Tuesday, October 31, 2006

It's definitely fall...

There might not be any falling back here in Korea, but fall has definitely arrived. It's been getting down into the 40s (fahrenheit) at night, although it's still rising up to around 70F during the daytime... and just take a look at the leaves on my street:

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In honor of the season, the school held a writing contest,
with fall as the topic. Here's one of the winners:

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Of course, not everything our students write is quite so poetic:

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Monday, October 30, 2006

Happy Halloween!

We had our Halloween parties today - one in each class-period. Lots of fun... although after assisting in party-activities and helping to manage large groups of rowdy kids in a far less structured environment than normal, I am utterly exhausted. So, below are pictures from today's extravaganza. And I'm off to bed.

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Me, with two of the students


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Enjoying the candy relay


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Think she's seen Kill Bill?


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Samson looks pretty happy for a guy with a knife in his head.


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Gwen as a devil


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Han (one of the Korean teachers) showed up with a Canon EOS...
One day I too will own an awesome camera.


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Jenny (the other Korean teacher)


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I'm not the only one who has watched
Pirates of the Caribbean on OCN lately!


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Gwen and Me


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At the end of the day....

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Almost Halloween!

I know I haven't written too much recently, but to be honest, I haven't done much. I've found myself a week shy of payday with just under $30 in my pocket (yay, mortgage payments!) and well, doing just about anything costs money. Hanging out in my apartment reading books and watching CSI and/or Pirates of the Caribbean, well that's free of charge entertainment. Luckily for you guys, Halloween is fast approaching, which gives me something to occupy my free time without causing a drain on the finances. Gwen and Samson and I spent today (yes, I am aware that today is Sunday, and not a workday...) decorating the school for tomorrow's Halloween party. Yes, we're also aware that Halloween is on Tuesday, not Monday, but we figured the MWF students would be more appreciative of a Halloween party than the uber serious bookworm TT types. I promise to take plenty of pictures of tomorrow's festivities - including shots of me in the thrice resurrected Blue Alien ("Space Whore") costume. But for today, let me share with you some images of our decorative handiwork. Please keep in mind that Gwen and I are about the least arts-and-craftsy people on the planet, so I for one am pleased with the results. Also, great thanks go out to Gwen's mom and to Linda, without whom our decorative attempts would be even more ghetto.

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As seen from the outside. The bank people we share the building with
are going to think we've gone nuts.


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Hooray for free coloring book downloads on the Internet!


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Linda, check out our bulletin board :-)


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Halloween bouquet...


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The skull looks terrified!


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This is supposed to be a heart balloon, if blown up full size.
We thought it made a great devil.


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Glenn, this one's for you. It's going to terrify the kiddies.

Friday, October 27, 2006

The Goddess Strikes Again

I promise to stop with the shameless self promotion after this, at least for a decent stretch of time, but my pictures are finally up at the photo contest sponsored by Dave's Cafe. This one's judged based on how many views each picture gets, so feel free to click on the images below that you think are interesting in order to view them full size :-)

Outside of Korea

Passionflower Burkhan

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Cathedrals of Vladimir St. Basil's Cathedral Cathedral on the Blood



Photos of Korea

Make a Wish Escheresque Barbecue on the Rocks

The Dream Gate Haeinsa
A Tomb in the Foothills Understudy

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Neverwhere

Back in 2000, I spent seven months living, studying, and interning in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was my junior year as a student at Sewanee: The University of the South – a great school, but unrelentingly pretentious, and stifling in many ways. I’d needed to get out, figure some things out about myself, recover from a broken heart, and master the Russian language. Not sure that I was entirely successful at any of those endeavors, although those seven months were wonderful.

St. Petersburg has a remarkable subway system – on average, the deepest in the world – serving not only as an efficient means of transportation but as a monument to the glory of the former Soviet Union. Oh, and as potential bomb shelters, should the need arise. One enters the St. Petersburg Metro via incredibly fast and deep escalators, which whisk passengers into the bowels of the city. At the base of the escalators, one crosses a metal strip, about a foot in width, which extends across the entire entryway, and is mirrored by a similar strip on the roof above. I was once told that in the event of nuclear war, a gate would burst free of these metal constraints and slam shut, sealing the lucky ones in safety below the city. Not sure if this is actually true, although I like to believe that it is.

One day, while riding the metro, I found myself staring not at those around me (or blankly off into space or what have you), but staring out the window. This, of course, poses one of those inane questions along the lines of Why do 7-11s have locks on their doors, if they’re open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year? So yeah. Why *are* there windows on trains which barrel through dark, underground tunnels? But I digress. There I was, staring out the window, not expecting to see anything other than dark tunnel wall, when I caught a glimpse of something else: another tunnel, complete with train tracks, branching off the main line. I kept watching (I had a long metro ride ahead of me, not much else to do) and discovered more tunnels – some with tracks, others without – and numerous doors. I found it fascinating.

From that point on, whenever I rode the metro, I did my best to get in a spot where I could look out and observe the secret world below St. Petersburg. I became a little obsessed with it. I started making notes of what I saw and where, and began sketching my observations onto a metro map.

I was particularly fascinated by the idea of what life would be like underground for those sealed into the metro system, should nuclear war decimate the world above. What would life be like in this vast, underground city? I started writing a post-apocalyptic novel based on such a notion. I didn’t get very far, as I was more obsessed with drawing maps of my underground world than with writing about it.

I returned to the US in August 2000, and had my upper wisdom teeth pulled. I spent several days on my mom’s couch, doped up on darvocet and watching pledge week on PBS. At some point, I surfaced from a darvocet and pain induced haze to discover that I was halfway through some incredibly bizarre British drama, set in an alternate reality – one which was located in, on, and around the London Underground. I watched, entranced. I was probably drooling, although in that case, let's blame it on the tooth-extraction. The show was something I could so easily transplant my fantasies about the underside of St. Petersburg onto that later, once the darvocet had cleared my system, I wondered if I’d really seen it.

Jump forward six years. Here I am in South Korea, in desperate need of books in English. While perusing the ‘things for sale/trade’ section of Dave’s CafĂ©, I discovered someone selling books by Thomas Pynchon and Neil Gaiman. Score! At that point, all I knew of Neil Gaiman was that he’d written those wonderful Sandman graphic novels; I didn’t know he dealt in regular novels as well. I bought.

Imagine my incredible pleasure and surprise when I began reading Gaiman’s Neverwhere, only to discover that it was the book-version of the bizarre British drama I’d seen while high on darvocet with my head swollen up like a chipmunk.

The book was wonderful. I don’t want to give anything away. Just read it. Now. Then go hop on your nearest subway and look out the window.

Neverwhere

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

The Goddess of Shameless Plugs

Layla (who is AWESOME, by the way) has dubbed me the Goddess of Shameless Plugs in response to my latest bit of self-promotion. How can I argue with that? I mean, she called me a goddess. And of course, that leads me to a little post in the self-promotion department. (Surprise!) Those of you who are on my mailing list have already received this request for assistance, so this post is directed at the rest of you:

I have entered a photo contest hosted by JPG Magazine. They have chosen three categories: Tourist, Embrace the Blur, and Intimate, and will publish an unknown number of winners for each category in their next issue. Winners receive $100 and a free subscription. Not to mention they get their photos published in a slick zine. Please click on the photos below and vote as to whether or not you think they belong in each category. (Yes, you can vote for all three.) Also: you must register for your vote to count. Please do this - a registration page will pop up after you vote - it's free and easy to register. Thank you so much for your help!


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Left: Intimate Insects (category: intimate) click to vote
Center: Memories are hazy (category: embrace the blur) click to vote
Right: Cathedrals at Dusk (catrgory: tourist) click to vote

Monday, October 23, 2006

Hamster Thingies

One of the students showed up today with a tiny yellow plastic bag containing two tiny hamsters (or some other tiny Korean rodent things). Gwen and I felt so sorry for them - who the hell walks around with tiny, cute, fuzzy, LIVING things in PLASTIC BAGS? Can anyone say "death is coming"? Well, no physical harm - we found a box, and Gwen shredded some newspaper and cut up an apple. Hopefully the adorable little ratlets have a fighting chance now that they're no longer in immediate danger of suffocation.

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That's a quarter of an apple there,
so you can see how tiny they are.


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Isn't it adorable? Poor thing.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Mobbed by the Masses

Early yesterday I popped down to the Myeongdeok subway station (about a 30 minute ride from where I live) to pick up a satchel of English language books, and then rode the subway back out to my corner of Daegu. I was feeling quite gleeful - I love to read, and one of the difficulties of living overseas is the fact that books in English are not always all that easy to come by - and was practically skipping down the street (probably with a foolish grin on my face), when I heard someone cry out, "Jane-teacher!" At the time, I was walking past the neighborhood primary school, which had just let out for the day (yep, Saturday classes, folks), and there were two of my students, waving shyly from across the street. I waved and called out a hello... and suddenly found myself mobbed by a huge pack of kids, none of whom I knew (my two students having slunk off in embarrassment). They all wanted to know my name, where I was from, and why I was in Korea (which was an interesting "conversation" in itself, as their English was roughly on par with my Korean), and a group of four girls followed me all the way to my apartment asking me questions like how old I was, where did I work, did I like Korea, did I have a boyfriend, was my apartment big or small, and did I have a family here in Korea. (They all seemed genuinely distressed to discover that I live alone.) It was an interesting interaction, although I really don't want to be stalked by a group of eleven year olds.

I retreated into the safety and solitude of my apartment inside the Yu compound, and was sorting through my newly collected books, when someone began knocking on my door. My first thought was that my elementary school fan club had gotten inside; my second thought was that Hee Soo had returned. I opened the door anyway, and was glad I did: there was Mrs. Yu, with a plate of food, inquiring as to whether or not I'd had lunch. I was quite glad I hadn't, as the dish she'd brought was delicious. I don't know what it's called (Korean experts, feel free to help me out!), although it seemed to be a Korean variant of spaghetti. In fact, the base of the dish was chilled spaghetti noodles, and it was topped with all sorts of yummy things: peppers, eggs, cucumbers, unitentifiable stuff, and seaweed. (I don't usually like seaweed, although in this dish it was excellent.) I seriously inhaled this plate of food, it was so delicious, then I washed the plate, took it downstairs, and thanked Mrs. Yu profusely. Here's a picture to whet your appetite:


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Doesn't it look scrumptious? See it large here.


After lunch, I hopped back on the subway and headed off to E-Mart. I recently switched to a different brand of birth control (one that's easier to come by here in Korea than Ortho Cyclen), and my body has reacted by breaking out. Thanks a lot, body. I'm 28 years old; I should not be dealing with acne. Anyhow, I figured E-Mart, being so large and full of so many things, would be the best place to find some products to take care of this problem. I was pleased to discover that E-Mart now carries a whole line of Clean and Clear products - yippee! For those of you who have never shopped in an E-Mart (or in just about any Korean store) let me tell you a bit about the experience. Each aisle (or nearly each aisle) is staffed by a sales woman whose job is to encourage you to buy things. I really don't like feeling pressured to buy things in general, and the language barrier makes dealing with these women quite awkward. I have a tendency to sneak down their aisles when their backs are turned, and to scurry off as soon as they notice me. Unfortunately, I was unable to escape the clutches of the woman on the Clean and Clear aisle. Despite the fact that I was obviously interested in the acne treatment products, she decided that it was her mission to sell me some sort of baby powder scented body oil... she even managed to squirt some on my arm and rub it in thoroughly. Because you know I've always wanted to be slimy and smell strongly of baby powder. I smiled, said no thank you, and scurried away, but the damage was done - I was slick and scented. Sigh.

I returned home and deposited my purchases, and decided to take a stroll down to the bank (books and E-Mart having depleted my funds and all), and along the way, I discovered that a Kumdo competition in the neighborhood park. I decided to stop to watch and take pictures. It was very interesting, and made me wish that I were more coordinated. Unfortunately, a white girl can't do anything surreptitiously in Korea, and soon I was mobbed by kids - both participants in the competition and spectators - all of whom wanted to have the same sort of "conversations" which I'd had with those kids earlier in the day. While it is definitely endearing, it also can get somewhat annoying. I just wanted to walk around, watch the competition and take pictures, not say "Fine thank you, how are you?" "I'm from America" and "I'm 28" to every person I passed, and soon I decided to move on. Not before getting some cool shots though:


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Kumdo: Korean swordfighting.

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He's flying through the air!

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These kids asked me to take their picture.


After making my way to the ATM, I decided to visit a cosmetics shop, in order to see about buying some more powder (I'm kind of running low, what with the acne coverage and all...). I'm not much for makeup, although I am obsessive about my lipstick (CoverGirl Outlast) and have been known to have way too much fun with glittery eye makeup. I have never spent more than $4 on powder... until yesterday. I'm not even going to tell you how much I spent, as it's embarrasing. Korean women take their makeup seriously! I was worried that I might not be able to find powder to match my skin color - after all, I'm one of the whitest people I know in general, and here I am in Korea. But I shoudn't have worried. I knew that the Korean preference for light skin would give me a chance at finding makeup my skin color, but I wasn't prepared for the vast array of options - or for the fact that several of the options were (in my opinion) way too white for me. I enjoy being pale, but do I want to be literally as white as a sheet? No. The owner of the store and I were going through her collection of powders (loose powder, not compact), using my usual smattering of Korean with a heavy dose of charades, when she said to me (very slowly and clearly), "Do you speak English?" Yes! "Where are you from?" America. The woman blushed, and said in English, "Oh! I thought you were Russian. I am so sorry." After having spent so much time in Russia, I cannot help but feel complimented every time I'm mistaken for a Russian (which happens frequently here) - although I realize this isn't a compliment, given the sad fact that most Russian women in Korea are prostitutes. Most cosmetics stores will throw in some free samples with your purchase... this women threw in two coffee mugs. ("A gift for you!") I'm not one to turn up my nose at free things (especially when I'd just forked over way too much money for some powder), although I can't help but wonder if she was trying to apologize for thinking I was a Russian whore. Who knows.


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Free mugs!


I had planned on going for a hike today, but it has been raining steadily since I awoke, so I expect I'll do little more than huddle under my covers with my newly acquired copy of Neverwhere.

Also - if you haven't already done so, please tell me which of these photos you prefer! (If you don't want to leave a comment, you can email your choice to me at jane [at] janekeeler [dot] com.) Thanks for your help!