to stick the stickers to their face. It's really cute.

Well that's all from Korea for now. Take care.

Gong Hee Fot Choy

A while ago my bro but up a link for Gong Hee Fot Choy which I then added to my links. Most days it sits at the bottom below my link to Ambrose Bierce’s “The Devil’s Dictionary.” I’m usually click on it when I’m bored or I am looking for the vague optimism that only horoscopes can deliver. Today is one of those days. So here’s my horoscope, my edited fortune:

Queen of Diamonds in the House of Success:
Time is required to bring you lasting success. Study hard, work hard, and follow the right pursuit. A new proposition in the next three months.(Which is funny, since in about three months I’ll be in the States.)

Ace of Spades in the House of Friends:
Some time in your life you will have a friend who is in the slaughter business, an undertaker, a casket maker, or some business pertaining to the death. (See, amusing.)

Queen of Hearts in the House of Letters:
You will receive good news from a friend. A letter telling you nice things. (Yeah, good news.)

Nine of Spades in the House of :
You are due for a disappointment, big loss, or you have just had one. Sometimes a big loss means a bigger gain; fate shapes things in a funny way. A delay indicated. (I actually kind of like it that this isn’t totally saccharine sweetly optimistic.)

I skipped over the romance ones. Yada Yada. Anyways, the laundry is done. On to some Korean. Yeah, I’m finally learning Korean(three months before I leave). Irony.

Listening to: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s, “Fever to Tell” the whole cd is awesome. This is evident in the fact I wanted to put just about every song on my “Roar” play list. I also like The Raconteurs “Broken Boy Soldiers” a very varied sound, but good.

What’s your fortune? What’s keeping your ears company?

Look at the band

Look at the band
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

Gyeongju Part II:

There was something lovely about escaping Seoul. I hadn’t gone to sleep the night before Gyeongju. I was afraid I would over sleep and miss the bus. I’d be tired, but I didn’t care. I was getting out; going some where new. And I was doing it with friends. The seven of us meet at the Express Bus Terminal to catch the 7:15 bus. I sat next to Zack as we headed out of Seoul, away from cookie cutter, drab, grey apartment buildings. Modern Seoul’s architect is functional, but bare and hardly esthetically pleasing. Only when half masked by night could you call Seoul a beautiful city. It’s laurels rest on having blotted out the stars with it’s light pollution, substituting earthly lights. But no wishes can be made on a burnt out light bulb. This we rode away from in the early morning. Twenty story apartment buildings housing families faded as we moved away leaving only lush green hills.

I love these hills. They’re my first love on arriving in Korea. It was a grey day, my first day. The rain had just cleared. Mist still clung to the hills as we rode into Seoul. They are not like the hills back home, glacier smoothed bumps. These hills, or mini-mountains, have character, personality, and a bold beauty to them. Seoul is in a valley, thus it is surrounded by mountains and hills, but they are marred by man who obscures them with cement bunkers and red neon crosses. It was refreshing to watch unadorned hills whip past as we moved further south. Instead of neon signs, these hills bore farmhouses and burial mounds.

Here death and life are not separate by false or geographic barriers. The green that covers the well tended graves of our grandfathers, also cover the hills of our forefathers, and is beheld by the children of today. The deceased lay next to the fields they once tended. The living farm the land and live next to the ones who bequeathed the land to them. The living tend the dead. These perfectly round mounds with their man made dolmens are maintained by the family. Offerings are made with reverence thorough out the year.As we rode towards the cultural capital of Korea. We wondered about the mounds, living so close to death, the raised mounds, the u-shaped mounds. What’s and why’s scurried across our minds whit no really answers. Just another example of living in a foreign land. A different culture.

But then that is why we are here. We’ve come to experience something different, maybe to grow, maybe for a vacation of sorts. What ever our reasons, we are here, and together we journey. And sometimes that is all you can hope for is good company as life moves on. So, together we visited Bulguksa Temple, walked up and down streets and roads, clicked mementos of Buddhist art, enjoyed the fresh air, listened to frogs croak as we walked down country roads, tired new Korean food, wandered around soaking wet, played Starcraft, sang songs about life(love), drank together, and enjoyed ourselves even with the in climate weather. The hills will out live us all, but that doesn’t really matter. Someday we may drift apart, but we will still have the memories, nothing can erase the time that was spent together. Sometimes all you can hope for is to be able to enjoy good company while it lasts, the connection. Really though, even if you cease talking to a person, there is still a connection that lasts. It’s crazy but everything is. The crazy things are the things that make the most sense. : )

Gyeungju: AKA Korean Food

Brunch
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

Wow, I just realized I took around eighty pictures. That is a good amount consider it rain one day and the first day we only got to one temple and a park. My battery also die during a staged peeing on a mural of Adolf Hitler. No, I’m serious go check out the picture of my friend Zach as he happily fakes peeing on Hitler. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. The mural was just one of the surprises this past weekend.

This Friday a bunch of my friends and I got up(or stayed up) early to catch a 7 o’clock bus to Gyeongju, the cultural capital of Korea. For most of us this meant leaving our apartments at 5 or 6 o’clock. So, we set off to Gyeongju bright and early so we could have as much time as possible looking around. Dan, who had taught down there last year, meet us with two of his awesome friends(Kate and Rose) who drove us to Bulguksa Temple. After the temple we went to get some bibimbap and cotton candy(in honor of Children’s Day). We also went to a “pleasure” garden from the Silla Dynasty called Anapji Pond; where a bee called Fuzzy decided to be my friend for a while. We headed back to our place and decided to go play Starcraft. I had never gone to a pc bang(bang means room) nor had I ever played Starcraft, so it was first on both counts. It was fun actually, even though I’m not very good at strategy games. After some game time we head out for food and drinking.

Food:
Food and drinking go hand in hand in Korea. Also in Korea, it is rare to eat alone. Food is meant to be eaten in with a group of people all of whom share the same food. We went to a royodaki(sp?) Friday night, which is where you order a set which comes with a variety of dishes which everyone shares. There are no individual plates, you eat out of shared dishes. Also you drink. Korean beer is weak tasteless beer, but you get used to it. Soju, a rice liquor, is also the drink of choice for Koreans. The side dishes(banchan) included things like ddukbolgi, kimchi, shells(?), fried fish skin, corn, salad, quail eggs, and kimbap(like a cheap California roll but with Spam and pickle) that night. And then there was meat, because it’s Korea. Most often the meat is grilled(as in there is a grill in the middle of the table and you do it yourself) which is then wrapped in a leaf(lettuce, sesame(my fav.) or other green), toped with your choice of sauce, maybe roasted garlic and rice is optional. It’s really a nice balance, simple but delicious. All of our meals were traditional Korean meals, which was nice. We also tried two different sweets using red bean paste. One was a heaping tablespoon of red bean paste encased in a thin crust that tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios. The other one was the size of an oreo. It was two buckwheat(or at least it tasted like it) pancakes with a thin layer of red bean paste holding them together. I tried a lot of new things this weekend, since it’s hard to order some meals without a ton of people(you can’t order this stuff for one, it’s odd and kind of a waste). The desert Friday night was some red beans over ice, after which we moved on to another Korean tradition, noraebang.

Noraebang will have to wait till later. It’s late and I didn’t get much sleep this weekend. Gyeungju part two hopefully tomorrow.

Tree

Tree
Originally uploaded by punk_rock_baby.

Buddha's Birthday and Childern's Day

Tomorrow is a day of innocence and rebirth. It’s a day of making wishes. Wishes hang from lanterns, which hang from trees, which wait for another year to pass quickly by for spring to burst forth again. The tree waits for the night when it’s false foliage burns forth with hundreds of hopes and dreams for one night. And for that one night it waits. And while it waits, our wishes, our dreams, our hopes, weigh down it’s branches, obscuring the little buds, the verdant tears, the firey dying blaze before the branches are left bare to winters chill. Our little stars we may forget as balmy winds succumb to a blazing sun, or rainy days wash away faded leaves but it does not. The tree keeps them company until that spring day comes again for it to blaze once more in a glory of colored papers and little lights. The wishes like leaves, come down so new hopes maybe be born. The faded paper, the torn lanterns are feed to the fire, with reverence but still they must burn. The fire eats them, as new lanterns are made and new wishes written out on crisp white paper. The cycle continues, as it will always continue. New hopes take form, time passes, old hopes die and new hopes are kindled. In innocence there is faith, a blind faith. Faith that ones wish will happen, that wishes do come true. There is innocence in wishing. The simple joy of wishing is suspending reality and having faith in something greater, in the world and in yourself. It is letting in all the wonderful possibilities of the unknown and denying the known. Wish in something greater. Have faith.