More North Korea

Not much to say, other than I guess we'll find out soon whether Kim Jong-il's been bluffing with all his swagger recently, or if things are worse than I originally thought.

USA and South Korea present united front on rocket launch

It is really unfortunate that the pizzeria's not living up to expectations. And that I can't stop being snarky about a serious international issue. There are reasons I didn't become a journalist.

Sorry sorry sorry sorry...

Super Junior is BACK.

Not content with 5-6 members in a boy band, a few years back the Korean entertainment company SM entertainment created Super Junior. Super Junior has 13 members - one for every flavor, I guess. They have handsome guys, boyishly cute guys, girlishly cute guys, singers, dancers, a chubby guy, a Chinese guy. It's really not a bad idea - there's bound to be someone in the group who floats your boat. And once you've committed yourself to actually learning who all the members are, it seems like you've invested too much to move on to another pop idol. Super Junior's songs were never very interesting to me, until their latest release, "Sorry Sorry." I CANNOT get it out of my head. I've tried, and now I've just decided to embrace it. Anyway, here it is: Listen to it, love it, boggle at how they fit all 13 members in the video.

Super Junior "Sorry Sorry" MV with English subtitles

Well, at least Kim Jong-il likes good food

Kim Jong-il isn't exactly a great guy. But he likes Italian food, so we know he isn't completely soulless.

If you don't want to go read the article linked to above, basically, North Korea's Great Leader is opening up the nation's first Italian restaurant. I'm sure your average North Korean would prefer if he focused on getting enough rice to all the commoners first, but hey - when you're craving pizza there's not much you can do. Even though I went grocery shopping just the day before, last night I decided that I really just wanted a good slice of New York-style pizza instead.

As someone who's part Italian and cooks and eats that kind of food fairly frequently, I can't fault him for wanting to open an Italian restaurant (wanting is one thing, actually doing it is another). And maybe, just maybe, the endorphins released by consuming a quality marinara sauce will put Kim Jong-il in a good mood and perhaps make him less inclined to be so antagonistic towards...well, almost every other nation on Earth, but particularly South Korea and the U.S. Although frankly, if the food there resembles your standard pizzeria in the South, I doubt it will help very much.

EDIT: Maybe it's working already?

O M Gee

In case you're wondering, yes, I am still following K-pop. Perhaps not as actively as I was a year ago, but by and large I'm aware of what's been going on. So this next song is one that's been out since January, and I've resisted posting about because it drives me crazy. It's this uber-cheerful "Look at me! Love me! I'm so cuuuuuute!" kind of song with a melody that just won't get out of your head. Like, it enters your brain through some secret passageway the first time you listen to it, locks itself into a dusty room in there that you had forgotten about, and then starts pounding at the walls and howling until you're humming it to yourself while washing the dishes, exercising, trying to LISTEN TO OTHER MUSIC FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Yeah. It's that kind of song.

But it's huge in Korea right now, so I figured it was time to post about it (that, and so others might share in my misery). Last year K-pop group Jewelry placed number 1 with their single "One More Time" for seven weeks in a row on a music entertainment program. Well, recently, this song broke records and placed first eight weeks in a row. So without further ado:

Girls Generation (SoNyeoShiDae) "Gee" Music Video


The group, Girls' Generation, is a nine-member girl group similar to the Wondergirls, except with slightly different concepts. The Wondergirls seem to have a lot of gimmicks in their styling, while Girls' Generation's concept is explicitly CUTE. They're cute girls, they make cute faces, sing cute songs, and have cute dance moves. Last year they weren't quite as popular as the Wondergirls, but maybe that will change with "Gee."

In case you're curious about other music from Girls Generation, here's the video for their first single, also titled "Girls Generation," which for some reason I liked a lot more than "Gee." It's enjoyable in all the same ways, and I guess I just find it less maddening.

Girls Generation "Girls Generation" Music Video

They're Coming...

Remember the Wonder Girls? The girls who sang the K-poppiest of all recent K-pop songs, Tell Me, So Hot, and Nobody? Well, their record label apparently has plans to cross over to the American market.

Here's their (English!) interview with Worlds on Fire at the Grammy-nominated Artist Exhibition:


They're actually pretty cute here, and clearly excited to be giving an interview in the States. It's hard to say how good their English is, since they don't stray far from the standard "nice to meet you" and "my name is," although lead singer Ye-eun does call the art show "intriguing" - somebody studied her vocabulary flashcards before showing up today!

Also, they don't introduce themselves with their real names. Of the first three girls to introduce themselves, Sun is actually Sun-ye, Yeni is actually Ye-eun, and Mimi is actually Sun-mi. Not terribly difficult for English speakers, and I hope they'll not underestimate the intelligence of their audience. We'll see whether or not they start promoting songs over here or whether they'll be successful if they do try. Personally, I don't think their retro-cute look would take them anywhere beyond a one-hit wonder in the States. But I was forced to listen to their songs non-stop for months at a time last year. What think other, unbiased Americans?

Ruh-roh

For the 500th time in the past 5 years, North Korea is going back on agreements with South Korea. South Korea wants North Korea to finally cut its nuclear program; North Korea says the South is being hostile.

I generally have two minds about North Korea and nuclear weapons: first, that Kim Jong-il knows as long as his country has an operating nuclear program, other countries will be willing to negotiate and give aid on the condition that North Korea will finally stop the program. Which, of course, they will NOT do - instead, they'll get their aid, tear up the agreement and then 6 months later go back to the table and make another deal they don't intend to honor (lather, rinse, and repeat).

My other thought is that the guy really just is insane. To reductionistic? Probably. But even if you made an argument for strong rationality, you simply couldn't make any argument for empathy.

This is all of course just my opinions. I study educational psychology these days, not political science or sociopaths. One common theory, it seems, is that Kim Jong-il is trying to get the attention of one President Obama (and, again, up the DPRK's bargaining power). Should be interesting to see how this administration deals with North Korea, and whether it makes a difference. I don't think the last administration did a poor job with North Korea, either - at this point I just wonder what tact anybody could take that would actually produce favorable long-term results. Again, this is a question I am in no way knowledgeable enough to answer.

SoKo and Passion in Politics

Oooh, South Korean opposition-party politicians are PISSED...

It's still a wonder to me that President Lee Myung-bak got elected in the first place, given how sharply his approval ratings plummeted as soon as he took office. The initial negative response was due to his decision to sign a trade deal with the United States, allowing the U.S. to export beef products from older cows to South Korea. The public became terrified of a Mad Cow Disease epidemic, staged mass protests all over the country (including one in my small town, right outside of my taekwondo studio just as I was coming out of practice...had anyone asked, I planned to say I was Canadian).


Looks like we're still seeing the fall-out from LMB's massively unpopular decisions, as opposition-party members are doing everything in their power - even taking physical action - to prevent other trade-agreement bills (among other issues) from going through.

I have my own opinions, positive and negative, about both sides of Korea's current political brouhaha. But for now all I'll say is this: it may be shocking as an American to see such things happening in a democratic system, but it's also refreshing. Imagine if politicians in this country were as willing to put themselves on the line for an issue that's deeply important to them and the country - say, for example, the Iraq war or gay marriage bans?

Motivation

I don't quite understand it. I love the snow. I love the holiday time right around mid-December, when city streets have lights in its trees that reflect off of last night's snow. I LOVE that. Very little makes me happier.


Nonetheless, right now I find myself missing last year's foggy December in Neungju more than I find myself enjoying the rather picturesque downtown Ann Arbor streets.




Or maybe I just miss the kids who made the foggy rural mountainscapes all worth it.


You tell me.

Dance crazes, one more time

How could I forget?

If we're discussing recent viral K-pop sensations, the only song that can really compete the Wondergirls' "Tell Me" is Jewelry's "One More Time." Wondergirls' youth and cuteness is put up against Jewelry's experience and sexiness. "One More Time" came out early in 2008, and the group placed number 1 for 7 weeks in a row on a popular music performance/rankings show. That's almost two straight months of dominating the Korean music charts and, more to the point, the internet downloads. Recently the group won a year-end award for 'Best Digital Single', which basically translates to 'Most Ridiculously Popular Song to Download, Performance to View on Repeat, and Dance to Imitate.'

The dance in question is the "E.T. dance," and if you watch the video, you'll understand why.

One More Time music video (with English subs, no less)


(I got pretty good at a tamer version of this dance, as well as the "Tell Me" dance. Both are remarkably useful phrases in an English classroom, and if doing a quick ET dance along with it is what it takes to wake the kids up at 8:30 AM, then so be it.)

Dance craze!!!

I don't know if this has been standard in K-pop for a while now, but one phenomenon of the past year or so has been dance crazes. They happen when a K-pop star comes out with a hot song, a hotter music video, and a super-hot yet simple accompanying dance. And then it spreads like wildfire across the internet, and before you know it, grandmothers are busting out the moves at Chuseok.

The Wondergirls are responsible for the first dance craze I noticed. While their talent is, in my opinion, questionable, their popularity is huge, due to addictive songs like their breakthrough single, "Tell Me."

Tell Me performance:


"Tell Me" was released last year and quickly became a sensation. And I mean a SENSATION (think Britney's "One More Time" times about 50). Kids performed the song ad nauseum at school festivals and everybody knew the basic dance steps, including yours truly. There are only so many times you can watch the same performance with with your host siblings before you start being able to imitate it.

And the people who produce the Wondergirls clearly know what they're doing, because they followed up "Tell Me" with this year's "So Hot" and the even more dance craze-able "Nobody."

Nobody performance:


"Tell Me" remains not only the Wondergirls' biggest hit, but also definitely the biggest dance sensation I've ever seen, and the Wondergirls are definitely the supreme purveyors of sugary, addictive K-pop. Nevertheless, I'll mention a couple other recent popular dance moves.

Not to lose to some fresh-faced teenagers, everybody's favorite boy band Dong Bang Shin Ki stumbled upon such a craze with their Korean comeback single "Spell (MIROTIC)." The addictive part of the choreography is brief and comes about 3/4 of the way through the song, during the rap solo. They recently were featured on a Fuse.TV music/travel program, where the move was ingeniously dubbed "Da Sexy Chin."

Mirotic performance:


Lest you think such crazes are limited to dance pop, Korean music legend Seo Taiji recently released a song called "Human Dream." It's a great song about robots wanting to become human (as far as I can tell, anyway). It's by far my favorite dance craze so far, because 1.) I love the song, 2.) Seo Taiji generally seems like the kind of person I'd love to have a beer with, and 3.) The dancing robots in pink spandex are pure happiness.

Human Dream performance, complete with pink spandex robots and an energetic audience:


Don't you just want to start flapping your hands along too? Or, if that's not your flavor, striking a sexy pose partly inspired by Rodin's "The Thinker"? Or perhaps go pseudo-retro so you can charmingly clap your hands and point forward?

No? Might just be me then.

Cultural Discoveries I Made Today

Two quick observations:

1.) They have fire drills in Korea just like the States. That's not surprising at all. But because we're teachers and therefore special, we don't have to practice with the kids. Besides, if there's a fire the students will probably wait for us to escape first anyway.

2.) Green tea ice cream is delicious. Dear U.S. branches of Baskin Robbins: get on this.

Also, has anyone ever heard the phrase "shilly-shally"? An English teacher at my school got an email with a list of common expressions from a big-name Korean English school, and apparantly that was on the list. I really don't know what it could mean, but maybe I've been missing something for the past 23 years.

Anna the K-Pop Teenybopper

Everyone has secrets, and I’m no exception. My particular dirty little secret is known only to my family and good friends. It tends to come out when I'm with a group of people listening to music, usually your typical mainstream pop. You know, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, etc. Sometimes a comment will be made along the lines of “This song is so addictive” or “I know I shouldn’t like this stuff, but it’s fun to dance to.” And, if my companions do not seem to be music snobs, this is precisely when I often choose to reveal my secret.

I’ll take a deep breath and duck my head down to avoid meeting anyone’s eyes.

“I was a huge Backstreet Boys fan in eighth grade.”

I’m not proud of my past. But my excuse is that I was young, only 14 or so, very much interested in cute boys as a general rule, just discovering radio beyond my parents’ oldies station and highly susceptible to the musical tastes of my peers. Put it all together, and you’ve got a raging, obsessing, teeny-bopping BSB fangirl. I’ve come over time to accept my musical history as simply a part of my past; to not be so ashamed of my secret. Many girls my age were the same as I, whether the object of their obsessions were the Backstreet Boys, NSync, or even Hanson. I was young. I didn’t know any better.

Now, at 23 years of age, I should know better. And I thought I did know better.

Enter K-Pop.

My love of K-pop began with an earnest desire to connect with my students. I was frequently asked, “Teacher do you know blahblahblah?” And truthfully, I almost never knew blahblahblah. Faced with disappointed expressions, I knew that I had to become familiar at least with the popular groups if I wanted to truly bond with these teenagers. My host sister and our television set exposed me to FT Island, Wondergirls, and Super Junior. Then Big Bang and their song “Lies” entered my life.


Big Bang's "Lies" with English subtitles (Be warned, the video is kind of ridiculous.)

With an insanely addictive chorus, “Lies” became the first K-pop song that I downloaded to my computer, and it wasn't long before I could sing the entire chorus in Korean, even if I didn't fully understand what I was saying. In school my students and I talked about how good the song was and debated which Big Bang member was cuter, G-Dragon or T.O.P. (since he was older, I voted for T.O.P.). Enjoying this new level in my relationship with my students, I began reading a couple Korean pop culture blogs and became curious about one group who was particularly popular with my female students: TVXQ or Dong Bang Shin Ki. I watched a performance of their new song “Purple Line” on the internet. Good dancers, decent singers, I thought. I watched the music video. Entertaining, I thought. Still, with their over-the-top costumes and hairstyles, I mentally classified them, along with Big Bang, under “boy band” and then turned on the Beatles (who are, ironically, the original boy band).


Dong Bang Shin Ki's "Purple Line" (Korean version) with English subtitles (Be warned, the English is kind of ridiculous.)

The only problem was that I couldn't for the life of me get these Korean pop songs out of my head.

I searched online for various music videos and performances by my new favorite groups, especially Dong Bang Shin Ki. I watched subtitled interviews and variety shows and learned to identify individual members of each group, their personalities and their histories. I played their songs on repeat on my iPod, dancing and singing along the whole time. Thus, after eight years, I became a teeny-bopper all over again. For a bunch of singers who weren't much older than my students.

At first I felt embarrassed about my growing obsession. I thought I had long ago outgrown manufactured pop bands. Nevertheless, being a committed K-pop fan has definite benefits. Anything that helps my students feel more comfortable speaking to me is definitely a good thing. And at the end of a long day at school, there's nothing like turning on and dancing along to a song that's just fun, pure and simple. Plus, K-pop has actually helped me improve my vocabulary. After exploring some of Dong Bang Shin Ki's older songs, I now know how to say “I believe” in Korean, and I probably still wouldn't know “lie” - an important word in any language – if it wasn't for Big Bang.

Maybe I'm just trying to justify my changing musical tastes to myself. In any case, once I go back to America my love affair with K-pop will probably fade as a result of being out of direct contact with the culture in which it's embedded. So for now I'm putting away my guilt, warranted or unwarranted, and embracing K-pop, over-the-top fashion, and 21-year-old boys with frosted flat-ironed hair. I'm a 23-year-old American K-pop teeny-bopper, and I'm having a blast.

The Olympic Torch Comes to South Korea

This weekend I made the trip up to Seoul, not only to have a relaxing weekend away from Hwasun but also to see the Olympic torch, which came through the city Sunday afternoon. You can read coverage and see a video of some of the more heated portions of the South Korea leg on BBC.com. (Since my camera's battery had died a painful death shortly before, I won't have pictures until I steal them from my friend.)

Since I had to come back to Hwasun to teach on Monday, I only went to see the torch at its starting point in Seoul, which was at the Olympic Park. I had mixed feelings about coming to see the torch - on one hand, this was a unique opportunity to be a part of the Olympics, which I think in general is a very positive event. On the other hand, I don't agree with China's policies in Tibet and Darfur. While I consider the China's Olympic games to be separate from China's government, I understand where the protesters around the world are coming from and think what they're doing is important. The more attention given to these issues, the better. So I felt a little guilty about attending the rally as merely a spectator, not a protester.

One of the girls I met up with in Seoul did, however, come with a "Free Tibet" sign, and was as far as I could tell the only one aside from a small group of protesters a few hundred meters down from us (more protesters showed up for other parts of the Seoul relay leg). At the park, we found a spot with a good view and waited for things to begin. The girl with the sign held it quietly, not saying or doing anything in particular. But we still managed to draw the ire of a group of Chinese supporters. It started as a small group, who told us that Tibet is and always has been a part of China; that it's already free. Then they started chanting "One China!" in loud voices, eventually drawing in more and more people until we were basically being shouted at by a huge sea of red and white. Eventually they stopped, after the girl with the sign stepped away from the area we were standing for a little while, so things wouldn't escalate too much. Since we had already attracted attention though, we got periodic visits from people taking photographs and holding their own signs up for us.

I have to make a comment about some of the signs I saw, because they really bothered me. On one side they would say, for example, "We want peace, we want one China." Generally a positive statement. On the other side, however, they would say things like, "Independence, no way, no way" or "We love Tibet because it's a part of China" - implying that Tibet as a separate entity wouldn't warrant their consideration or respect. If you're going to claim to promote peace, don't follow it up with a harsh political statement ("independence, no way") that in the end only feeds the violence.

Seeing the torch in Seoul was definitely a positive experience. I myself had come merely to experience the torch relay, not to make a political statement, so I enjoyed being a part of the event. I also learned what it's like to be shouted at by a large group of impassioned people, and, well, it's really scary. But it also makes me think about nationalism and how political opinions are formed. Also, witnessing a mass of people who have all come together for one reason and who care enough to drape themselves with flags, coordinate t-shirts, and paint their faces leaves a deep impression. Banners, cheering, chanting - it's hard not to get swept up in the enthusiasm. It's always a meaningful experience to see how people act, in both positive and negative ways, when they're passionate about something.

Foreigner, Model 1.7 - She Even Does the Dishes!

I accomplished a major victory within my homestay today. I washed the dishes with actual members of my host family in the house.

As soon as I moved into my homestay, it became clear to me that I was not expected to do any household chores beyond keeping my room relatively neat. Furthermore, if I tried to do anything to help out, I was immediately stopped. Even something as small as clearing the dishes from the table after dinner was all but impossible - as soon as I stood up, my family leapt into action, prying the bowls from my hands with horrified expressions and shoving me into the family room to watch television. No dishes, no laundry, nothing.

Now, I know this sounds like most 20-something recent college graduates' dreams come true, but it's actually very frustrating at times. I don't want to be a burden on my family and I want to help out with the things that I should be helping out with. Plus, it's nice to have the independence and sense of control that comes with cleaning one's own living space. Nevertheless, despite frequent efforts on my part, I am still allowed nowhere near the kitchen sink as long as my host mom is watching. And my host mom is a housewife, so she's watching quite a lot.

That's the thing about Korean housewives - or at least the one I live with. The house is absolutely Her Domain, and no one else shall enter Her Space without Her Permission. My host siblings do help out a little, but by and large my host mother is in complete control of Her Domain. I've managed to do small things around the house from time to time, but only when nobody else is home.

Then came my big break. This week my host mom is on a well-deserved vacation to Japan with some of her female friends - although this doesn't mean I was suddenly able to leap into cleaning action. Family friends have been coming over the past few days to take care of the kids, cook dinner, and clean up afterward. Efforts on my part to clear the table were again thwarted.

Today, however, it's just me and the kids. We ordered take-out food and watched a movie on TV. And when we were finished, as my host siblings folded the laundry, I walked over the kitchen sink, put on the rubber gloves, and turned on the water. Mina, the 14-year-old, of course tried to stop me, but I was already rinsing off the first spoon, and I convinced her that cleaning the dishes was no burden to me, and that I was happy to do it.

I doubt my newfound freedom to clean the house will continue once my host mom returns. My family still thinks of me as relatively young and unaccustomed to taking care of myself and my own chores, and I know they worry about life with them being difficult for me. I am grateful, though, that my host mom is getting some well-needed rest and that I was able to give back to the family just once. And who knows -today just might set a precedent for future Sundays home alone with the host kids.

A New Title, an Actual Theme (of sorts)

If you're reading this post, and this is not your first time visiting my blog, you'll notice that I've changed things a bit. I have a new (and better) title after changing the word "in" to "versus." That's right, this blog is now Anna vs. Korea. Shocking, if not revolutionary. I changed the title not only because the old one was boring, but also because I think it will allow me to have an actual theme to center my blog around. Writing about...random) stuff in my life here is well and good, but this might be a bit more fun. For me, anyway.

The tagline of the blog is "the struggle for the heart, mind, and sometimes wallet of an American girl living and teaching in Korea." I knew that I would change as a result of coming here, but it's been interesting to see the parts of the culture that have affected me and how, exactly they have affected me. These observations will now be the focus of this blog, although I expect my posts won't change a whole lot. Also, I should say that my new theme is in no way antagonistic towards Korea or Korean culture. I love it here and I have a lot of respect for this country and these people, and I hope that, despite the numerous challenges I face, my respect is reflected in my blog.

Also, soon I'm going to try writing a bit more about pop culture stuff, particularly music and dramas, since this is one of my most important tools in engaging with my students and the general culture here. First up: the song (songs?) that started me down the road of Korean popular music. Hopefully I'll actually start posting about once a week or so, like I said I would do way back in November. We'll see.

Congratulations...and celebrations!

I'd say I'm a somewhat rare 23-year-old in that up until this year, I had never spent a birthday completely away from home. Throughout college my birthday always fell right around the beginning of spring break, so even when my birthday was technicaly spent at school I would have a smaller family celebration a few days later. About a month ago, it occurred to me that this year I was completely on my own, away from not only my family but all the people I had grown close to in college. I assumed that I would spend the day quietly, probably have cake with my host family, maybe bring a small treat to school to share with other people. I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of broadcasting my birthday around school.

Well, imagine my surprise when my birthday turned out to be one of my best days in Korea so far, and one of my best birthday ever.

At the beginning of the semester, during my first classes with my new first-grade students, I told them when my birthday was, figuring I could at least wring a couple of "happy birthday"s out of them on the day of. I also told my Conversation Club when we were talking about our favorite parts of spring. So I knew going into school that I had told a fair number of my students, and that some might even remember.

The day started with a box of cookies from one of my new first-graders (an absolutely adorable girl with freckles and huge glasses) and her mother, who happens to be one of the other English teachers at my school. I had a good morning, and a lot of my students wished me happy birthday in the hallways. I love talking with my students, and there's nothing quite like the feeling of being looked up to and appreciated by them. Anyway, so far, it had been a good day and about what I expected.

Then came my daily lunchtime Conversation Club. In the room where we meet and talk everyday, the students had written "Happy Birthday Anna!" on the whiteboard. I shared the Thin Mints my parents had mailed to me (another great birthday surprise!) and just as we were settling down to talk about our topic of the day, they turned off the lights and started the real party, complete with a birthday cake and gift - perhaps the best gift I've ever gotten. All of my Club students, whom I've gotten to know very well over the past seven months, had written letters to me. The letters were perfectly representative of my students - intelligent, funny, incredibly sweet. I seriously almost started crying, because even though I'm still far from a good teacher, I love teaching my kids and hope I've been able to help them, even a little bit. My great day continued the very next period, when I walked into one of my all-girl first-grade classes to a a chorus of "Happy Birthday."

That afternoon I had my second birthday cake of the day with the other teachers at my school. I had brought the cake to share with them, and it was a great chance to chat with some teachers whom I haven't spoken to much due to the language barrier. See, not only do I have awesome and friendly students, but awesome and friendly co-workers, too.

I went home that afternoon and took a much-needed nap, but not before receing gifts from my host sisters - a datebook and a mirror, both heavily adorned with the color pink and an almost illegal levelf cuteness. I love them. After my nap, my host family ordered pizza for - having decided that surely the American needs pizza on her birthday in lieu of the traditional Korean seaweed soup. I also had my third birthday cake of the day (see, if you reach three cakes in one day, you've automatically had a great, if not awesome, birthday.) If my Club students gave me one of the better presents I've ever gotten, my 4-year-old host brother sang me the best version of "Happy Birthday" I've ever heard. He sang the first two lines in English, but he didn't know the rest of the words, so he switched to Korean halfway through. He then, of course, decided that it was his job to blow out all the candles for me, and I was laughing too hard to sneak in and get even one of them myself. The entire scene was adorable and all-around fantastic.

And that is the story of my best birthday ever. It wasn't overblown, but it was sweet and fun, and really reminded me how lucky I am to be surrounded by the people in my life right now. It also reminded me of when I was young and would think about how cool a total surprise party would be. And surprise parties are great - but it's even better, I learned, to make your birthday special yourself. I'm so glad I brought the cake for the teachers to share, because it was me inviting them to share my "important" day with me, and that I told my students about my birthday. That way, we got to have some fun together and make it more than just a boring day at school for everyone involved.

Thanks, Korea. I definitely won't forget my 23rd birthday - even though I'm technically 24 in Korean years. (No, I don't completely understand it either.)

Body Image in Korea (Part 2)

I returned to my school today for the first time since December 22, my last day of classes for the fall semester. I still don't start teaching for another week, but it was nice to see all of the teachers again. Most of them greeted me with a "nice to see you" or a "long time no see." One of the female teachers, though, was kind enough to go a step further and tell me that I was looking "more beautiful" than before.

I suppose I can take that as a compliment on my favorite sweater, which I was wearing, or my new-ish haircut, which is basically just longer with some shorter bang-like sections in the front. However, I also was not wearing any make-up and had gained just a little weight from overindulging on Korean food upon my return from Cambodia.

...so damn, if I'm looking more beautiful now, than what the heck did I look like in December? Sometimes I think certain aspects of Korean culture have been developed specifically to mess with foreigners' minds.

Tourism and Traveling

I hate the word tourist. I seriously have a near-unnatural dislike of that word and everything that it implies. When I think of tourists, I think of baseball caps, money belts, and worst of all, backpacks worn across the front. I think of crowds dressed in matching polo shirts squinting in confusion at subway maps and Americans speaking in loud, shrill voices at confused hotel employees and sale clerks. I think of people who proudly claim to have traveled to a country because they walked through the airport that one time and look, check out my passport stamp!

I hate more than just the word tourist. I tend to hate tourists themselves. Which can be problematic as I, myself, am often a tourist.

Usually I do everything I can to avoid being classified under this category. I was a student in London and needed to entertain myself , so I went to a lot of museums. When I wandered around New York, I was just filling time after my job interviews. I'm not a tourist when I go to new cities in Korea, I'm just a teacher living in Korea and trying to see more of the country. And in Cambodia, where I just returned from, I was so turned off the notion of being a tourist that I actually referred to myself once as a "traveler."

If you don't get how ridiculous this claim was, let's review the facts: I was on a group tour, I was only traveling for about 15 days, I had pre-arranged flights to and from the region, I saw many famous, important sights in very few days, I took a ton of pictures of said sights, and I bought several souvenirs - including postcards.

Nice try, Anna, but that's about as touristy as you can get without wearing a tan steel-strap-reinforced money belt around your neck.

A traveler is, in my mind, far more independent than a tourist such as me. They are not likely to join group tours, they travel at a leisurely pace, taking however much time they want wherever they go, and therefore they leave whenever they feel like it. I imagine souvenirs are bought far less than the necessities that spring up along the way. Travelers are the people who decide they would like to see Southeast Asia, get on a plane the next week, and find their way around on public buses and guesswork and charm for however many months or even years they feel like. They may have some general plans about where they go and what they do, but these plans are quite flexible. They may have a date they have to return to their home, probably to return to work, but everything before that very day is just time they have to fill however they please.

Sorry for waxing romantic there about the life of a traveler as I see it, which I'm pretty much making up as I write this (I don't think I could ever be classified as one myself) - hence the romanticism. But as soon as I told some of the other people on the tour that I'd rather consider myself a traveler than a tourist, I realized just how silly that was.

So I've finally given myself the necessary kick in the skull and accepted my identity as a tourist. What now? The fact is, "tourist" is a very general term, and refers to so many different people at so many different times that, thankfully, not all tourists need to don the steel-enforced money belt. As much as I may wish I was the wanderer/traveler type, I'm not. But I can at least be a good tourist.

I think the breakdown between good and bad tourists is simple. I think most good tourists try to support hotels, restaurants, and businesses that send money to the people who deserve/need it. This is especially a problem in countries with corrupt governments like Cambodia. Just buy any decent travel guide - they usually include recommendations of places that are locally-owned or give a portion of the profits to charity. Good tourists also learn a little of the language. Knowing "hello" "thank you" and maybe “where is such-and-such” can get you a little appreciation and respect from locals. And it REALLY helps to have a good sense of humor and a calm disposition. If you get stressed or aggravated, you'll take it out on people who are trying to help you and leave them with a bad impression of you and other tourists. Plus, it makes the whole experience of traveling a lot more fun if you're, you know, actually in a good mood.

Unfortunately, there's another dimension one can classify tourists by, and that's how annoying they are. That's where all that polo shirt/steel-reinforced money belt/squinting at a subway map stuff comes into play. Such tourists can be, and I'm sure often are, good tourists - but that doesn't make them any less screamingly obvious. I try to avoid being the annoying tourist in addition to the bad tourist. I study the map before I leave the hotel and I carry only small amounts of money in my front pocket. This is all really a matter of personal preference - I just like looking as natural and confident as possible in unfamiliar settings (although it's not as if I don't stand out here in Asia).

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I traveled to Southeast Asia wishing fervently I was a traveler but of course being a total tourist anyway. Thus, in acceptance of my tourist status, I tried to be the best and least annoying tourist I could. Pictures will be up soon.

KKOOM Holiday Party in Gumi

One of the things I wanted to do while in Korea was volunteer at an orphanage. To be honest, I have not done this yet in Hwasun, due to the time I've been spending teaching, traveling, and doing taekwondo (although I'd like to change that this semester). But many other English teachers have done worked at orphanages, including many of those who have lived and taught in Gumi in the last few years.

Gumi is a small town in the Gyeongsangbuk province in central Korea - I would guess around 100,000 people live there. As I said, a number of the teachers in Gumi, both present and former, have volunteered at the orphanage there, Samsungwon. Some of the former volunteers, all of whom are now back in the United States, started a nonprofit called "KKOOM" ("dream," 꿈, in Korean) to help out the kids of Samsungwon. And so last December, I had the opportunity to go to Gumi for the holiday party KKOOM was putting together for the kids. I had a wonderful time.

The kids at Samsungwon were of all ages - anywhere from babies to high school students. Kids are not adopted from Samsungwon, so they only leave if their birth parents return for them. When I started interacting with the kids, and I was immediately struck by how much love there was at the orphanage. The kids were all organized into "houses" of about 10 kids, and the houses were clearly very close-knit. Each house had a "mother" who cared for the very young children, and the older kids clearly took care of the younger kids in their house. I think a lot of the kids at Samsungwon were probably better off than those living with abusive or uncaring parents, anywhere in the world. Now, not all orphanages in Korea are the same (of course), so these statements are really only applicable to Samsungwon. But clearly, although Samsungwon is not very wealthy, many of the children there seemed well-loved and content - which is the most important thing.

At the holiday party, I manned the arts and crafts area, where kids made Christmas ornamants, cards, bags, and paper airplanes. Let me tell you, little children will go crazy if you give them enough stickers and glitter. They also made origami, which would be mailed by KKOOM back to the party's donors. Later in the day, I got to judge a gingerbread house contest, and then each child received a gift put together by an American donor. We also cooked them dinner and the breakfast the next morning.

I'm so glad that I got to go to Gumi and work with these kids. They were so sweet, and so much fun to be around, and as I said, it was touching to see the amount of love there at Samsungwon. Without a doubt, the experience was one of my most meaningful so far in Korea.

If you want to learn more about KKOOM, check out http://www.kkoom.org/. There's information about the organization, about Samsungwon, and some pictures from the Christmas party. There's also an 8-minute video, which I've posted below.

Life Is Still Funny

In my last post I mentioned many of the more humorous encounters and English foibles that I've come across. I really think I should mention one more though; one I was just reminded of today at a ski resort with the host fam.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the ultimate winner of I do not think that word means what you think it means (English version): "Throb."

My host sister asked me today if, because of skiing, I was "throb." And no, she didn't mean it in the painful way. But this was not the first time this word has been used. One of my best girls also used the word in a paragraph she wrote, talking about how the letter she wrote to my high school makes her throb, and I've had several other students use it similarly.

I'm not quite sure what the Korean word is that they're trying to communicate to me, although I'm pretty sure it means something along the lines of the heart beating faster. Which is an excellent feeling to try to communicate is a foreign language. Nevertheless, I think someone needs to write a letter to some of the dictionary companies and expain the nuances of the word "throb."

Don't you worry, I'll get my comeuppance for all my inner, adolescent giggling at such mistakes. My Korean still isn't great, but I try to communicate as much as possible. Given these conditions it's only a matter of time - if that time hasn't come already without my knowledge - until I utter the the Korean I-do-not-think-that- word-means-what-you-think-it-means equivalent of throb.