Remember Me?

My fingers are asking my brain what to do.  What is this writing exercise you wish me to partake in?  As you two or three who read this may have noticed, I have not added to my Korean blog in a few months.  My extended hiatus was due to various factors: a) Work has been much more time consuming and pressure packed in the past few months with that start of a new term and the infusion of new, different, more difficult classes to teach, b) The holidays taking up what free time I did have, meaning shopping for various people here, and picking up gifts for those people at home who are so generous to me, and finally, c) a combination of procrastination and general malaise about writing on really no substantive issue.  As of now I feel like I can share with you some experiences, which may seem worth the time it takes to read the text.  Maybe.  The worst part for you is that you can only make this judgement after the deed is done.  Muhahaha.

The triumvirate of American winter holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) have passed by and I have not been able to relay the Korean version of these experiences to you (see above stated piss poor excuses).  Now tis time to do so.  Thanksgiving came and went without so much as a  gobble from the Korean people.  Even with my fellow American teachers, it seemed to pass, without much pause, except for the "oh yea, it is thanksgiving" which dawned on most of us.  Without being around family, the cornerstone it seems of Thanksgiving, the holiday does not exist in my mind.  Also, it would be easier to find Jimmy Hoffa than a suitable turkey over here, thus Thanksgiving was not a Korean success.

By the time December rolled around, just as in America, Christmas trees sprung up, lights were strung from buildings, and everyone seemed to have the same Christmas panic attack found, I now believe, worldwide.  The adventure to find presents lead me to some parts of town I had not been before, and yet were generally interesting and eye opening.  An area of shopping and constant consumerism is Dongdaemun, known worldwide for its all night street market, filled with thousands of booths, as far as your gaze, and full of endless amounts of treasures.  I went to a department store.  The problem with venturing so far is that it takes up half of your day and you are left with many heavy bags and far less energy.  Being part of a subway sandwich, both to and fro, does not help either.  Behold, my Christmas tradition of annoyance was continued even thousands of miles away from where my past holiday "miracles" had taken place.

During this holiday season an impression of Seoul and the Korean people, which had before been only a slight suspicion, became a stone cold fact.  This city is full of hedonistic, non-stop materialistic pleasures.  It sustains the culture, especially in the holiday season, where though there is a growing Christian and religious community, the Christ in Christmas is certainly replaced by a X, as in there are Xtreme amounts of items that you can indulge in and buy.  Bill O'Reilly's head would implode as his culture war for Christmas has been soundly defeated in Seoul.  A friend and I have a running joke that you can find anything you want in  Seoul, which I now realize is most certainly true.

It was very interesting to see how this country has been affected by America, in many parts of its culture.  Materialism is only one aspect.  Now that I teach a history class, I realize that Korean students are much more interested in the world's history, specifically the western world, than their own past.  There is much disdain for nearly everything associated with the nation's past.  Forward progress is essential in their minds, and momentary look back will only mean a moment of time they lost in which they could have been making more won.  Americans are bad with knowing and caring little about history, Koreans are worse.

Christmas went off without a hitch and then in a flash it seemed New Years Eve, a day more special to some of us than others, had arrived.  A few memories I will have of this New Years are as follows: 1) The gross amounts of people packed on the subway on the way to ring in the new year at city hall, 2) The bright lights that surrounded me at midnight, as well as the stroll next to a brook which followed the celebration, 3) The flairs/fireworks that my friends, thousands of Koreans and I set off in the middle of various streets, ensuring someone, somewhere was accidentally set on fire and 4) How frightfully frigid the night turned out to be.  A fantastic experience, one that though I am sure does not rival a New York New Years, was none the less fairly entertaining.

Now that the holidays are over, I resume my lifestyle of seemingly perpetual teaching/sleeping.  Though my experience of these holidays was constantly fascinating, and something I would never trade, I look forward to spending next year's holidays in a more familiar setting, with more familiar people by my side.  Certainly though I will want to bring this fireworks tradition/fire starting exercise with me across the ocean to help ring in 2010.

Random observations/ideas/sports thoughts/political diatribes:

• In passing I found out about the score of the UK, UofL game the other day and how the result came to be.  I about threw up.
• Also, Florida just won the national championship of college football.  I did throw up.
• The new year brought a new element of my life.  I am now a vegetarian, meaning I will be sacrificing meat products such as cow, chicken and fish so that cows, chicken and fish do not have to be sacrificed.  It is also an environmentally conscious decision.  It is also some what easy to maintain.  It has also only been 10 days.
• I believe I have written before about odd cultural dating habits found in Korea.  By odd I mean not found in America.   The list now includes: 1) Once you go on a first date, you may be expected to marry that person after only a few more months of dating.  I have not experienced this first hand, but vicariously through a friend.  Plans were made by the Korean to settle down and start a life, and the other party was unaware that a serious relationship had begun.  It sounds very much like dating in the third grade.  2) While in a restaurant the other day I saw a Korean gentleman cutting his girlfriend's meat for her.  As if she was in the third grade.
• Korean strawberries rival an ice cream bar I eat everyday called black boy, black girl, as my favorite Korean food.
• A question that my students and I discussed at length the other day: What would be harder to live without, your arms or legs.  Discuss among yourselves.
• A recent Daily Show guest was outgoing White House press secretary Dana Perino.  During their discussion, Jon Stewart asked her if or when President Bush or Vice President Cheney would appear on the show.  Though she wisely sidestepped the question, it led me to imagine this scenario, which led me to the image of the two of them shaking hands, which led me to then realize that at exact moment when the two men's hands meet, civilization will cease to exist.  I can not forsee this day, and even if it did come true it would surely be tragically anti-climatic to no fault of either.  It is like peeing your pants when you are freezing to death from the cold in order to stay warm.  The idea is better than the actual realization of it.

Goodbye.  Post any comments puleeeease.

Seoul post Obama

First of all I apologize to anyone who was anticipating daily my most recent post.  I had started a two week trend of writing something every weekend about Korea and specifically people I encountered in Seoul.  And then complacency set in and I briefly discontinued communication with my friends, via this pretentious blog.  But I'm back baby!

Since the last time I wrote anything something historic has happened to America, and of course I am referencing the election of the first African American US president, Barack Obama.  Many of you know my affinity for President elect (how great is that) Obama.  This is not anything new.  Yet as we see pictures of the reaction to his election worldwide, I thought I would share with you my experiences in Seoul concerning this great moment in our history.  Some of you McCain supporters may not care, and if so I have two things to say to you, 1) Go do something else then, and 2) I am surprised you can read in the first place (kidding, of course).

Over the past few weeks I have been walking the streets sporting an Obama button on my backpack, given to me by one of my friends.  People would point at my button, smile and say in their thick accent, "Obama."  I would smile and shake my head, happy to have some small connection with that waitress, apartment store clerk or whoever it might be.  All of these moments were pleasant, and I was never accosted by a rabid Korean McCain supporter, as I am not even sure there were many who knew he was in the first place.  There seemed to be general excitement about the potential president, just as I felt in America before I left.

As I got up early to follow the election results on my laptop, I also flipped on the TV to see what the Korean coverage was like.  They had devoted time to follow the results, frequently though taking clips from CNN and translating it.  There were a few channels providing this information.  Once the news of his election was final, the Koreans in my building and I had a connection, as I am sure they could here me jumping up and down, clapping and screaming like a school girl.  Perhaps, at that point, they disliked Obama, or at the very least this American.

Taking my Obama button off my backpack, I proudly wore it on my shirt that day when I was in my classroom.  My kids had asked me before about American politics, do I like President Bush, do I like Obama, and I always attempted to temper my response so as not to sound overtly one way or the other.  Yet that day I could not help it.  When my students asked why I had the button on I told them proudly that he was now the President elect of the United States, and I had supported him.  And to my utter surprise, most of the kids seemed either indifferent or even took a more radical approach.  Some stated they didn't like President elect Obama because he was in some way anti-Korean, referencing some statement he had made in a debate about the importing of Korean cars, but not exporting American cars to Korea.  Others stated that he should not have been elected because of prior drug use, saying "He smoked Marijuana" at which point I reminded them that our past two presidents had puffed the magic dragon.  And the most upsetting response I received was when I ask a girl if she liked Obama, and she shook her head and matter of factely said "black."  I shook my head and walked away, as this may not have been the proper scene for this argument.  Though overall I was disappointed with my students' point of view, I did have one girl who wrote in one of our activities about how Obama's election would benefit the world.  She, of course, got an A.

Despite my children's general lack of excitement, which I have no doubt mirrors their wealthy parents opinion of the election, I have seen things that indicate there is excitement about the President elect.  The night following his election, they ran on a loop what seemed to be a history of his life, and the campaign.  During a victory dinner with a friend, we saw this special on TV and many Koreans seemed genuinly interested in what it had to say.  While purusing of the larger bookstores, a family approached the foreign language section (English basically) and were jabbering in Korean, with some "Obama"s interjected.  They look at the table of books, seeming to be try to find a book on the President elect, and thought they found one in a book titled "Condi" with the secretary of state's photo on the front.  Fearing they would buy that book and get the wrong idea I nearly slapped it out of the man's hand, yet he seemed to realize his mistake and instead directed his family's attention to the stand of Obama books over my shoulder.  Thank God.  I watched as they excitedly looked over the books, mainly looking at the pictures of the man.  Throughout that store there are various copies of Dreams of My Father in Korean, as well as other books about Obama.  The man even sells books in Korea!

I believe the aspect of Obama that is on the one hand enticing, and on the other hand creates apprenhension is his relative inexperience and youth.  During my visit to China a few months ago I experienced this same feeling while talking to a low level diplomat perhaps only a few years older than me.  He stated that McCain seemed the better choice because he was older, and that Obama was too new and young, and therefore not ready to lead.  This point of view, most likely shared by some, if not many Koreans, seems to be consistent with the Asian mindset that the oldest is the wisest.  Though I interjected my point of view, that age is secondary to leadership and past decision making, it seems that there was no getting through to my asian peer.

The world has changed since election day.  Even though watching the celebration of the election of President elect Obama brought a strong desire to be in America celebrating with you guys, I took some solace in the fact that I am in a unique situation.  I can gauge this historic moment's reponse in another country.  To see how this profound moment, that has impacted me, impacts people on the other side of the world.  Throughout my visit so far I have been both cursed and honored to be the representative of America to various people I meet during my day.  I am the American down the street to my grocery store owner, the American who frequently stops in at the GS mart to get an ice cream bar, and to whomever I may pass on the street.  This is a great responsibility, to be in some small way the representation of a whole nation to a person, how they may generalize all of us by my actions.  Yet now perhaps they will not see a war hungry, brash American, and instead see the uniting, welcoming American.  When they see my Obama button, they will cheer.  One can only hope.

 Random observations/ideas/sports thoughts/political diatribes:

• Congrats to the Phillies, and their fans for an unlikely World Series Championship.  I have seen many of your hats worn around Seoul since your victory, but they are not the only ones.  Here are some more to add to the list: Rays, White Sox, Mets, Royals, Twins, and Orioles.
• I eat a ton of candy and ice cream.  If I didn't walk everywhere I would be fat, like American fat.
• Anyone feeling the financial collapse of the free world, or has their house foreclosed on can crash at my place.
• Korean fruit better than American fruit, Korean dessert not nearly as good as American dessert.

Please post any comments, they are always appreciated.  I hope to post something again sometime soon with pictures.  Later alligator.

If Koreans could talk...

First off thanks to all who have sent me comments about the blog and life in general.  It is great to know so many people are thinking about me over here in Seoul.  And though so far Korea has been great, and I love it, I am always thinking about you guys at home in America.  Not that I am imagining you at your home and the weird things you do there.  Or that I imagine you doing weird things...anyway thanks for the messages.

I was talking to one of my friends this week in Seoul about the Korean people in general.  They are a fascinating people, in that they strive to be American in so many ways and yet have these fundamental cultural customs they all adhere to.  The one my friend pointed out was the fact that nearly all Koreans are expected to present this middle class image to the rest of the population.  This includes nearly all parts of their lives.  They should dress a certain way, have a certain size home and act in a certain manner all relative to what the middle class ideal may be.  So even someone who earns much more than what would be considered middle class does not present themselves as lavishly above the status quo.  Conversely anyone who may not attain the wealth needed for such possessions are still expected by society to try to stretch their budget to support this middle class way of life.

This conformity is not a new way of life to asian cultures, or even as I'm sure some of you are saying to American culture.  Absolutely, there is a sense in America, especially suburban America, that you must obtain a minimum of a two story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, house with a well groomed yard, two car garage equiped with those two cars, etc. to solidify your middle class status.  Yet there is also the constant pressure to have more than you have, to buy the best your budget with allow in order to move ahead in the eyes of others to the upper middle class and beyond.  American society puts no social limitations on moving beyond the middle class, in fact it is encouraged.  In both cultures there is this superficial idea that the way you look, what you own and how you present your life to others is what you should be judged by.  

Let me add that I am not judging either cultures and not attempting to codemn them.  It was just interesting to me to see this, and hear some Koreans talk about this middle class phenomon.  Curiosity is the my default position.

My experiences with the Korean people have been, for the most part, pleasant.  There have been some times when my foreign look has frightened small children, seriously.  I was walking by the river the other day eating an ice cream bar and a little girl, who was looking down, looked up and backed away in pure, unadulterated fear.  Another time I asked a woman where a certain store was and she shook her head and backed away like if she answered my question then the Americans would invade Korea again.  One of my friends who is African American says that she is afraid people are going to hurt themselves staring at her.  

Yet there have been several times when Koreans have come up and been very kind and helpful.  A friend and I were lost in the maze that is COEX subway/mall and a man about my age came up to us, a brazilian flag strung around his neck like a cape, and offered to help these obviously lost souls.  We talked to him while he steered us to our destination and we ended up getting his phone number to go out and drink soju with he and his friends sometime.  Also, the lady who runs my local grocery store always has a friendly, comforting smile.  She is either thinking how she can best help this poor foreign customer, or figuring out my physical weaknesses so she stick a shive in my side and steal my money.  Hopefully the former.

Random observations/ideas/sports thoughts/political diatribes:

• Nearly all men in Korea wear suits seemingly all hours of the day.  They are always black, with white collared shirts.  Women wear high heels nearly as much.  Even while walking in the park they are decked out in this attire.  I guess it goes back to the middle class status/look.
• Every night, after about 10 pm, if you walk the streets you see these suited men, and heeled women, hammered.  I mean like swaying, slurring, don't realize they are on planet earth, couldn't spell kimchi if they tried, hammered.  I love it.
• Farva, they have liters of cola in Korea.
• I was in a book store perusing the english section when I came across the reference section.  Many of the books didn't seem like reference material.  Included on the shelf were the following titles: Al Frankin's Lieing Liars..., an assortment of Chicken Soup for the Soul, the Darwin Awards, and perhaps my favorite was a book about different yoga positions illustrated with a George W. Bush doll, outfitted in his "Mission Accomplished" flight suit.  Absolutely brilliant.
• On the subway there are ads for male breast reduction.
• I can't believe my Irish and Wildcats both lost this week!  Also all those heading to midnight madness, I am jealous and wish I could be there.  GO CATS!
• Lastly, I will end with politics like last week.  First off I am glad to see the polls are tilting heavily towards Obama.  USA USA USA!  But I came across something very interesting the other day.  While on thedailyshow.com, going through some old clips I stumbled on a November 7th, 2005 show where Barack Obama was the guest, via sateliette from Washington.  He was very personable and has a great line at the end about Jon being over-hyped.  At the end of the episode, Jon teases that Senator McCain will be the guest the following night.  I immediately thought about the irony in this, that in successive nights in the first part of November, election month, three years ago both of the presidential candidates appeared on the Daily Show hawking their books.  John McCain appeared live on set, on November 8th, 2005.  Watch that John McCain.  He is a man befitting the title of Senator in that interview, not the shell of his former straight talk self he is now.  He seems human, making jokes, in most cases funnier than Obama, while presenting his conservative viewpoint.  Bring back that John McCain.  That is a John McCain you can be proud of.  That is the straight talk, maverick John McCain.  It is actually a little sad to see.

Please post any comments, perhaps ones disagreeing with me about America and its seemingly superficial nature.  Call me a scum sucking, liberal idiot, call me a beyond my time genius, call me whatever you want.  But please put it in comment form and I will do my best to respond.  I'm out.

So Seoul

Everyone has been asking me how my experience in Korea has been.  And while I really appreciate everyone's interest/concern I feel like John McCain-repeating the same talking points and stories.  So I decided to set up this blog to keep everyone informed of my Seoul adventures, the quirky aspects of Korean society, and also as with any blog, spew biased and blatent propaganda and opinions on American politics and sports.  So here we go:

First to let you know I found an apartment in the Gangnam gu area, near the Samseong subway exit (line 2) if anyone wants to look on a map.  For Seoul standards, and on my meager teaching budget, it is pretty nice.  I will try to upload pictures soon so you guys can see.  It can be my own version of cribs.

As for the teaching job, so far so good.  I work for Chungdahm Institute (CDI), at the Chungdahm, or main branch, off the Cheongdam subway exit (line 7).  People tell me this is the best branch to be at in Seoul, and so far it seems pretty good.  There are sixty some instructors at the branch, and I know about five well.  I teach elementary and middle school students how to break down essays so that they can pass the TOEFL test.  In most classes, it is far more fun than it sounds.  I have been deemed by some an english teaching god.

I am entering my third week here in Korea.  My first week consisted of training in the CDI program, so that after 4 days of training you are able to step into a classroom and adequately relay some useful information to your students.  There were about fifteen other people in my group, and we all began our days around 7:30 am, made the bus by 8:30, started class at 9:30 and ended our training session at 4:00.  After the training classes they expect you to brush up on the lessons of that day, so that the next day you are better at teaching than you were the previous day.  So you stay up late to study.  Basically CDI training is an exercise in resisting the temptation to put a noose around your neck.  Two people actually quit by the end of the week.  But I passed and all is well now.

This has been my life the past few weeks.  Living in a hotel, working my ass off, and exploring Seoul.  I will post a few pictures of the exploration.  To close this post I am going to list a few random facts and opinions I have about Seoul and other such things that are relevant in my life.  Because if this blog is anything it is a narcissistic reflection of my daily life, which I expect everyone to a) be as fascinated as I and b) envy every moment I spend in this beautiful country.  Or something like that.  I am going to try to post interesting stuff as often as I can.  Enjoy.

• Men carry their girlfriend's purses everywhere.  I have seen this several times.  They look very fashionable doing so.
• Itaewon, the Seoul foreign ghetto, is a time space continuum to America.  Seriously it was like 60% Koreans, 40% Americans/Europeans.  They have an Outback Steakhouse for Gods sake.
• Everyone should see Seoul at night.  Simply lovely.
• Seoul is New York East.  Fashionable, large, sprawling and with a distinct odor.  The city is so westernized, far more than I imagined.
• Included in this westernization is a  Starbucks on every corner and some of the nicest Dunkin Donuts I have ever seen.  They are like modern looking cafes.
• Soju is two things: 1)Pretty good to drink and 2) sent directly from the devil himself.
• One of the best surprises have been the various baseball hats of many different teams I have seen.  It reminds me of sitting in Great American on a warm day enjoying America's pastime.  I am openly weeping now thinking about.  Here are some of the teams caps that I have spotted: Padres, Yankees, Red Sox, Reds!, Brewers, Dodgers, Mariners, Cardinals, A's, Braves, and to my utter astonishment I have see probably more Pirates hats than any other.  There are more people here wearing Pirates hats than in Pittsburgh. I will keep you updated on other teams if I see them.  It is my goal to spot all 32 teams, kind of like that license plate game you play on a road trip.  Also to all the Cubs fans reading this:  There's always next year.  HAHAHAHA!
• Lastly I would like to make a comment on the state of our country.  Most people may not want to read about my political affiliations, but again this is my blog (see above for definition).  I watched the first presidential debate and the VP debate in their entirety and if any undecideds came out not in support of Obama/Biden I'm not sure what you were watching.  I witnessed a beatdown on both occasions.  The only way Sarah Palin could have said any less was if she just stood up there waving an American flag and chanting USA USA and Drill Baby Drill.  And, my friends I truly believe John McCain is a robot, programed to deliver the same lines and go through the same motions in every single forum.  Of course a robot built by Thomas Edison.  Lets vote in my main man Barack Hussein Obama to help heal the country.

I'm out.  Please comment so that I know people read this and that I'm not wasting my time.