my muscles are already getting sore

now that i have been to both weekends of mudfest, i am going to write about it.

the first weekend was fun, but nothing spectacular.  we got out there kind of late, made it to the beach by early evening, covered ourselves in mud, swam, listened to and saw a few korean concerts, and ate dinner.  my biggest problem was my decision to drink beer early in the day.  i hate beer.  it makes me feel way too full, it gives me a horrid headache, it makes me feel sluggish, and it usually gives me heartburn.  all of the above happened, so when it was time to do nighttime things, i just wasn’t feeling it.  we ended up hanging around outside in the street talking to people and drinking a bit.  one of my friends was tired, so we headed back to our hotel.  she went to sleep while we drank powerade and soju on the sidewalk inside.  when it started raining, i decided to call it a night.

i woke up the next morning and commenced to cook breakfast.  breakfast consisted of various fruits (heather chopped those up), 20 hash browns, and 30-something scrambled eggs, 12 diced up sausages, a pack of cheese, and a ton of tortillas for breakfast burritos.  i believe something like 20 people ended up eating it all.  as those who know me are aware, i love to cook for other people, so i volunteered for this duty.  30 minutes in a korean kitchen with limited cooking utensils and no central a/c later, i was hot and hungry.

everyone ate breakfast, and then it was time to clean up the pension (hotel room) and leave.  i was hoping for a few hours on the beach in full afternoon glory since we had gotten there so late the day before, but no one else was interested.   since i didn’t want to be a lonely tool on the beach, i bought my ticket and went home with everyone else.

then, there was this weekend.  my boss scheduled a staff party for friday after work, so leaving that night as i had hoped was out of the question.  another unintended problem was the state of drunkenness i reached at said staff party.  i had a small bit to drink at dinner, and we smuggled some soju into the noraebang for some drunken karaoke.  then, 3 of my coworkers and i decided to go to a bar and drink even more after karaoke.  i actually felt alright when i got home, but when i woke up at 5 am with fire in my stomach and a kinife, a baguette, and butter at the foot of my bed, i knew bad things were about to happen.  i went to the bathroom, threw up, cleaned all of the food off of my bed, and slept for another 3 or 4 hours.

i woke up around 9.  i was happy with that.  i got showered, dressed, and packed and took a cab to the bus station.  luckily, i got there 3 minutes before a bus to boryeong departed, so there was no waiting around.  when i got to boryeong at 2:30, i tried calling a few people and no one answered their phones, so i headed to the pension.  i found it, but the woman running the desk would not give me the key so i got the pleasure of sitting outside on a brick wall until someone i knew walked by.  she was in a different room, but said i could change and throw my backpack in their room for the time being.  however, the woman at the desk caimed to not have their room key too.  everyone yelled at each other for a moment, then the woman found both of our keys.  victory at last.

i went to my room and no one was there, so i changed into beach clothes, went back out to the payphone, and made one last attempt to get ahold of martha’s friends.  they answered!  yay!  they were leaving the beach for showers and dinner!  boo!  they were also lost, so i was told to call 30 minutes later.

so.  i went up the 4 flights of stairs.  again.  and i changed.  again.  at this point, the people i was staying with had showed up, so we hung out for a bit.  then martha and i had an amazing game of phone tag, involving ourselves and two other parties.  a ton of complications and headaches later,(all brought on by the fact that neither martha nor i have cell phones), we finally met up around 5:30.  we drank some coffee, ate some delicious pizza, watched a concert, and headed to the beach.  we ended up staying at the beach for a looooooong time and having a very chill night of sitting around and drinking.  it was nice, save for the fact i didn’t know anyone.

around 2 am (i think), we left the beach, walked around for a bit, and decided to go back to our respective pensions.  i fell asleep and didn’t budge until 8:45 am, when one of the girls i was staying with started moving around.  i got dressed, folded up my beding, and headed out with 2 of the 5 other people staying in our pension.  we got breakfast (a western breakfast, no soup…no rice…no kimchi!) and then we went to a bus terminal to go to the mud flats, which is where they harvest the mud that they bring to the beach for mudfest.

the bus was pretty empty.  it was us 3 and a group of 4 koreans.  it took us about 10 minutes to get there, and then i saw the mud.  the flats were HUGE.  as far out as i could see.  i haven’t done any research, but one of the girls i was with said that they go for miles.  i was pretty much in awe.  then, we stepped off of the bus.

we were given black shirts and camouflage pants to change into, which we did.  then, we followed two korean guys to some rock stairs that went down into the mud.  we walked for awhile, until we got out of the shore area full of rocks and stones and into pure mud.  then it all began.

we were told to lie down.  then we were told to roll.  then we got up and did jumping jacks.  it was during the jumping jacks that the rain began to fall.  then, we had the pleasure of running a lap, and when that was completed, we all laid back down and did leg lifts.  we rolled onto our stomachs and did push ups.  good god.

once that portion was completed, we divided up into two teams: team a (koreans) and team b (us).  one of the korean instructors joined our team to help even things out.  our first task was to select a captain and have them lie down, and we had to cover their entire bodies in mud.  then, we walked away, the drill instructor blew his whistle, and the two in the mud had to pop up and race to us.  we won that one.

our next task was mud wrestling.  the person who got thrown into the mud first lost.  my teammate got her butt kicked when the korean woman she was wrestling pulled some leg sweeping moves, so when i had to wrestle the other korean woman, i did the same and won.  excellent.

we moved on to what was kind of a chicken fight.  i had a korean drill instructor holding onto one shoulder and one girl holding onto the other, and that combined with my back made a human structure for the other girl i was with to sit on.  the other team did the same, and we had to steal the hat off of the head of the person on top.  we won. 

we beat the koreans’ asses at mud military training!

after spending an hour out there doing weird things in the pouring rain and mud, we walked back to the road.  they had a giant trough full of water and buckets for us to rinse ourselves off with.  then we changed, thanked the drill instructors, and got back on the bus.

that whole mud flat “boot camp” story might sound kind of miserable, but i swear, it was the coolest thing i have done since being here.

after that, we chilled for a bit, met up with the korean guy we’re friends with, got coffee, walked around, and went back to the pension.  we were tired and gross, and the weather was being crazy (completely sunny for 15 minutes, black and pouring rain for 30 minutes then totally sunny again), so we deicded to hitch a ride back with the girl who stayed with us and brought her own car rather than waiting for the 7 pm train we had tickets for.  we returned our tickets, and by 3, were on the way back to daejeon.

mudfest?  i like it.  i wish i had been able to make it to the beach when it wasn’t dark, but the beach is there all summer long.  i’m already looking forward to the next one. ..i have to keep reminding myself that i won’t be here for next year’s.

i’m starting to worry about whether i’m going to want to leave this place when my time is up.

 

mudfest

i’m sitting on my porch in my brand new miniature papasan chair from e-mart.  i’m smoking cigarette after cigarette, waiting for the washing machine to stop so i can hang my clothes up to dry, and with any luck, they’ll be free of moisture by tomorrow morning.

an hour ago i had no plans for the weekend.  first i was going to the boryeong mud festival.  then i wasn’t.  now i am.  we’re leaving bright and early (10:30ish) tomorrow morning.

the mudfest is, from what i gather, a bunch of people gathering on a beach on the west coast of korea rolling around in mud and getting drunk.  this beach produces spa quality mud, so naturally, it needs to be celebrated.

so i’ll have lots of pictures to post in a few days, i am sure.  where i will be posting them is still unknown, but i know it won’t be on this stupid blog!

i’ll be back in a few days.

 

just call me commie mc pinko

today’s money transfer was a bit anti-climactic.  i went to an atm, stuck my card in, hit the “transfer funds” button, and did everything from the machine in less than a minute.  how boring.

the north korea trip is a go.  they have my money, and i spent an hour after work compiling all of the paperwork and information they need on greg and me.  500,000 won later, i’m just waiting for the confirmation e-mail saying that they got all of my paperwork and that i need to be at the bus stop at 6 am.

the bus for this trip leaves at 6.  from seoul.  seoul is, at best, a 1 hour train ride away from daejeon.  on thursday, i will be going to incheon to pick up greg, coming back home, working all day friday, and then picking up greg from the apartment and getting on another train to go back to seoul.  we won’t even be able to go out that night, as we have to be up so early.

how many people do YOU know that have been to north korea?  that’s what i thought.  it’s going to be worth it.

the older koreans aren’t too keen on me going to this trip.  my boss laughed at me and jokingly chastised me for giving my money to kim jong il.  believe me, this is an ethical point i grappled with.  while the company doing the tour is making some profit, a large proportion of this money is going to north korea.  they didn’t just open their borders to tightly controlled tourism for the hell of it.  call me selfish, but i just can’t turn down the chance to visit a country that my current country of residence is technically at war with.  i also know that getting an inside look at what’s going on over there and subjecting myself to the treatment of a communist government, even if only for a day, is going to make me more aware of the world around me.  there’s my rationalization.

the younger koreans i work with all want to go.  brandy was going to go, but her mother has forbidden her from going.  lydia overheard us today and wants to come along as well.  i’m not sure if lydia has a passport or not, but it would be utterly hilarious if she were there.  see, lydia speaks almost no english.  every time i interact with her, a hilarious performance of miming, slow talking, confused looks, laughing, and the like ensues.  we’ll see what happens.

i’m excited about this trip.  i’m also excited about the rest of greg’s visit.  i thought i was going to have the 28th through august 1st off, but it’s looking like i might have to work on the 31st.  that’s not that big of a deal, but it’s kind of pain when trying to entertain and travel.  oh well.

my whole day has centered on making north korea plans.  other than that, today has been completely unremarkable.

 

money money

here’s the crazy stuffed korean man i was given the other night. nice, huh?

i have driven myself CRAZY trying to get pictures to post here. this still isn’t cutting it. i’ve posted this picture through flickr. i’m writing this blog entry from flickr’s stupid template. through this avenue, i can post exactly one picture per blog, and it is placed at the very top. i hate this.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TREE IN MY MENU BAR THAT LET ME POST PICTURES WHEREVER I WANTED TO IN MY ENTRIES?!? AND GIVEN THAT THE INTERNET HAS SUCKED THAT UP, WHY CAN’T I JUST ENTER THE HTML CODE TO INSERT THE IMAGES? WHY ME?!?!?!?!?

i just might circumvent the stress and drama by exporting this blog to another host. we’ll see. i’m basically waiting for the problem to clear itself up.

anyway, it’s been another good day in korea. apparently, my shit mood at work was super obvious, as today one of the korean teachers was talking about how i seem happier and happier every day. it’s amazing what some basic training will do for a gal.

i have some exciting things going on. one, i got my second paycheck today. it was huge. monstrous. i thought i had more deposits and whatnot to be pulled out over the next couple of months, but i was wrong. it was a full paycheck.

this is a good thing, as i awoke the other morning to find an e-mail from jeremy letting me know that lady the nightmare needed another surgery. her front teeth were disgusting and rotted, and that caused a bad ear infection. serious dental issues cause infections throughout the body, so lady had to get a lot of her teeth ripped out. **i’m hearing some crazy squeaky mattress action coming through my windows from the apartment next door** poor lady. so much medical drama for such a small dog. and poor jeremy. along with all of the money i already owe him, he went ahead and paid for her surgery. all of this considered, it’s good i’m getting real paychecks.  poor jeremy is going to be eating ramen soon.

greg is coming to town on the 24th. i’m excited to get to play tour guide to my city and to go out and explore other towns and cities.  i’ve got a mental list of things we need to do and places we need to see, but i’m going to have to dedicate a day to planning things out.  i’ve already reserved our trip to north korea, and i get to go to the bank tomorrow to have the money transferred to the tour group’s account.  how exactly does one mime “transfer money from my account to account number 014783497193282492 please”?  I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot of fun making that transaction.

next weekend is mudfest on daecheon beach.  the beach has spa quality mud on it, and every summer there’s a festival where people roll around in the mud all day long.  i think i’m going…i’m supposed to be, anyway.  now i just have to make sure the people that invited me still want my ass tagging along. 

tomorrow i plan on finally getting a cell phone.  those who have known me for awhile probably remember the days where i refused to get a cell phone.  things got a little difficult when i found myself in a serious relationship, but if i wasn’t with jeremy i was with greg and his cell phone.  thanks for the phone use, greg!  anyway, i liked not having a cell phone then and i’ve enjoyed not having a cell phone now.  however, it’s so much easier to live life and to make new friends when there’s an avenue for instant communication.  i’m giving in.

i don’t like this entry.  the feel of it is off.  with that said, i am off.

 

hot and spicy

last night, i met up with mel with no problems.  i remembered what he looked like after all.  yay.  he introduced me to his friends, a koran guy, two korean girls, and a girl fron new york that moved here less than a week ago.  we all introduced ourselves.  now, i know damn well that koreans don’t shake hands, but they all offered theirs up upon introduction.  they all also thought hand shaking was hilarious.  once we got all of that out of the way, we started looking for the bar that was hosting the band we wanted to see.

none of us had ever been to this place before, but we easily found it.  we paid our W5000 entry fee and walked into the basement of the building.  the place was tiny.  it was cramped.  the smell of mold permeated my nostrils.  there was a wall of records behind the band’s set up.  i immediately felt at home.  i exchanged my free drink coupon for a bottle of cass and sat down just in time for the rockin to begin.

the band is called the white boys.  they’re fronted by a black dude, and therein lies the joke.  they do covers of mostly classic rock popular alternative, which is SO not my kind of music, but they’re good.  i saw them play my 2nd weekend here.  besides, as far as i’m concerned, live music is good regardless of what it is.

as they played, the bar got busier and busier.  when we first showed up, there were only about 10 other people in the place, but it quickly got packed.  more people meant higher temperatures in the place.  koreans don’t really like air conditioning, and when you cram a ton of people into a tiny bar in a basement and have them all jump around and dance, things get steamy.  i stopped caring about how much i was sweating and started running around like a fool.  then, out of nowhere, this guy i know shoved a giant stuffed asian man (as in a plush toy) into my hands.  he’s now on my bed, and he’s the stupidest, weirdest, and coolest thing i have acquired in this country.  i wish i could post pictures to this stupid blog to show him off, but i can’t.  thanks, wordpress.

one of the most interesting things that happened last night was in regard to my drinks.  after i drank my free cass, i went to the bar to get my standard jack and coke from the korean bartender.  between the noise and my obnoxious american accent, he misunderstood me and i saw him pouring tonic water into my glass instead of coke.  i figured i’d deal with it, choke it down, and get the right drink next time.  i sat down and took a sip…it was damn tasty!  i ended up drinking 3 or 4 more on purpose throughout the course of the night.  if it weren’t for korea, i never would have dreamed of drinking that.

so after getting thoroughly sweaty and drunk, the band stopped playing and we decided to go to jrock.  oddly, on our way out, the owner of the bar called me over and introduced himself to me.  he either happy that i was having a lot of fun in his bar, was pleased that i had spent so much of my money in his establishment, or was so blown away by the obnoxious curly headed foreigner running around his joint that he just HAD to introduce himself.  either way, nice guy.

standard jrock crap went down.  we arrived too drunk, i had the drink of the night that made me feel like crap, everyone from the previous bar had migrated over, we danced, i got hit on by creepy drunk people, we acted like tools.  somehow i ended up falling out of my chair and on my back on the floor.  then the sun came pouring through the windows, and we decided it was time to leave.  i got home at 5:50.

i woke up this morning at 11:00 with some powerful nausea and a horrid stomachache.  i went to the bathroom to throw up, hoping to alleviate my discomfort, but my body wanted to hold on to the toxins within.  i ate a bagel in hopes of soaking up whatever was in my stomach, hung out for awhile, and went back to sleep around 1.  when i woke up at 4:30, i felt like a million bucks.  a million smoke scented bucks with severely matted hair and still wearing last night’s clothes and makeup.

for some reason, i wanted soup.  i showered, worked the forming dreadlocks out of my hair, got dressed, and headed up to my local kimbap restaurant.  i ordered sundubu jjigae, which is a spicy tofu soup with onions, clams, and egg in it.  i had never had it before, but it’s vegetarian and it sounded good.

and boy howdy, was it good.  for some reason, when you order soup as an entree instead of a side, they always seem to serve it in a stone bowl that has been hyperheated to insane temperatures.  they take the boiling soup out of the pot and stick it in the serving bowl which is hot enough to sustain the boiling for about 5 more minutes.  they slapped that down in front of me with a bowl of rice and a tray of kimchi, egg pancake things, and a mystery vegetable that looked a lot like green beans.  i munched on the kimchi while waiting for my soup to stop bubbling.  kimchi is spicy and the first bite is always a little brutal as my western tastebuds have to adjust.  then i tried a spoonful of the soup.  yow!  i was actually eating kimchi to cool my mouth down after that.  but my tongue quickly adjusted to that, too.  the only problem was that is was still so damn hot that i had to blow on every bite.  it took about an hour to eat my bowl of soup becuase it didn’t get down to an easily consumable temperature until i was almost finished with it.  it was also a little rough to eat boiling super spicy soup in an unairconditioned restaurant.  still, i give the sundubu jjigae an A+.

i love this restaurant.  it’s basically korea’s equivalent of a diner.  they serve the staples of korean comfort cuisine, and it’s cheap.  i’ve been going there a lot for their chamchi kimbap (think a sushi roll, but with cooked tuna, pickled radish, sesame leaf, carrots, green things i assume are spinach, scrambled egg, crab meat, and ham inside of it.  i, of course, get mine without ham or if i forget, pick the ham out).  it’s really good!  i was upset, though, becuase their menu does not hanve a single english word on it, and i couldn’t find the translated menu online that i stumbled upon a few weeks ago.  i wanted tot ry some of their non kimbap items.  this afternoon, though, i searched again and found it.  i’m going to eat there all week!

now it’s time for me to wind down, overdose on some benadryl, and get drowsy in a few hours so i can be well rested for work tomorrow.  they finally had me observe some classes and do a bit of training last week which has taken a ton of stress off of me.  i’m not screwing up everything i touch.  i now know that 99% of what i’m doing is the right way of doing it.  that makes the idea of going into work tomorrow so much more pleasant.

 

and i have lived, dammit

you simply haven’t lived until you have seen korean men “seductively” grab their crotches while entusiastically dancing to t.a.t.u.’s “all the things she said”.

 

how do i put this delicately?

i’m about to go out and get my saturday night party on.  i’m meeting up with this guy i know at 10 pm tonight in an area i do not know very well at all.

typically, when i do new things in this country, i get a bit anxious about things.  the first time i got in a cab, i was afraid i’d not be able to tell the driver where to go, or i’d get dumped off somewhere weird and get horribly lost.  the first time i got on the bus, i was freaked out over whether i had the right bus fare and would know when to get off the bus.  the first time i ordered food by myself, i was afraid i’d get laughed out of the establishment.  so on an so forth.

tonight presents a unique challenge.  i will be in a crowded part of the city looking for a korean dude.  talk about a needle in a haystack.  now, i’m not about to start in with the ignorant crap about how “they all look the same”, because it’s simply not true.  any one with a sense of facial recognition will see quite easily that koreans have very different faces.

and there’s the problem.

i’m beginning to think i have poor facial recognition skills.  i can look at 3 pictures of the same person and think i’m looking at 3 different people.  i will also look at pictures of people i know and think it’s a stranger.  basically, i think my lack of attention to detail regarding the appearance of others carries over into their faces.  once i see someone about 3 times, their face is finally burnt into my memory and i’ll never let it go.  until then, though, i’m ridiculous.

i hung out with this guy only once about a month ago.  i was drunk.  i’m not very confident in my ability to recognize him.

in america, you can always say “look for the short, thin latin girl with curly light brown hair wearing a blue shirt”.  in korea, it’s “look for the average height thin light complected person with black hair and skinny jeans”.  and that narrows it down to…everybody on the street that isn’t black or white.

i hope this post wasn’t too offensive to the poor ultra politically correct eyes that may be reading it.  if it was, read more carefully.

wish me luck.

 

my two cents

i just have a few snippets of thought.

one, i love eating with chopsticks.  i want to eat with them for the rest of my life.  today, i ate with a fork and it was freaking awkward.

two, on july 26th, i am going to north korea.  provided, of course, that the tour doesn’t fill up before i can make my reservation on tuesday.

three, i’m really growing to enjoy punishing the kids that give me grief.  at first, i was too stressed out about other things to worry about petty discipline.  then, i was too timid about what was appropriate and inappropriate to do.  today, in one class of 6, i had a kid squatting down on the ground while holding a heavy box over his head for about 15 minutes.  when i let him back up, he was sweating.  i recapped why he was punished, asked him if he was going to behave next class, and became his buddy again.  then i made his friend cry.  muah ha ha ha haaaaaaa.

four, summer in korea does not feel like summer.  the kids aren’t out of school.  they still go to class 6 days a week and come to my english school 5 days a week.  there are no ice chests, lawn chairs, and sand pails decorating the aisles of stores.  last, as much as koreans like to think the opposite, it hasn’t gotten freaking hot here at all.  i don’t even know what the temperature was today, but it wasn’t hot.  humid, yes.  today was like a really moist day in houston.  a really moist day IN THE 80’s in houston.  lame, korea.

five, i have heard that my starbucks back home is closing down.  this seriously has made me die a little inside.  i worked there for 5 years, hung out there for 8, made a lot of friends, and wrote every single paper for college and studies for every single test for college at that store.  can anyone confirm or deny these rumors?  anybody want to petition?

six, i am a fat loser.  it’s a friday night on the 4th of july in korea, and i’m whining about the closure of my favorite corporate coffee shop on my blog.

 

i’m so sorry but i love you my ajumma

i don’t even know where to start.

i’m just going to forego catching up on the past few weeks.  sorry, folks.  i’ve been to seoul, drank my own weight in alcohol, eaten a lot of tasty food, walked a billion miles, lost some weight, met some people, hated my job, hated my life, missed home, missed my friends, been glad to be away from home, loved my job, loved my life, and repeated all of the above several times.

being in a foreign country is crazy.  the honeymoon is most definitely over, which is both good and bad.  the feeling of being on a vacation is gone, and life’s life.  that makes it easier to appreciate and experience certain things, but it makes it easier to get negative about things sometimes as well.  such is life!  this is all exactly what i wanted to get out of this, good and bad.  if i wanted a damn vacation, i would have gone on vacation.  i wouldn’t have packed up and stored all of my shit, stuffed as many things as i could fit into 3 suitcases, signed my soul over in a year long contract, and come over here.

so.  there’s the “catching up” portion of things.

this past weekend was fairly low key.  i stayed in on friday night.  i’ve blown through a little too much money and i was tired.  on friday, i went out to dinner with a friend.  where did we end up?  tgi fridays!  i spent over $30 - on myself - and was fine with that.  i never thought i’d spend that kind of cash at a damn tgi friday’s on one person and be okay happy with that.  i had what i think was called chili garlic shrimp pasta.  it was standard chain restaurant cream sauce with some spice, but it hit the spot.  i also had two giant drinks.  typically i stay away from drinks at places like that.  they’re always over priced and watered down.  these were about $7, huge, and full of booze.  worth the money.

then we went to dunsan, the “new downtown” area of town and drank.  and drank and drank and drank.  i got home at 6 and woke up at 11 feeling great.

today i went to work and calvin, my favorite, was super hilarious.  he’s a really smart, really bad kid.  he makes me smile.  none of the other teachers except for one like him at all, so i get dibs on his class.  he was shoving pencils up his shorts until he poked something sensitive, exclaimed “OUCH!  My pee!”, and ceased.  he also licked me, and when i threatened to punch him (teaching in korea is a little different than the u.s., though i’d never actually hit a kid), he started punching himself in the face.  oh, calvin.

that’s it for now.  i still haven’t figured out how to fix the photo issue, but i decided to stop being a brat about posting without photos.  besides, if you find me or already have me on facebook or myspace, i’ve got my exciting pictures posted there.

bed time!

 

i made a promise

and i’m trying to keep it.  i said i’d post today, and dammit, i tried.  i had lots of great stories to tell, and i even have a ton of amazing pictures.

the problem?  for those of you that use wordpress, the toolbar has a little tree icon that you click on to insert pictures.  that’s how i’ve always inserted my photos.  now, the icon is gone.  if i go to the “Add media” thing above the toolbar and load my photos that way, then the photos show up at the very top of the entry and only there.

i don’t know what to do.  i am sure as hell not writing this entry without my pictures to accompany it.

if anyone knows what’s going on or what to do, please do not hesitate to help me out.  i just spent the past 15 minutes messing with it, and i can’t figure it out.  i can’t jack with it anymore tonight, as i need to go to sleep.  it would be amazing to wake up to a comment telling me how to fix this.

consider this blog in a coma until i figure this out.