Black Day 2011

This is such a late post but for the sake of thoroughness, I'm including it and don't care what anyone says.

April 14 is designated in Korea as Black Day.

Another day that centers upon whether or not you are coupled up.

February 14 is Valentines Day---here the girls give gifts to the boys.

March 14 is White Day---on this day it's the boys who give gifts to the girls.

April 14 is Black Day---where singles get together with the friends and eat jjajangmyeon (짜장면), which is a noodle dish with a dark soybean sauce that looks, fittingly, black.

If people back home like to think of Valentine's Day as singles awareness day, imagine having a single awareness day thrice in one year, with one day literally set aside so single people everywhere can cry into their bowls of jjajangmyeon!

I have to say that while I appreciate Korea giving Singles everywhere their own day to celebrate their singledom, because if couples get their day (days) then singles should get theirs too, right? But I think it's also quite funny because in giving singles Black Day, they are essentially pointing out their singleness as if they weren't aware of it on both Vday & White Day! And in Korea, everyone prefers to be in a couple instead of not, so being reminded three times a year is a bitter sort of pill to swallow. For Koreans. I however, love being single and jjajangmyeon is delicious so I waved my single flag proudly as I finally partook on in the festivities of a colored day. On Black Day I ate myself full with a bunch of other single friends.

And none of us were crying into our jjajangmyeon.

A Meeting with Dr. Fish

Last week I was on a shopping excursion with some friends when we decided to make an impromptu visit with Dr. Fish.

"Dr. Fish" is the name of the treatment where the little fishes come and eat off the dead skin of your feet.

I've actually been wanting to try this out for awhile, and managed to rope friends Christina and Andrea to going with me. Since we were shopping in myeongdong, we visited a place called "The Foot Shop."

It was really nice inside lots of wood design, which I love. They spoke japanese and korean at "The Foot Shop," I'm not sure how great their english is. When you walk inside the first thing you see is the reception area, and just next to it, the seating area where guests are allowed to soak/wash their feet after changing (the provide lockers to store your things & complimentary clothing just like a jimjilbang [찜질방]). We opted for a 40 minute session that included a foot massage that was 29,000--which you pay upfront.

Everything was all fine and well until the three of us were sitting around the small basin that held the fish. Then nerves set in and none of us wanted to be the first to put our feet in. We were a bunch of nervous giggles and squeals, so much so, that the man in charge told us we were wasting time (we only had 40 minutes & the clock was running!) I don't know what it was, I knew that the fish didn't have teeth and that they would be doing me a favor, but everytime I tried to put my feet in, they would all rush to that spot and all I could see were their mouths opening and closing, waiting to be fed.

Andrea was the brave soul who went in first. I followed shortly after, then Christina. It was a gradual process, dipping your feet just a bit at a time in order to get used to the sensation. I knew it was going to tickle but it wasn't so much ticklish for me as it was just... odd. And in the beginning I couldn't look at the fish feeding on my skin. If I did, I would psych myself out and in the next moment I was pulling my feet out of the water. For the first 5ish minutes, I had to turn away and watch the TV next to me to distract myself from the fact that the odd prickling feeling on my feet was due to a small school of hungry fish.

But after awhile I got used to it and it everything was a-okay between me and the fish. It actually felt kind of nice. After a while, we each got moved to a different room where we got foot massages. As Andrea said, "I'm kinda a slut for foot massages."

At the end of the treatment, as well as during, we were served some tea & by the end of it, the three of us were all very relaxed.

It wasn't until later that I read online about the risk of infections due to the "Dr. Fish" treatment. But I talked to a friend of mine back home, and she told me that the fish can spread infections from other guests, but that it was probably the same risk as going to get a mani/pedi.

Nonetheless, it was a memorable experience for me that was both hilarious and very much needed. A pampering session is always good in my book!

Subway Directions:
- Myeongdong Station, line 4 exit 6.
- Walk down the center road of the shopping district, hang a left at the second street.
- Located at the "T" at the end of the street.

Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival

This year from April 13th to April 17th was the annual Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival in Seoul. During this time of year there are several cherry blossom festivals held across Korea, the most famous one being the Jinhae festival located in the south, near Busan. However, being the busy person that I am, I couldn’t, wouldn’t, make the time to take the hours long train ride down to Jinhae.

However, Seoul has it’s own cherry blossom festival held on Yeouido island—home of the National Assembly, Hangang Park, an the 63 Building. There is a main road that snakes behind the National Assembly Building and follows the curve of the Han River, and is blocked off so no vehicles are allowed to pass. Only pedestrians.

If taking the subway, you can get off at either the Yeouido Sation or Yeouinaru sation.
I went with my co-teachers, one of whom lives on Yeouido, and she suggested the Yeouinaru station.

Be warned, the subways will be incredibly packed.

Also, the streets will be incredibly packed.

From Yeoinaru, walk west along the river and you’ll be in the heart of Hangang Park. There are bike rentals here with bike paths, and what I’ve been told is the “”Piano Stream”—named so because at the bottom of the shallow, man made stream, are little bars that resemble the black keys of a piano.

At Hangang Park.

We walked along the river path instead of the sidewalk as it was less crowded. However, if you are hungry for some street food—ohdang, ddukbokki, hotdongs, silkworms, meat skewers, squid, thos sugar cookie things—take the sidewalk. A second attraction is that cherry blossom trees line the sidewalk, and who doesn’t want to walk under a canopy of almost snowflake life flowers?

Once you get to the main road of the festival, the street vendors cease and you are plunged, head first, into a sea of people—each equipped with their own DSLR cameras taking pictures with just about every and anything. There are cherry blossom trees lining one side of the street, and on the opposite side is either some performance act—there were stages set up periodically along the road, or a walking art exhibition centerd around, you guessed it, flowers.

Along the sidewalks on the main road there are art exhibitions on display.

But basically everyone wants to take about a million pictures of themselves with the cherry blossom trees.

And for good reason too. They are simply gorgeous.



If you stay around long enough, or want to see the trees in a new light, come to the festival after sunset. At night, the trees are lit with different coloured LED lights—orange, green, blue, purple—and they just make the pretty, prettier.


It can be a little tough, dealing with the crowds, and on the legs too, because you’ll be walking. Its roughly a 15 minute walk from the subway station to the main road, and the main road stretches on for awhile.

But if you can deal with the crowds, it and don’t mind the walk, you can take a blanket with you and sit at the Hangang Park. Also, if you want to see the cherry blossoms but don't mind the crowds, go a week before or a week after the festival, the flowers will still be there :)

Dongdaemun & Jongmyo Shrine

Thus begins a series of posts to get me all caught up with DoReMiFa.

I have to apologize ahead of time for the low quality pictures of this post. I stupidly didn't know my camera was low on battery when I set out this day, thus everything is cameraphone quality.

About two weeks ago I ventured out to see Dongdaemun Gate, also known as the Great East Gate, also known as Heunginjimun, also known as the Gate of Rising Benevolence, also known as 흥인지문, also known as 동대문.

phew.

To be brief, Seoul, as the capital city of the Joseon dynasty, is surrounded by mountains, was fortified by walls, and had four main gates to the city: north, south, east, and west. In the present day, only 3 of the great gates remain (there were also 4 smaller gates). Dongdaemun being one of them, with Namdaemun in the South and Seokjeongmun in the North.

Dongdaemun, or rather, Heunginjimun as it was called in historical records & what it's called on all the street signs, is the Great East Gate that it located in the Dongdaemun shopping district.

You can't get a decent picture up close because the gate doesn't fit into the frame when you stand on the sidewalk. To get the whole gate, you have to cross the street, but then there's that street in the way. To get a decent picture, take a photo in the middle of the street...like when you are mid-way through the crosswalk. It's unfortunate that theres a busy street so close to the gate.

Sorry for my suuper bad photos. I only now realized that the pictures I actually took with my camera, I think I deleted without downloading them, so I only have these super crappy pictures I took with my phone. This is taken on the sidewalk edge--what I was talking about when I said you couldn't get a proper picture in a single frame.

And now onto Jongmyo Shrine.

The shrine itself is located a stone’s throw away from the main palace: Gyeongbokgung, and the shrine houses the spirit tablets of Korea’s past kings and queens. It was created in the late 14th century during the Joseon Dynasty.

It was at Jongmyo that the King himself would perform in the Confucian Jerye--ceremony to honor deceased ancestors. It was held 5 times a year, but since the 1970s is only held once a year, on May 1st. Jongmyo and it's Jerye have, respectively, been named to UNESCO's World Heritage as well as Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity lists.

The entrance to the shrine is set in Jongmyo park, which is currently undergoing a dig, so the main walkway has up a walking exhibition. Also in the park you can find a bunch of families, as well as ahjummas and ahjussi’s exercising. If you have the ticket booklet, no need to go to the ticket window, you can just walk right up to the main entrance and hand the guard your ticket book and he will take out the appropriate ticket. There is an English tour but not on the day I went, so you are free to wander the grounds and see the shrine’s different buildings.

The first thing you that greets you once you pass the main entrance is this interesting stone walkway that criss-crosses the grounds. It is one walkway, divided into three parts, the center aisle slightly raised.

This was this stone walkway that only the King, Crown Prince, and those carrying the sacred tablets (symbolic also of the walkway for the Kings of the past) could walk upon. The center, raised aisle was for those carrying in the tablets/ the Kings of the past, the right was for the King, the left was for the Crown Prince. If you follow the walkway, you will follow the path the tablets and the King and Prince took when performing the ancestral rights.

The main building and the highlight of Jongmyo is Jeongeon--the hall housing the spirit tablets.

I am planning on attending the May 1st Jerye ceremony, so hopefully I can update with better pictures :)

Directions:

-Subway: Jongro 3(sam)-ga station, exit 8 (from line 5)

-When you exit the subway station, go straight about 5 minutes until you reach Jongmyo park. Go through at one of the entrances and approach the main gate.

Me Talk Korean One Day

Things have gotten a lot busier now that I’ve started proper Korean classes. There were a lot of options for learning Korean language, but I figured that since I’m in Seoul, I ought to make the best of the opportunity here. I’ve heard that in other parts of Korea, it is hard to find Korean classes, so foreigners must then turn to tutors, language casts, or self-study.

I take my classes through YBM. YBM is one of the bigger language institutes here in Seoul, primarily dealing with English courses, but at the Jongro location they offer Korean classes.

I had my first class about two weeks ago. I was actually really surprised by the other students. There are only 10 of us, which is about the largest that the classes will actually be, and it’s an interesting mix of people. Most of us are English teachers, more of us are with SOME rather than at hagwons, but we also have a few curiosities. The first one is this man from the basque country of Spain. He’s just travelling through Korea—staying for a month—and decided to take Korean classes for the month he’s here. He was planning to go to Japan after Korea, but clearly, he’s been made to reconsider his plans. The second case is this German man who is here for business.

Lastly, there is a businessman who is ethic Korean, but is from Russia. Most of us communicate in English when we aren’t trying to speak our broken Korean, but with him it’s completely different. We have to use our broken Korean to try communicate with him since his English isn’t so great. And what makes things a bit difficult, is that the worksheets translate the Korean into English… I’m not sure how he manages to figure out what things mean, but its interesting speaking with him. We’re both foreigners but we don’t speak the same language, yet we’re trying to learn a same language. It’s funny how if we tried to communicate with him in English, it wouldn’t work. If we tried to communicate in Russian, it wouldn’t work either. And yet we understand each other perfectly in the suuper limited Korean that we know since we pull from roughly the same vocabulary and experience pool. That thought alone amazes me.

The biggest surprise, however, was that I seem to be the newest person to Korea in my class (save for the Spaniard). All the other teachers have been here for some time already: 7 months, 1.5 years, 2.5 years… and they are only now beginning to take Korean lessons. I should mention that I am in the lowest level class. To be fair, it’s not like we all don’t have some Korean that we already know. But it shocked me to learn that people have been here for YEARS and the extent of their language knowledge is around the same as mine.

But then, in Seoul, you can get by pretty well without learning Korean. It is a bit difficult for your everyday life, but honestly, you can do it because there will always be someone who speaks just enough English to be able to communicate with you. Even if they are reluctant, they are able to do it.

For me, however, I find it a little dissatisfying and embarrassing not to be able to communicate in the language of the country in which I live. I force everyone around me to speak English, instead of them forcing me to speak Korean. And it is my hope that I won’t just “get by” here in Korea, but to actually build a life here. I've always thought that an essential difference in living in a place and visiting in a place, is learning to speak like the locals.

As far as the actual courses go, YBM is pretty well structured and a good pace. Each course runs for a month and is comprised of 10 classes (meeting 2-3 times a week) that are 2 hours long. The cost for each month-long course is 130,000 won + 30,000 for the textbook. But the text book you use for each level. At YBM there are 5 levels, each comprised for 4 different courses for a grand total for over 2 years of Korean lessons.

YBM Language Institute
Subway: Jongro 3 (sam-ga), exit 15

http://kli.ybmedu.com/hakwon/kli/int_academy_eng.asp

To end, I will leave you with a quote from David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. The set up is that the author is living in French, taking French courses with other students but they are having a difficult time. Not something completely I couldn't relate to at all. ^^

My only comfort was the knowledge that I was not alone. Huddled in the hallways and making the most of our pathetic French, my fellow students and I engaged in the sort of conversation commonly overheard in refugee camps. “Sometimes me cry alone at night.” “That be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. Much work and someday you talk pretty. People start love you soon. Maybe tomorrow, okay.” Understanding doesn’t mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it. It’s a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive. -David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day (172-173)

Teaching with kpop

I was told at orientation that one of the things that can get students really excited is using kpop in the classroom. Not everywhere all the time, because students need to feel that your lessons are serious business too..but used sparingly just to grab their attention.

Use kpop in the classroom? Um, yes!

I try not to let my bias for Big Bang determine what I use in the classroom. On the first day of school I let my students tell me who they liked, and I keep that in mind when I select photos to use in things like powerpoints. For the curious, my students like: DBSK, Rain, Big Bang, Beast, SNSD, 2NE1, somee Super Junior, somee F.T. Island, somee C.N. Blue. Since I teach at a girl's high school, more boy groups are represented than girl groups.

I usually won't do kpop related things in the classroom unless its with vocabulary related activities. For instance:






And it works really well. The response to the first slide is always funny--there's a big ruckus with girls gasping, trying to get into a better position to see the board, a lot of murmuring and even face covering. It's really cute.

But there are other instances where I just let my Big Bang bias slip in. I can't help it.

kai bai bo!

Rock, paper, and scissors. Or, in Korea, kai bai bo (가위바위보).

By whatever name you choose to call it, it's importance in the land of the morning calm is of no trivial matter. It is the hand that determines the fate of it's people. There is no issue too little, nor too surmounting that it can't be decided with a game of kai ba bo.

So much weight is given to the game, that tensions can rise and special "techniques" are given over to winning the decision you most desire. Girls will, before throwing down a rapid succession of rocks, paper, and scissors, intertwine their arms from their elbows to their palms before kissing the place where their wrists meet.

Then it's an all out war of fates.

And you thought it was only a child's game.

4.5: Album Review

This is for my kpoppers. I didn't do an album review for Big Bang's 4th Mini Album, Tonight, because it came out when I was at EPIK orientation and there was just no way I could manage a proper post. For the sake of consistency, I will only deal with the new songs from the Big Bang Special Edition Album.

Big Bang: Seungri, Taeyang, Daesung, G-Dragon, T.O.P

There is a verse printed on the cover: "May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, o Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14

This packaging was smarter than me. I was too scared to lift the plastic cover off for fear I'd snap it in half, but underneath it was the much coveted album book. I really liked how the clear plastic cover had the design of the skull on it, while the book underneath had the shape.

The goods: Album book, insert, YG Family card featuring G-Dragon.

The packaging is really sleek. Push the side and the CD pops out.

The Track List:
1. Love Song*
2. Stupid Liar*
3. Tonight
4. High High
5. Oh Yeah (feat. Park Bom)
6. Cafe
7. I need a Girl (feat. G-Dragon)
8. Somebody to Love
9. 어쩌라고
10. Baby Don't Cry (Daesung Solo)*

* indicates new songs released on the album. All others have been previously released.

Special Edition Album by sfuza_14

Love Song

I fell in love this song at first listen. YG had previously released a series of teasers for the song, featuring each individual member, and while I had an inkling that I would enjoy the song, I had no idea just how fast I would fall nor how deep. The song itself is an interesting mix of upbeat and downbeats underneath the pure voices of the members. I really have to thank Teddy for the arrangement of the vocals; the boys lend their voices to the song in ways the suit them best, each member highlighted in their strengths. Daesung doesn't have a lot of lines, but the ones he sings are probably the most memorable for me. Overall the song is really fresh and easy to listen to and even if it's a sad love song, it doesn't feel like it--it's light, airy, and uplifting. And "I hate this love song... I hate this love song" is really catchy.

Love Song has joined the ranks for my favorite Big Bang songs, ever.

Stupid Liar

When I first heard the teaser for Stupid Liar, I had an opposite reaction to the teaser of Love Song. I didn't love it at all actually. I had heard GD's cooing, which reminded me of Cafe, and the guitar rifts reminded me of Big Bang's previous "rock" genre attempt: Oh My Friend. And I was a fan neither of the cooing in Cafe, nor the song Oh My Friend. So you can see how I was not anticipating Stupid Liar in the same way as Love Song.

However, I was pleasantly surprised with Stupid Liar. This is another upbeat song that is really wonderfully composed, using more instrumentals during the chorus giving the song a "rock-like" feeling but the verses are laced with a beat that drive the song forward. The boys each take their respective turns with the song, layering fast and slow, high and low, but, much like Love Song, Daesung steals the show. The song is fun & a great demonstration of Big Bang's adapation to genre without compromise.

Baby Don't Cry (Daesung's Solo)

Daesung's solo track was first debuted at the Big Show 2011 back in February. To be honest, I didn't listen to this song until last night, despite hearing how wonderful the song was. The Big Show is still a sore spot for me, and I still refuse to see/hear anything related to the concert.

Basically I've been waiting for Daesung to release solo tracks. And songs of the caliber as Baby Don't Cry. Daesung has a uniquely beautiful voice. He's able to do powerful vocals, but there is a control, a certain depth, a profound quality in his voice that is unlike anyone elses. You hear Daesung sing and you just know that he was meant to be a singer. If he didn't sing, it would be a great loss for the whole world.

So having a voice like this, it's a damn shame that he doesn't yet have a solo album in which he can share it. I said earlier that Daesung doesn't have many lines in the Big Bang songs, but when he does, he leaves such an impression. With this solo track, Baby Dont Cry, I anticipate many things for his upcoming solo album.

The song is a bit downtempo from Love Song & Stupid Liar, and it's definitely something you can groove to. There are these random electro sounds in the background, but for the most part its a simple repetition of a beat and Daesung's voice. And that's all you need. Because Daesung has the quality of voice that can do so many things, that it alone is responsible for carrying the song through different build ups and subsequent releases. And Daesung does it effortlessly.

Overall

If the 4th mini-album was supposed to re-introduce Big Bang back to Korean audiences, I think the Special Edition hints at where Big Bang is headed towards next and what sound they will produce in their next album. The 4th mini album had a lot of electro-pop and the songs were loud and desgined to make a statement. That is not the case with the Special Edition. Things are less showy, less processed, less worked. The boys were not trying to make a bold statement with this release. Instead, the new songs let the music speak for itself, subtly hinting at whats to come.

I for one, am really excited for what they have in store for us in the future.

Crap shoot

today was all sorts of crappy. crappy weather (it was raining & there was this big concern that there would be radiation), crappy schedule (today all the students at my school had to take a big English exam & all the other classes go moved around), and I felt pretty crappy (I'm sick, finally).

However, there was this handball match that was going on in the middle of the day where Korea's national team was playing in the finals so basically the school shut down to let the students watch. Since I didn't even know handball was a national sport in any sort of country, I sat around and took videos of my kids watching. They all get suuuper shy and they cover their faces, saying that they don't want to be seen since they have bad faces--which really just means they aren't allowed to wear makeup at school haha.

smart pone.

I am back to the land of smartphones. hip hip hooray! I dont know why I thought I could get by without a smartphone. I must have been crazy…. they are, much like many things in korea, so dang convenient with their metro maps & bus schedules & media accessibility. And when the subways shut the eff down at midnight and I have to get off at a subway station in the middle of God-knows-where with no way of knowing how the eff to get back on a MAIN street so I can hail a taxi instead of walking these small little alleys trickled with half-drunken people in the dead of night when I’m absolutely, positively by myself…yeah, a smartphone would be freaking handy then.

Only, the thing here is that supposedly foreigners aren’t supposed to be eligible for smartphones because they require 2 year contracts…and foreigners usually only have a 1 year visa. So I had to promise to stick around for 2 years.

Funny, that thought.

April Fools Day 2011

During the orientation we had a lot of advice, recommendations, and general know-how, thrown at us. What we should do, what we need to do, what we're really doing here in Korea. Out of all of that information, the one that has resonated the most with me was this:

You are here to teach culture.

I mean, yes, officially, I was brought in by the Korean government to teach english, and yes, when we say "teach english" we really mean "teach english conversation." But how do you teach conversation without having to deal with culture? English is, fundamentally, a western construction. Korea, with all of its modernity and western things, is still rooted in a culture that is not western. Culture, then, must be covered when teaching/learning english.

The reason why I'm bringing this up is that I always try to expose my students to western culture and customs as much as I can. In general, I'm not a big "April Fools Day" kind of person. I don't plan pranks, and if they happen to me, eh, whatevs.

But because of I aim to expose my students to western customs, I had to plan for jokes and pranks for April 1st. Little did I know that students call "April Fools" "Liars/Lying Day." In truth I wasn't exposing them to anything new, but we still had fun, I think. I won some major points with them for my pranks.

I, however, felt really sorry to my co-teachers, who had to endure my pranks haha.

By the end of the day, I had students coming up to me saying I was a liar. Not even just a liar, but a really good liar. They asked me why I lied to them. I told them I had to because they almost exposed my lie, so I had no choice but to keep lying...

I had told them that I was leaving their school to go back to the US, and that they would get a new teacher next week. They asked me why I was telling them this information on that particular day, and I could hear whispers of (liars day) among the class. I told them it was my last day, that's why. They didn't believe me & told me that it was liars day. I asked them if they were calling me a liar lol. Because I knew they were on to me, I had to pull out something convincing... aka, my super awesome ability to cry at the drop of a hat! I pulled out a misty-eyed, throat clearing, pausing for a few moments of recollect myself moment/performance that made everyone quit with their calling my bluff. After that, there was no more talk of liars, only, "teacher, what is your email address?" HAHA

I played a few more pranks, but it got harder as the day went on since everyone wised up to the fact that they couldn't believe anything that was happening that day. Overall though, I thought it was a very nice was to "play" with my students, since I am, almost always, on the other side.

Exchanging stories with other native english teachers... I've now got plenty of tricks up my sleeve for next year's April Fools! muahahahhha