Joys down in my heart

As I sit down to blog a Sunday school classic runs through my head...

I've got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where? Down in my heart!
Where? Down in my heart!
I've got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
Down in my heart to stay!
And I'm so happy, so very happy....etc.

I am nearing the three months mark, an important landmark when living and working abroad. Almost every foreigner I've met has warned me of the third month "low" in which the honeymoon stage of life in Korea has worn off and most people find themselves annoyed, frustrated, and/or homesick. Determined not to fall into this infamous "low" I've decided it's "high" (ah ha ha) time to record the little joys that bring a smile to my face each day.

1. The friendly guard at the back entrance to the university- Most mornings I go for a jog at the university track close by to my apartment. And most mornings I am greeted by the same old guardman who gives me a bright smile and a "hello" salute. He must be studying up on his English because in addition to the simple salute, a dialogue has gradually grown (with a new, added phrase about once a week) into "Hello/good morning beautiful lady! How are you? Have a nice day/see you tomorrow!"

2. Little Alvin- My very first class of the day are always my precious Pre-Step 2-ers. They are the youngest students at E.L.C. (8 years old) and have the lowest level English. One student named Alvin is the sweetest little thing in the universe. Everyday he sprints up the steps to the teacher's area before the bell rings (which always leaves him gasping for breath) in order to grab my basket of books to carry into back down into the class room. If he doesn't come to get my books then I can be sure that he is hiding under my desk to "scare" me when I sit down to take attendance.

3. Go-karts- This past weekend was the annual fall picnic for my school. Smith, my goofy director, decided we'd go-kart racing for the Saturday adventure. The day began at 9:15 am when we loaded ourselves into the school vans for the hour long drive to Gyeongji, Korea's old capital, very historic and beautiful countryside (note the mountains in the background of the picture). It didn't take long before the fried chicken covered in spicy sauce, chips, oranges, soda and beer were passed around to all of us passengers. What? Fried chicken with spicy sauce in the morning? Believe it. To no one's surprise Smith was a madman on the go-karts, not slowing down for anyone, not even the double carts containing small children (see picture)...eek! The poor secretary at the school made the mistake of riding with Mr. Kim and screamed the entire race. He took great pleasure in her screams and the rest of us took great pleasure in the terrified look on her face each time they sped by. Mr. Kim spun around in circles several times as a grand finale before pulling into the "pit" lane and even somehow managed to keep a straight face as he was being scolded by the go-kart workers for his spinning. Ah, nothing beats driving super fast around a track and the smell of burning rubber though...that cannot be denied.

4. Cheap lunch- Thanks to the introduction from my Korean friends Jerome and Nimo, I've been enjoying the delicious and super cheap lunch specials at the university cafeteria. We're talking a full plate of food for 2,000 won (~ under $2). Can't beat it. Not only is it tasty, it also allows me to try a larger variety of Korean dishes, makes so I don't have to do any cooking/cleaning, AND allows me to practice my Korean as I try to read the signs and order by myself. Win-win-win.

5. Mums- This week is the flower festival at the university. Mums galore. Nearly every open space is now filled with mums. It's breathtaking...today kindergarten students were swarming the place getting pictures taken with their classmates. Since when have we been this in awe with creation like these kindergarteners?

6. My new camera- Wooo, obviously I'm excited to finally be able to capture memories as I choose and post pictures for ya'll back home to make my blogs a little more exciting. :)

Becoming cultured

My apologies. I have been lazy to blog lately leaving me so much to tell all at once....ah, where to begin?

Well, biggest news first: I have a cellphone now! It's fanTAStic! I kept telling myself the longer I went without, although frustrating then, would just make it all that more sweet in the end and it was so true. It feels incredible to have one now! Ah, so great. With Internet at my apartment now as well, I can fully reach my social potential with friends here and people back home. Yay! Not to mention I love not having to plan everything ahead of time anymore...I can return to my laid back, wherever the wind blows me, spontaneous, and late self.

Last weekend was full of new adventures and distinctly Korean culture experiences. Friday was a holiday (no work) which called for a Thursday night all school dinner celebration. Dinner was Round 1, drinks with funny snacks (dried squid dipped in a red pepper paste and mayonnaise blend) was Round 2, and the night ended as the sun was beginning to rise after Round 3 in the karaoke room. I discovered my manager's love for ABBA so we had a blast singing and dancing to "Dancing Queen" with the handful of co-workers that stuck it out the whole night.

After a few hours of sleep I felt refreshed and ready to attack Mt. Gaji with Kristen, Jerome, and Melanie. We must have been jamming too loud to Jerome's mix CD of Britney Spears, 98 degrees, Clay Aiken, and Mariah Carey that we ignored the GPS instructions to stop (oops) and kept right on driving past Mt. Gaji to end up at Mt. Sinbul a bit further down the very scary, tight, and twisty road. The new, unexpected destination was fine with me because Mt. Sinbul is home to a beautiful waterfall I had secretly been wanting to see since I came to Korea.

The hike down to the waterfall was a piece of cake and after a snack of apples (rudely interrupted by giant bees) courtsey of Jerome, we decided to explore the path going up from the waterfall. Being amateur mountain hikers we failed to pack our hiking sticks or wear the proper hiking shoes for the kind of trails we encountered. We climbed almost straight up until we reached what we thought was the top (and I'm still convinced it HAD to be because we were SO high) but when we stopped to catch our breath and enjoy the view we were told from some other hikers it was another 2 hours to the top. Whhhha?!? Kristen and I climbed a tree to get an even better view of the endless mountains and we all decided making it that far was good enough to be called a successful hiking adventure.

We headed home, cleaned up, and went to check out the world music festival going on at a park downtown. Everything seems to be called a festival here so our expectations for this world music festival were very low. I was blown away when we arrived! The first band playing out the large outdoor stage was called Gypsy from the Czech. Picture this: Eminen mixed with accordian and fiddle, speaking in Czech with the occasional curse word in English. Ridiculous but they were extremely talented musicians. The next was a Romanian band...10 or so older men standing in a line on the stage, 2 tubas, 2 trumpets, 2 bass drums, 2 saxophones, and a few singers. It was one of those things where you think, "Wow, I can't believe I just watched that for an entire hour," but there was just something intriguing about it all.

Saturday morning I hopped on a bus to go to the magical land of Daegu...home of Costco, over an hour drive from Ulsan. I haven't missed much food from home so I wasn't even going to go but decided to enjoy the social outing of it all. Costco was not that exciting (or maybe it was the fact that we were there, in the store,for over 2 hours...) but I did scored some Eggos to have for breakfast in the mornings. Leggo my Eggos! The funny thing is I never ate Eggos in the States because I could always eat my mom's waffles. But now that real waffles are not to be found, I have to indulge in the pre-packaged kind.

The long bus ride made me antsy so I couldn't wait to get back to Ulsan and check out the music festival again. There's just something about live music that is addicting. This time we visited the other stages to hear some jazz and artists from the featured country (Portugal). On the outside stage an Argentinian band played and WOW, they were so good! The last song they let everyone rush the stage and danced around them as they sang and played their instruments. Amazing. A last minute, late night soccer game watching, spicy fried chicken eating party with Willy after the music fest made for an action packed and quite exhausting day.

Side observation: Koreans love to clap...to everything...and I find it hilarious. Now I'm a bit of a clapper hater so maybe I'm a little bias, but let's be honest, some types of music you simply cannot clap along with, am I right? In my opinion, clapping is just a lame kind of exemption from dancing and I say, why don't we just all dance? What's the big deal?

Sunday after church I once again caught the last bit of the music festival. This time a traditional Korean drum group was performing where all traditional instruments were played. It one of those shows that would come to the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center...it was great and something every expat living in Korea should experience. It was exhausting and inspiring to watch as the performers drummed their hearts and ran around singing and playing other instruments out for a solid hour.

After the performance I was off to one of my manager's son's first birthday party at a buffet restaurant. A child's first birthday (which is really their 2nd because they are said to be 1 at birth) is a huge deal here. Hundreds of people are invited and it runs sort of like a graduation party. There was a slide show of baby pictures, a large table set up with framed pictures, the parents and baby both dressed in the traditional hanbak outfits, and a "MC" of sorts directing the party. Jerome and I walked in a bit late and slipped into a sit in the back of the room but as I looked around I noticed I was the only non-Korean there. The MC was doing his thing in Korean and within 30 seconds the entire room was pointing at me, people were pushing me out of my chair, towards the front of the room and the MC, and saying congratulations. I had no idea what was going on (I'm sure my face was bright red), so I sheepishly accepted the bottle of wine the MC was offering me. When I sat down it was explained that I had won the gift for having travel the furthest to be there. I ended up leaving with a full tummy, a bottle of wine, and a hand towel with the baby's name and birthday embroidered on it. Crazy!

One of the most interesting Korean 1st birthday traditions is small trinkets that represent a certain career are set on the floor, the baby crawls towards them and whichever he touches first is said to be the career he is destined for. Thomas' baby touched a computer mouse so it's said he will be a computer IT person. So fun!

Ah, no time to fine-tune, more to come soon!

For those of you who may have forgotten what I look like here's a few pictures from the orphanage that I stole from a friend's Facebook page. The second picture, besides being a reminder of what my back side looks like, is the best picture I could find of a Korean style jump rope game I learned. One person puts their shoes in the center next to the rope swinger and you must jump inwards, grab a shoe and jump out to be successful. It's not easy people. Especially when the swinger is crazy, swings faster and faster and makes you jump higher and higher as you move in closer. Try it out. Warning: make sure to take the wood or plastic off one of the ends...it's a shin killer. :)