Trip To The Mountains With Teachers (May)

Right before the debacle involving no water in Gumi (in May), I went on a trip with a bunch of the young teachers from my school. We headed to Jirisan, the most famous mountain range in Korea. We hiked all day the first day (about 7 miles) and the landscape was really beautiful. All around were these step-like rice paddies that climbed up and down the mountains.


And after about half-way through the hike, what did we do? Drink makgeolli! It's like a hard fast rule in Korea: if you go hiking, you will drink alcohol!


That night we finished the day with some delicious grilled pork. Mmmmmm. After hiking all day there's nothing like grilled pork to warm the heart.


Unfortunately the next day it rained, and so we spent our time exploring some of the traditional folk villages that were around our area. And we also ate 파전 (scallion pancakes) and drank more makgeolli, b/c that's also what Koreans do when it rains.^^

As Most of You Know, I'm Home

My grant finished in July, as most of you know, and so now I'm living in Brighton MA processing the past 2 years, drawing and silk-screening, and avoiding getting a real job.^^ Sorry I didn't post much at the end my grand period, I was overwhelmed by teaching and saying my goodbyes. However I will now post pics from trips and stories that I didn't get the time to tell. Things may be a little out of chronological order, but you're all smart, you'll be fine.

Re-introduction to life in the USA was actually a little more difficult than I had expected. Life in Korea is definitely more comfortable - government-run offices are speedy and efficient, convenience/makeup/everything stores are everywhere and affordable, restaurants are plentiful and cheap, and public transportation puts the MBTA to shame. However, I am happy to see diversity all around me once again. And the ability to peacefully protest against one's government. Oh wait... are we allowed to do that in our country anymore??

Now that I'm back in the swing of things that are all American, I've been spending my days making work, reading, and trying to figure out my job situation. I'm taking a silk screening class at Mass Art, and I was just notified that I got accepted for a residency in Cambridge MA at a local gallery. So at least I'll have studio space as of next week through mid February, yay! Even though I'm engulfed with art and where my future is going, these past 2 years in Korea have left a permanent spot in my heart. I've already received a gift box from one of my past students. On the customs form, she simply wrote the word, "cracker." To my delight she included snacks, ramyeon, periodical photos (for collage use), and a long letter. No matter where my life goes, I don't think that Korea will really be that far away.^^

First Birthday With Family Perhaps?

My sister texted me yesterday, asking if I could come to Cheongju the weekend of my birthday. She said that we could celebrate my bday with family and then go out and drink together in the downtown area. I was a little hesitant at first to agree to this, as this would be the first time in my soon to be 28 years to celebrate my birthday with them.

I guess it sounds silly, I'm sure all that we'll do is eat cake and maybe I'll get some bday cash. But it will definitely be emotional for me, something that I'm not 100% sure that I want to experience. Having found my biological family has caused me to think a lot about my situation from all sorts of angles. Thankfulness for having grown up in the States. Relief that they're good, smart, and healthy people. Wonderment about how I would've been had I grown up here. Hesitation due to a fear of commitment. And the list goes on, and on, and on...

Also, whenever I visit my family, I never know what's going to happen, so who knows what this birthday party could actually turn out to be! Bees. Penises. Mountain hiking and drinking. One-armed grandmas. Man, what strange and quirky DNA I've inherited!!

Well I did agree in the end to visit, so I guess I'll report back on this in 19 days...

My Usual Conversations With Taxi Drivers

This is a translation of a conversation that I had with a taxi driver on my way home tonight:

TD: So your face looks really Korean, but you don't sound Korean. Are you Korean? You seem to speak English really well...
Me: Oh, no, I'm American.
TD: But are you Korean?
Me: Oh well, I was born in Korea, but I grew up in the United States.
TD: Ahhh, so your parents are Korean then....
Me: Well, I'm adopted, so I didn't learn how to speak Korean.
TD: Ahhhhh. Ok. I heard you speaking to that other foreigner in such fast English, but your face is so Korean, so I was just really confused!!
Me: Ah yes, when I meet Korean people, they think the same thing. So I usually have to explain.
TD: Haha.
Me: So do you meet a lot of foreigners in Gumi?
TD: Oh no, not many. Mainly Japanese people, b/c of the factories here.
Me: Ahhh, really? I didn't know that there were many Japanese people in Gumi.
TD: Yeah, and sometimes I meet Americans, but they have no manners.
Me: Oh really?
TD: Yeah, they eat sandwiches in my cab, and drink soda and then just leave the wrappers and cans on the floor. No manners! Sometimes they drink alcohol too, it's a mess.
Me: Really?? That's not good!
TD: Yeah, but usually I just meet Japanese people. Do you know any Japanese?
Me: No, not at all. I know some Spanish though. Can you speak Japanese?
TD: Me? No, but if I hear the person say, "Hai," a lot, then I know that they're Japanese.
Me: Ahhh, I know "hai." And um, "arigato."
TD: "Sensei" means teacher. And "saianara" means bye-bye.
Me: Ah right! I knew that. I guess I know some Japanese from watching movies.
TD: Haha. Oh you speak Korean really well.
Me: Oh no no no no!
TD: When did you first arrive in Korea?
Me: Two years ago.
TD: And you didn't know how to speak then right? So your Korean is good!
Me: Yeah, when I arrived, I could only say "Hello," and "Thank you." Other than that, I couldn't speak much else. Haha.
TD: What building are you in?
Me: Building 112.
TD: Hmm, where is that...
Me: If you go straight...
TD: Ah see, your Korean is good!
Me: Oh no no no!! Oh go left here please. Ah and left again here.
TD: Ok, here we are. That will be 4,700 won please.
Me: Ok, thanks! Have a good night!
TD: You too, bye!

*This whole conversation was in Korean of course. I really couldn't understand any Korean when I first came here. My Korean ability is still lamentable, but I was happy that I could understand this much tonight without much effort or stress.^^

BEES!!!!

So I went to visit my family last week (warning the next few posts will be all out of chronological order). This visit needs to be broken into two parts. The first one being about bees. Whenever I go to my grandmother's house in Cheongju, I just never know what to expect. In the short amount of time I have spent with them, I have seemed to rack up quite a few wacky stories, this one not being excluded from the bunch.

I arrived in Cheongju on Wed afternoon, and was greeted by my always cheerful one-armed grandma and a little while later my slightly slower but ever adorable grandfather. Later that night, we were joined by both aunts and my mom. However, my older aunt arrived first, carrying a shopping in one hand. (Oh and Paul was there too.) After some chatting, my aunt plops down on the floor with my grandma, and pulls something out of the bag. My grandma took off her shirt and so was sitting there with her pants and undergarments on. I was curious to see what was going on, so I plop down on the floor as well. What she pulled out was a small box, maybe the size of a small hand held game console. However I was quick to realize that whatever was in the box was moving. With a closer look, I realized that it was a box of live bees!

My aunt proceeds to open the sliding door on the box and plucks a bee out with a pair of tweezers. She then quickly beheads the thing, only to be left with the abdomen, pulsating stinger and all. I was freaking out b/c no one was explaining anything to me, and then she stings my grandma with the bee butt. My grandma let out a painful, "아이고!!!" My aunt then went in for the second kill. Like a minute ago, she plucked out another bee, and beheaded it. However unlike her previous success, she dropped the abdomen this time, failing to sting my grandma. Not wanting to get stung herself, she reflexively tried to brush it away from her. In the frenzy, she swiped the thing in my direction.

We look around and couldn't find the abdomen. I started to panic, and the blood started to pulse in my head. Where else could the bee stinger have gone, but down my shirt I thought. So I quickly lift up my shirt, flashing my family, and then pull down my bra. Low and behold, the bee! So I start yelling, bent over with my bra being held as far away from my boobs as possible, and my aunt comes over to tap my cup so that the bee abdomen falls out and onto the floor.

I collapsed onto the floor and told them that this is not something that we do in the USA. My aunt and grandma went into hysterics, laughing to the point of tears. So I guess this is something that not many Koreans do, but it's a way of localizing and applying an anti-inflammatory agent to the desired body part. My aunt explained that a while ago, she had knee pain, but after 100 bees, the pain and swelling in her knee had dissipated. Well I'm just glad that my boob didn't get an unnecessary dose of bee venom. By the sounds that my grandma were making, it did not sound like a pleasant thing.

High and Dry in Gumi (despite the rain)

So I learned a new word this week: 단수하다, which means "to cut off the water supply." Since Sunday night, the water supply in my town of Gumi has been completely shut off (save for a few hours yesterday morning, when they drained our building of its remaining emergency supply). Apparently the dam that holds the town's water supply was damaged during construction work. However this construction work was related to the Four Rivers Project, something which has caused a lot of controversy in Korea (as both a waste of money and a potential environmental issue). Regardless of this problem's origins, it has been a big pain in the butt!

Luckily today, the town has been delivering water via fire truck. (see above) As you can see, people from my apartment complex emerged from their dry homes, only to wait in the rain (oh the irony) to fill their kimchi containers and any random buckets lying around with water. I waited with my host family for about an hour, we filled 3 kimchi containers, one plastic jug, and 2 food trash buckets. Under all the umbrellas were a bunch of un-showered frustrated Koreans. And frustrated they should be! In my town and in two surrounding towns as well, half a million people have been waiting for water, with no clear timeline being delineated. That means half a million people who can't flush their toilets, take a shower, clean their dishes, etc etc.

It looks like our neighborhood's water supply should be fixed by tomorrow afternoon, but that could change. Right now I'm waiting for my host sister to finish her cold bath. By the yelps that she's emitting, I'm not really looking forward to mine. Luckily the little host sister is returning from China tomorrow, so she doesn't have to deal with any of this. I was actually hiking in the mountains with friends Sunday into Monday (pics soon to follow), so I've only had to deal with this since yesterday afternoon. However, I still haven't taken a shower since Sunday night... ok, sponge bath time!! >_<

NOOOOOOOO!!! 싫어! 싫어! 싫어!

So with only three months left, I am scrambling to collect Korean imagery to take home with me, to use in future art projects. So I open the newspaper to find this ad. Apparently Jeff Koon's "Sacred Heart" was just bought by one of Korea's big department store companies, Shinsegae, and so they are using the heart in an advertising promotion. And so I open the paper and all I see is "JEFF KOONS LOVES SHINSEGAE." All I have to say is GROSS!! 싫어! 토하고싶어!

As a side note, I know I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy these past few months, so I promise I will be posting some funny family pics and other strange accounts.

Doug's Visit to My Homestay This Past January, Too Bad His Eyes Are Closed

The View in the Back of My Apartment

In Seoul for the Holiday, Before My Hellish Winter Camp Starts On Monday

메리 크리스마스!!!! ^___^

Koreans Have Just As Much Political Incorrectness When It Comes to Portraying Foreign Native Indigenous Cultures They Don't Understand...

Family, Dumplings, Sneaky Cousins, and Expensive Dresses

So due to my students' final exams, I had this week off for the most part. I decided it was time to see family in Cheongju, as I haven't actually seen them since before my summer vacation. Time is flying in a way that I can't even explain, so it's no surprise that that much time had passed since my last visit.

Seeing family in Cheongju, I will admit, stresses me out very much, mainly due to the language barrier. I'm a person who tends to avoid awkward situations like the plague, and so being the awkward hypochondriac that I am, this is generally not a completely pleasant experience.

However to my great surprise, my Korean skills have definitely improved since I last saw my grandparents. In general I can't understand old people when they talk to me, Korean or American for that matter. So one can imagine that when old people talk to me in Korean, my brain simply wants to explode. But this time, my grandparents would say something to me, and instead of mini explosions happening, I could actually understand them and answer them back. This greatly surprised and delighted my grandfather.

I got to see my cousin "Paul" and his older sister on Tuesday night. As we were watching cartoons together, "Paul" and I both decided that we wanted to eat chocolate cake. "Paul" said that he wanted to go for a "케이크 산책," or in English, it would translate to a "cake walk." My grandmother handed over the equivalent of about 8 dollars, and sent us on our way. I don't know my way around the neighborhood so I was at the mercy of "Paul." We went to 2 bakeries before we found the proper cake, and then after finding our $5 dessert, he started to walk away from the apartment. I asked him if he was sure he knew what he was doing, but he was quite confident in his directional skills. I was freezing my butt off, and wasn't terribly pleased with this. Then suddenly his eyes lit up when he saw a particular stationary store. He bolted for the store and used the rest of our grandmother's money to buy some popular trading cards. It was then that I realized I had been had. When we got home my grandma wanted her change and so asked "Paul" how much the cake cost, and "Paul" replied with a coy, "모르겠어..." or "I don't know...." My grandma knew exactly what happened and scolded him for abusing my lack of knowledge of the area. Ahhh "Paul," you sneaky devil.

Later that night and for several hours the next morning, I helped my family make 만두, or dumplings. Amazed, I watched my one-armed grandma somehow finely dice

scallions as she sat on the floor. (as a note: when Koreans make large batches of food, they usually plunker down on the floor, as counter space is quite limited) My cousins couldn't make them very well, but of course they tried. After cooking them, my aunt and grandma would make fun of the semi-retarded looking dumplings that "Paul" made. Cruel, but amusing nonetheless. Mine looked pretty awful at first too, but I eventually got the hang of it. See the picture below as proof.

On Wednesday I spent most of the day with my mom. She too made dumplings in the morning with me, as we sat around watching terrible daytime Korean television. Then she mysteriously left in the middle of the day (well mysterious for me, b/c I'm sure she told me, I probably just didn't hear or understand her, something I do with my American mom too, sorry moms!) Anyway, she came back in the evening and took me to the downtown area. She was determined to buy me something and this stressed me out to no end. We walked around a department store, where everything was at least 200,000W (so like around $200), and she would ask me if I liked this or that. A lot of dresses in Korea are absolutely hideous in my opinion so I felt the pressure growing after each time I said I didn't like anything on the racks of the various brand booths. Finally I saw something that wasn't hideous, if not mildly pleasing to my tastes and my mom forced me to try it on. I figured it was as good as it was going to get, and so my mom dropped 240,000W on a wool jumper. Then we awkwardly ate dinner together (she is a tight-lipped women, unlike my aunts), and she told me that maybe my sister will study in the USA in the future. I hope she doesn't entrust complete responsibility on me (something that I do worry about), but I do think it would be a good experience for my sister to study abroad.

When we got back home, my mom told me to try the dress on for my grandma (family behavior is so universal), and my grandma smiled as I sauntered out of the bedroom and said she bet that I look just like the manikin. We said goodnight, and my mom left the next morning well before I woke up. My grandma handed me a fist full of cash, told me that my grandfather insisted, gave me a big strong one-armed hug, and then saw me off in a taxi cab.

Students Watching an Educational Propaganda Video Against North Korea (as required by the South Korean government)

Getting Better At Differentiating Between Asians

I came to Korea thinking that all Asians look the same.* And then recently I've begun noticing that when I see the backs of students' heads while riding the bus, recognition will occur. Just by the backs of their heads! All the boys have nearly the same style hair (as there is a mandatory school hair length rule), they all have the same color hair, and wear the exact same uniform. I don't know how it's possible, but it happens. I'll look at the back of one student's head, and think ahhh, yes, you are in my high level class, Kim something, and I like the students that sit at your table. Or I'll see another, and think, oh you are a little bastard. Ok, maybe this isn't impressive to you Americans at home, but I am quite impressed with myself.

*If you are wondering if this is self-hatred of some sort, no, it's just an after-effect of being raised around mainly white folk.

North Korea Business

So if you're reading this, I'm sure you've read about what's been happening in the past 8 hours between North Korea and South Korea concerning the island of Yeonpyeong (연병도). Don't worry please. This incident will probably not escalate, but in the event that something does happen, I will let you know.

I first found out at 4pm (local time) from my club class students. They asked to use my computer so that they could read what was going on. I wasn't sure what the appropriate thing to do was, so we ended up discussing the issue while making x-mas decorations for my classroom... A strange combination, yes. Though it seemed to calm them down. We discussed the possibility of the two Koreas uniting, and 5 out of the 7 students present expressed their opinion of not wanting it to happen. Their reasoning was that they didn't want South Korea's economy to absorb the poor nation that North Korea is (though they didn't state their thoughts quite like that, but that was the gist of it). Definitely an interesting afternoon... Hopefully things will get taken care of in the least violent way possible....

The Hunt for Plastic Surgery Ads

So on the art side of things, I've decided to start making collages, you know, just to get some crazy ideas flowing. And since I'm in Korea, I wanted to pull imagery from only Korean things, and see what they become under the guide of my westernized eye. And speaking of westernized eyes, one thing present among the mass of imagery here that has caught this eye is the prevalence of plastic surgery ads.

However, they are strange b/c there is this clear divide between what is a good nose, eye, arm, etc and a bad nose, eye, arm, etc. There is clearly a universal standard in Korea, but unfortunately the people themselves are only particulars, hence the great success of plastic surgeons. They're also strange b/c the ads are just these very raw comparisons of flesh, good flesh and bad flesh. So visually I think they're quite intriguing.

Ok, so in order to make these collages, I set up some parameters to make it a game of sorts.

1.) There will be 2 main figures in the piece.
2.) I must use at least one image from a plastic surgery ad.
3.) I am not allowed to pencil in lines and then ink them over later. Every line must be fresh and not premeditated. If I screw up, so be it.
4.) There must be a title.

So I asked my host mom for assistance in acquiring such ads. And she pulled through yesterday while her youngest daughter received her unwanted hair cut. As 유경 got her hair trimmed, my host mom and I poured through old magazines that the hair dresser had saved, and cut out as many ads as we could find. My host mom would turn to me and say, "How about these eyes? Do you like these eyes?" And I would reply with a zealous, "Ooo! Yes! Cut those eyes out please!" We would go back and forth like this, replacing eyes with noses, ears, breasts, and other body parts. By the time 유경 jumped out of her chair to show us her hair, we had cut out quite the stack of body parts and altered faces. I was thrilled.

The Gravity of a Different Type of Mass (m), collage and pen & ink on paper

As of recently, I've finally begun to focus on art stuff more consistently, so if you're curious about how drawing and the whatnot is going, I'll be posting images here as I go along.

Lastest Girl's Generation Song, "Hoot"

Don't ask me what the title means, b/c I don't quite understand it myself. The music vid has a Korean James Bond theme to it. And of course, the girls are all hot... though I still can't tell them apart... aishhhh.

New Shoes!

I went shopping with my coteacher and her mom yesterday, and in the process, found these cute and surprisingly comfortable shoes at ABC Mart. Yay for having my size... in another store, so they are shipping them to my apartment. Even in Korea I have somewhat small feet! Aish....

A Field Day Like No Other (well unless you're in Korea!)

A couple of weeks ago my school had its annual Field Day. Field Day in Korean middle schools is amazing, beats American middle school field days any day. Each homeroom class dresses up in ridiculous costumes and all classes can watch the individual sports events as they happen. Students and teachers make signs and cheers which they use to encourage their teammates. Below are some examples of the various dress.

Apparently the Supermen/girls were a bunch of Clark Kents and Linda Langs, b/c they didn't want their identity known, hence covering up their faces.


I ran into this group of boys as they were preparing to go outside. Their entire class dressed up in matching pajamas. Girls in pink and boys in blue. They too did not want their identities revealed.


This is one of my favorite second grade boys (equivalent 8th grade in the USA). He belonged to the pajama team, but halfway through he shed his pajamas and traded them for poop that he could wear on his head.



The class I was cheering for was class #9. They all wore bunny ears and painted bunny noses and whiskers on their faces. They attacked my face too. This is me and their homeroom teacher, one of my favorite English teachers at the school.

Does this student's shirt say, "Gaudi Picasso Mania?" Why, yes it does!!!!!!!


Some of my boys are quite large, which I didn't realize until I saw this picture of us together. Yikes!!!

So the various activities that students competed in included (but were not limited to): tug of war, relay races, three legged races (though a crazy version), soccer, jump rope, and something called a "boat race." Below you can see the giant classes of 35 students compete in tug of war. They are smart and give the students gloves to use. Sometimes it amazes me just how practical Koreans can be.


I did my part by yelling at class #9, to get them to pull harder. By now I am quite good at yelling at students. Though I was yelling in English, so they probably didn't understand me. However they won first place out 11 classes, so I'd like to thing I did something to help with that.


Now earlier I mentioned something called a "boat race." If you are anything like me, you are probably wondering, what the heck is a "boat race?" Well it's a class relay race that involves 4 students at a time, but their legs are tied to one other. One of the third grade classes dressed up in full animal suits, so it boggles my mind how they managed to play sports all day like that, let alone finish the "boat race." Needless to say, it was quite the experience, this Korean middle school Field Day.

I Can't Wait Until I Have a Real Studio Again Someday...