Chopsticks [What happens when I deskwarm.]

Weird things happen when I sit at my desk all day; for example, this morning I spent 15 minutes trying to hold my hair with a chopstick a-la my mother, circa 1980-2005.

Desk warming, as it is affectionately referred to by NETs, refers to the days during which we don't teach any classes, but must come to school and sit in our office all day (as per our contracts.) Thus, keeping our desk and chair nice and toasty.

The amount of time a NET is required to desk warm is determined by the school and, as a result, the native teachers I know have vastly varying experiences with, and opinions towards, the practice. In exhibit 123434534 of "My School is Awesome," I haven't been required to deskwarm for extended periods of [wasted] time. As such, I myself don't have too much experience with desk warming beyong a day or two here and there for exams, and today when we have Sports Day rehersal..another story altogether; so, the few days I do get are often a nice surprise and break from teaching.

Today, thus far, I have planned all my lessons for the next 3 days, roughly planned the first of my summer camps, read about 15 blogs, stared into space for a while, watched The Daily Show and successfully chopstick-ed my hair, as demonstrated above. For the next two hours I will be listening to "This American Life" via podcast, and planning my summer adventures to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Desk-warming, in my experience has been just lovely; but, as I said, I've only had experienced these joys for a day or two at a time.  Some of my fellow NETs, especially those at the high school level, have had to desk warm for weeks, or months, on end without teaching a single class Because attitudes in SK are a bit intense (understatement) when it comes to testing, extra "English Conversation" (read: NET taught) classes during the weeks before exams are used for self-study and review, which is then followed by 2-3 weeks of actually exams and continued prep time, not to mention vacation periods when school is out of session but NETs must come to school unless they are using official paid vacation days. While I like to give my secondary school counterparts a hard time about the fact that, as far as I can tell, they don't actually teach (this isn't true, I promise) I know that after a day or two of desk-warming with no productive goals/requirements in sight, I would likely rip my hair out. This is especially likely when I think about all the other exploring/adventuring/sleeping-in-the-comfort-of-my-home I could be doing with my time.  The latter is why I love Elementary School and am totally o.k. with teaching 2-4 times the amount of English Camp most of my friends have been tasked with. Honestly, no complaints. Camps = awesome. Desk-warming for a month instead = not awesome.

Knowing all this, I maintain that a day or two of keeping my swivel chair nice and toasty is good for the soul, not to mention the organization gods. I do, however,  understand how many of my fellows have reached different conclusions resulting (for example) in the following probably inappropriate, yet very funny video, of Hitler being told he must desk warm during summer vacation. Enjoy.

Anyeong[hikheseyo]. 
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bits of my week [1]

In a happy place.

It's amazing what some sunsine, a cup of coffee, and a good book can do.

 

Anyeong[hikheseyo].  

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Hot Beatz. All day. Everyday.

Among other things, Korea knows its hot beatz. And they make sure you know it.

I (along with my fellow NETs) have developed a theory that many Korean's have an aversion to silence. As such, the moment you enter any location more lively than my sleepy slice of Jangdang, ie: walking to the grocery store, walking past any location selling cellphones, and obviously any venture into downtown Pyeongtaek, or further North into Seoul, it feels like you have just entered a crowded dance club on a bumpin' Saturday night. The best example of over-stimulation via hot beatz is found in Myeongdong, a large shopping district comprised of brain-melting levels of music, neon, people, and screaming salespeople. Additionally, establishments such as H&M, Forever21, and Dunkin Donuts, all feel the need to be four stories tall.

Not my video, but a decent representation of the glories that are Myeongdong...

Now, you may be asking yourself what exactly are these hotbeatz you speak of? What glorious musical compositions are you trying to describe. I will answer you with the following: from what I have gathered, Korean popular/mainstream music encompasses two, often intertwined, categories. Songs that make you feel like you are in the club, even if you are just trying to buy some oranges. And K-POP. Sugary-sweet, dewey faceed, boy and girl bands singing their hearts out about love, dancing some wicked choreography, producing really intense music videos, and sprinkling their songs with English catch lines. The later groups often have English names, sometimes spiced up with a few numbers. Some of my faves include: Miss A, BIGBANG, G Dragon (who happends to the the lead singer of BIG BANG), 2NE1 (pronounced twenty-one), B3AST (beast), 2AM, 2PM (one band that split up).. you get the idea.

So, my friends, I proudly bring you the first edition of what may or may not become a regular feature,

HOT B3ATZ

And finally, what may not technically be KPOP, but is most definitely a hot beat, here is an excellent example of what happens when Waygooks have too much time on their hands...

Anyeong[hikheseyo].  

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favorite[s]

Wishing all the members of the tribe (and more specifically those I am related to) a very Happy Pesach and, as always, a very happy sponge-cake-filled birthday to my cousin Steven! Passover is my favorite holiday of the year and I am very sad to be missing it for only the second time in 23 years. Even when I was living in Madison, and Seder fell in the middle of the week, I always decided it was more important than school and made the trek back to Buffalo Grove to be at the Albun/Rapoport Seders. Nothing, ever, in the world, can beat at Albun/Rap Seder, which have, over the years, included such crowd favorites as: a kids table comprised entirely of those over 20 years old, a Wrestling Buddie dressed as Pharoh, my mother having to eat from doll sized cutlery, rousing renditions of Chad-gad-ya, froggie name tags, English/Hebrew/Spanish translations, a wide array of David Rap supplementary materials, family rounds of Slivovitz, and many a Rose Albun toast. If you think your Seder is better than mine talk to Logan (my college wifee) who has for the last few years attended both nights, and can attest to their glory.

In order to fill some of the void caused by missing my favorite time of the year, Monday night I ditched out of school a little early, in order to ride up to Seoul and participate in the Chabad-Seoul Seder.

Yeah, you read that correctly. Chabad is in the house, even in the ROK.

So, Monday after school, I met up with a few fellow MOT-NET's and enjoyed a few hours worth of Chabadness. As I have only attended Mendel and Henya's most wonderful UW-Chabad House, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the seder. At the end of the night (and by that i mean at 10pm when I left 10 minutes into the festive meal in order to make it on the last subway) I decided the following. I really appreciate Mendel and Henya for their amazing kindness and open minds to those students from all religious backgrounds. You rock my socks.  I also really appreciated the traveling Rabbi who led the Seder and came off as somewhat of an evangelical-lubaviture due to an excess of passover excitement.  He included just enough awkward-dad-jokes (no digs at Carl, just "dad jokes" in general) to make me feel like I was getting the bit of silliness I require in a Seder. He also taught me that when you drink each of the four cups of wine you are supposed to (and this is a direct quote) "Fill the glass as high as you can, almost to the top, and drink the entire glass at once while leaning to the left." Chugging wine isn't exactly my style, but (whatever you have to say about Orthodox Jews) they, like the Korean's, do not mess around.

I did not and do not appreciate all aspects of ultra orthodox Judaism; but, then again, that's why I am not Orthodox. At the end of the day was it anywhere near Albun/Rap caliber? Obviously not. Am I glad I went? Definitely.

As Passover also marks the onset of Spring (though I hear the Midwest is trying to prove otherwise) I will include another set of favorites in this post. The following are a few (or rather a lot) of my favorite pictures from the last few weekends documenting the waves of cherry blossoms that overtake Korea each Spring.
The blossoms last about a month and a really only in full form for a week or too. For many, they mark the official start of Spring and are a reason to throw off those winter coats head out to your festival location of choice and enjoy the beautiful effect with ten's of  thousands of your countrymen. And OBVIOUSLY we must take advantage of the ample opportunity for glamor shots. Why wouldn't we?

 

חג פסח שמח 

Anyeong[hikheseyo].  

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The Most Jagged Ridge[s].

Sorry, sorry, sorry for my absence... I know I have been lazy on the blog-front. I promise I'll get back on the (Oregon Trail covered)wagon... unless I get dysentery.

Credit of Kelley Benes for this gem..

and to Brandon Balia for this one

This past weekend (and by that I now me three weekends ago) started off on the right note, by all accounts. Friday evening found yours truly, along with a few fellow waygooks, roaming a small street in the swankiest area of Seoul, singing "Friday" over and over again, at the top of our lungs. It ended Sunday night with the same, slightly mountain worn, waygooks sitting at a highway rest stop in Anseong, singing Sam (White Rainbow)'s original diddy entitled "Neh! Opseyo!" (Yes! Not Here/Don't have!)

In between those sturdy bookmarks were some delicious sandwiches, an expansive sampling of Korean snack foods, a turtle ship (apparently a really big deal), an hour surrounded by nakie Korean ladies at the jimmjilbang,  and this...

Sa Ryang Do: The Day I climbed 7 mountains.
Yeah, I said it 7 mountains, or ridges rather. And I guess to be entirely honest, I decided to inch my way around the last one, often holding on with nothing more than my clenched tushie, in order to avoid the insanity that looked a little bit like this...

Photo credit to the infinitely more badass Clyde Wylie.

How did I end up on such treacherous ridges? Easy peasy; I signed up for this.

As the days began to stretch and the weather inched its way towards Spring, a handful of us over here on the peninsula decided to sign up for another weekend adventure via Adventure Korea. There are a few travel/tour group organizations based out of Seoul and geared at the many travelers and expats the country has attracted over the last few years. While setting off to hike a mountain or check out a festical with 40-80 people has the potential to be the worst thing ever, if you get together a group of friends and distance yourself from the pack a bit the weekends usually turn out to be a great time and have allowed my friends and I the opportunity to see parts of the ROK that we may never have found, or been able to get too, otherwise.

 

So, after the noted Friday evening antics, Ali, Kelley, Sam, Pat and I met up with Amanda, Alex, Brandon, Clyde, and Charly, and snagged a group of seats on our designated bus. We rode through the night, and grabbed a few extra hours of sleep parked in a deserted lot, before being deposited in a harbor, on the southern rim of the peninsula. A bit groggy, some of us pulled on our shoes to watch the sunrise over the harbor. A few of the crew decided they needed a little extra shut eye. I don't judge, but this is what they missed...

 Post sunrise, we rode to Tong-yong harbor and hopped on the ferry (bus and all) to 사량도, or Saryang Island. After a quick ride to the other side of the island (the plan was the hike back across, ending back at the ferry) we were ready to begin what Pat hoped would be a nice walk through the nature. 

 Those of us who had previous experience with hiking in Korea, knew that this would not be the case, and were prepared for what our group had described as "A moderate hiking including some difficult ridges that were avoidable using side trails. A trail that, if you exercise once or twice a week you should not find difficult." 

This was a bit of an understatement. 

 

To be fair, all ridges were not as treacherous as those pictures above; but, even as a former climbing/ropes instructor, free-climbing sheer rock faces, sans gear, in a foreign country isn't really my idea of an appropriate activity. Over the course of the day we hiked, climbed, and scrambled our way over and around 7 rocky ridges (we were told there were four) sometimes using thick white hanging ropes for support, or simply crab walking down on all fours. It seemed like every time you finished what had the be the last treacherous ascent, you reached the top only to see yet another ridge looming before you. 

 
The ridges would perhaps have been (slightly) less daunting, with ample time to moasey your way down at a safe and comfortable pace. Let's just say that's not the way things work in the ROK.  As previously mentioned, Korean's don't mess around when it comes to hiking (or anything for that matter). Like it or not, it's go big or go home, all day, everyday. This has brought me to the following realization: Hiking brings out almost all of the best, right alongside almost all of the worst about Korea. For your enjoyment and education:


Things that are the best:

1. Korea is 70% beautiful mountains, most often left building and development-less. 

1. Koreans are in pretty bad-ass mountain climbing shape. This waygook is not ashamed to admit the number of middle aged Korean's (who have possibly/likely been smoking and drinking in excess for the last 30 years) that totally dominate me the second they set foot on a hiking trail. 

1. Korean's love food. I don't think I have seen a single Korean hiker set off with less than a hand cooked feast for 12 strapped to their backs. Many even lug portable grills, for mountain side galbi purposes. 
2. Koreans love to share slash eat communally. Little more than a big grin and a quick "Anyeong Haseyo!" will often have feast toting hikers forcing large amounts of rice, kimbab, kimchi, makkoli, lettuce wraps etc. on foreigners resting at the summit. Reciprical sharing of whatever may be in your bag (Korean snickers bars) is always greeted with smiles.
3. Korean's really get a kick out of foreigners who understand Hangul. Being able to decipher and answer, "Hello, where are you from?" wins bonus points, high fives, and "Olehhs!" all around. 

Things that are the worst: less than ideal:

1. There are lots of people here. Period. Wherever you go, you are more often than not joined by the masses.  
2. Koreans are really intense. As previously mentioned, hikers in Korea are not messing around. It seems like it is always a race to the next destination, be it a picnic spot or the finish line. This often leads to hikers plowing ahead with very little notice of the surroundings or those who surround them. Even those hiking at an average speed will often have to jump out of the way as hikers sprint/lumber past them on tiny gravel ridges, or simply sprint down sheer rock faces (annoying but impressive). There is absolutely no room for "oh that person looks like they are having a hard time I will let them get down before I also use this unattached rope to repel down a cliff." At one point, I  stopped to get my footing on a patch of ridge when, next thing I know, an ajumma is practically kicking me in the head trying  to continue down the rope. I love hiking, and I love Korea, and I really love hiking in Korea; but, sometimes we need to take a moment to be aware of other people. Relax. Chill. Hajimma!! (Stop!)

Annyyywayyy, the hike was a bit more intense than anticipated, but it was also really cool to scramble up rock faces and hike across the entire island. I definitely felt proud of my crew when that last daunting ridge was finally behind us. Final verdict: I think I'd do it again, especially as I'd know full well what I was getting myself into this time around.  

The remainder of the evening was spent soaking our sore bodies at the jimmjilbang (bathhouse), scarfing some galbi, and enjoying the company of good people. After a cozy night, spent snuggling up to an ondol floor, it was back to the bus and on to the next one...  

More posts to come as I play catchup this week!
Missing the kids table (and the rest of the fam) on Pesach. Hope your holding down the fort and that Seders included all the required elements (Slivovitz, supplementary materials, and chad-gad-ya at bare minimum...)

Thanks/Credit to Brandon for capturing a ladies shot!

 
חג פסח שמח

Anyeong[hikheseyo].  
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