It's starting to feel a bit more like Christmas even though we're far from home. About a week and a half ago, on a Friday, it snowed in Busan, which is rare. It was short lived, but beautiful and the kids went wild all over town. Even Kyung Mi and I went out to play.
You can see the snow a bit better in these videos.
Then, this past weekend our little Korean family (David, Duck, Shannon, Ryan, Brian, and I) took a trip out of town to Muju mountain for a weekend of snow and skiing. David arranged everything, so it was a piece of cake for the rest of us. We all had a sleep over at David and Duck's the night before because we left Saturday at 4:30 AM. We took a bus, and the buses in Korea are the best for sleeping, so when we all woke up we were already there. It took no time at all to get lift tickets and rentals (20 dollar discount for using a check card) and we were on the slopes before 10.
I'd never been skiing outside of North Carolina before, so it was a big experience for me. Muju's got the longest run in S. Korea, but unfortunately, the upper runs weren't snowy yet. That area doesn't get much percipitation, so all the snow is blown. It was a little icy, but nothing like NC, and we got lucky in that they weren't blowing the day we were skiing. It was fine and clear and tons of fun, but I think we're all looking forward to heading back sometime when all the runs are open so that it's a bit less crowded. But it was Duck's first snow sport attempt, and as the Koreans would say - she was success! Only one trip down the bunny slope and she was off to the beginner slopes and snow plowing like pro. I think it must have been her new lucky hat she got at the ski shop.
Of course, only half the fun of any good ski trip happens on the slopes. The other part is drinks by a fire, and our particular fire was enhanced by the lounge singing act livening up our lives with the following song.
In fact, it got David so riled up that the following ensued.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
K pop means Korean pop music
Before we came to Korea, we'd heard rumors of how awful the pop music was. But we never knew... it's everywhere, and there is a rotation all of 3 songs long. By far the most popular song right now, and ever since we got here, is Nobody But You, by the Wonder Girls. Allow me to demonstrate.
Everyone in S. Korea knows that entire dance by heart. I wish I'd videod this incident, but every school puts on what they call a festival. It's like a talent show but not a competition and a whole class does their gig together. Well, I watched the dress rehearsal at Dong Cheon, and not only did the kids do a great job, so did the cleaning ladies, who put on a spectacular jump roping exhibition, with double, quadruple, and 10 people dutch. But perhaps even better (and stranger) was the mothers' performance. That's right, the moms had a spotlight too. There were 5 of them and they did the Nobody But You dance... and they were good. They sure showed up those 1st graders.
Which reminds me, Koreans never let kids win at something. David plays soccer with his kids after school with another teacher, and the other teacher plays as hard as he can against 3rd graders. David said they all jump out of the way when the guy shoots on goal because he kicks it so hard the kids are afraid to try to stop it. Yun Jae told us about how his son cried one day when he lost the board game they were playing because he never wins and found it frustrating. Yun Jae said he got mad at Yae Dam (the son) for not understanding that it was ok to lose. When will these kids learn? Their parents fully subsrcibe to the if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch mentality.
But back to the K pop, here's the second most popular group - Brown Eyed Girls. This is their painfully popular How Come.
"Revenge" is hillarious.
And to finish it off, song number 3 on the current cell phone store rotation (these stores are always blasting K pop into the streets): I'm so hot by the Wonder Girls.
So the songs are kind of awful, but the girls are lovely. The make a pop star formula's the same here as in the states. For our next adventure we're off to the mountains of northern South Korea this weekend for a ski trip with the regular gang (David, Duck, Ryan, and Shannon). And now we're all booked up for our winter vacation in the Philippines!!!!!
Jess
Everyone in S. Korea knows that entire dance by heart. I wish I'd videod this incident, but every school puts on what they call a festival. It's like a talent show but not a competition and a whole class does their gig together. Well, I watched the dress rehearsal at Dong Cheon, and not only did the kids do a great job, so did the cleaning ladies, who put on a spectacular jump roping exhibition, with double, quadruple, and 10 people dutch. But perhaps even better (and stranger) was the mothers' performance. That's right, the moms had a spotlight too. There were 5 of them and they did the Nobody But You dance... and they were good. They sure showed up those 1st graders.
Which reminds me, Koreans never let kids win at something. David plays soccer with his kids after school with another teacher, and the other teacher plays as hard as he can against 3rd graders. David said they all jump out of the way when the guy shoots on goal because he kicks it so hard the kids are afraid to try to stop it. Yun Jae told us about how his son cried one day when he lost the board game they were playing because he never wins and found it frustrating. Yun Jae said he got mad at Yae Dam (the son) for not understanding that it was ok to lose. When will these kids learn? Their parents fully subsrcibe to the if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch mentality.
But back to the K pop, here's the second most popular group - Brown Eyed Girls. This is their painfully popular How Come.
"Revenge" is hillarious.
And to finish it off, song number 3 on the current cell phone store rotation (these stores are always blasting K pop into the streets): I'm so hot by the Wonder Girls.
So the songs are kind of awful, but the girls are lovely. The make a pop star formula's the same here as in the states. For our next adventure we're off to the mountains of northern South Korea this weekend for a ski trip with the regular gang (David, Duck, Ryan, and Shannon). And now we're all booked up for our winter vacation in the Philippines!!!!!
Jess
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Hey, wanna come over?
Here it is! Sorry for the long delay. Our brand new home in all it's square footage. It may be small, but it's got spunk, and class.
This is an apartment for one person, but Brian gets paid a housing stipend (about 300 USD) to live in it instead of his own apartment. The place is free for us, we just have to pay utilities and a 30 USD maintenance fee for 2 in a 1 person. It's well worth it for the setup we have. Our landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, live in the floor above us and they're such honey pies. Our washing machine broke down when we first got here, so we were walking around with our laundry when Mr. Lee saw us and showed us the laundry machine in the garage of our building. He explained how to use it and we told him we'd try it another day because we were spending the night at David and Duck's. But he wouldn't hear of it. He told us to go ahead and do the laundry (he speaks a little English, but we sherade a lot with each other) and that he'd hang it up on the lines on the roof for us. What landlord have you ever known to do something like that for a tennant? They take great pride in the cleanliness of their building too, which is very nice for us because the buildings nearby are sick. There's recycling and food waste all over the entrance ways.
We're also in an ideal location. It's about a 20 minute bus ride for Brian and I to get to our schools - a necessary buffer judging from what we've heard about kids following teachers home (not in a creepy way, just because they LOVE their English teachers, which depending on your disposition, could still be creepy). The area near our apartment is a lot of fun. We're about a 5 minute walk from 2 universities (where there's a subway stop), so there's a ton of cheap, delicious restaurants and bars and kareoke rooms nearby. There's always a party if you want it, but we're just far enough away from the relentless nightlife that it's quiet. 5 minutes walking in the other direction there's the UN Peace Park, a large green area where we can run and people watch. The UN cemetary is also there. There's also the Busan Cultural Center (ballets, symphonies, etc.) and Busan Metropolitan Museum (30 cents fee, haven't been in yet but we hear it's good). Near the universities there's a street market where we buy all our produce, including the best dubu (tofu) I've ever tasted. I feel that I could say more, but I think I've tantalized you all enough into coming to visit. You can get an idea of the lay out from these google earth images. If you want the interactive version, email me (jessbartels@gmail.com) and I'll send it to you. I couldn't figure out how to embed it here.
Here's the grand view.
Zoomed in on our apartment, Kyungsung area, and our schools.
A close up of the house and park.
Same view scooted up to the Kyungsung area.
A close up of our schools.
And one of David and Duck's place.
Jess
This is an apartment for one person, but Brian gets paid a housing stipend (about 300 USD) to live in it instead of his own apartment. The place is free for us, we just have to pay utilities and a 30 USD maintenance fee for 2 in a 1 person. It's well worth it for the setup we have. Our landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, live in the floor above us and they're such honey pies. Our washing machine broke down when we first got here, so we were walking around with our laundry when Mr. Lee saw us and showed us the laundry machine in the garage of our building. He explained how to use it and we told him we'd try it another day because we were spending the night at David and Duck's. But he wouldn't hear of it. He told us to go ahead and do the laundry (he speaks a little English, but we sherade a lot with each other) and that he'd hang it up on the lines on the roof for us. What landlord have you ever known to do something like that for a tennant? They take great pride in the cleanliness of their building too, which is very nice for us because the buildings nearby are sick. There's recycling and food waste all over the entrance ways.
We're also in an ideal location. It's about a 20 minute bus ride for Brian and I to get to our schools - a necessary buffer judging from what we've heard about kids following teachers home (not in a creepy way, just because they LOVE their English teachers, which depending on your disposition, could still be creepy). The area near our apartment is a lot of fun. We're about a 5 minute walk from 2 universities (where there's a subway stop), so there's a ton of cheap, delicious restaurants and bars and kareoke rooms nearby. There's always a party if you want it, but we're just far enough away from the relentless nightlife that it's quiet. 5 minutes walking in the other direction there's the UN Peace Park, a large green area where we can run and people watch. The UN cemetary is also there. There's also the Busan Cultural Center (ballets, symphonies, etc.) and Busan Metropolitan Museum (30 cents fee, haven't been in yet but we hear it's good). Near the universities there's a street market where we buy all our produce, including the best dubu (tofu) I've ever tasted. I feel that I could say more, but I think I've tantalized you all enough into coming to visit. You can get an idea of the lay out from these google earth images. If you want the interactive version, email me (jessbartels@gmail.com) and I'll send it to you. I couldn't figure out how to embed it here.
Here's the grand view.
Zoomed in on our apartment, Kyungsung area, and our schools.
A close up of the house and park.
Same view scooted up to the Kyungsung area.
A close up of our schools.
And one of David and Duck's place.
Jess
Monday, December 1, 2008
A Korean Thanksgiving and other tales
Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving in Korea. I was worried I'd be feeling homesick. I've spent a Thanksgiving abroad before, but Baby Bartels and Mom came to Spain so I still had family at hand. This year though, we adopted some surrogates. We invited Yun Jae, Sa Jin, and Mi Yeun to experience a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment.
Brian and I started cooking Tuesday to manage all the food in our tiny kitchen, and the results were delicious. We had rosemary garlic bread, stuffed acorn squash, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, some wasabi rice (a meal's not a meal in Korea without rice), fruit salad, apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and some of Dad's snickerdoodles that came just in time. Yun Jae brought his 5 year old son, Yae Dam, and David came bearing red wine so that we had a cozy little house full. Poor Duck was home sick and missed the festivities. Like any good Thanksgiving, the eating never ended until everyone went home, but unlike other Thanksgivings, this one involved a who's-the-wimpiest-girl-arm-wrestling-extravaganza! I have a new perspective on my strength now that Sa Jin (not quite 5 ft tall, not quite 100 lbs) beat me with ease - she was laughing in fact, and Mi Yeun (looks frail as cotton candy) and I tied. Yae Dam was too busy playing the wii to condescend to our competition, but I think I could have taken him.
Brian, Mi Yeun, Sa Jin, Yae Dam, me, and our Thanksgiving dinner.
The Koreans loved Thanksgiving dinner, but they liked the rosemary garlic bread and apple pie the best. They'd never eaten rosemary before and Yae Dam said it tasted like flowers. Well said my boy.
Friday night we continued the feasting by going to the Brewery. This is a brew house in Seomyeon that has an all you can eat and drink (in beer) special for only 16,000 won per person (that's less than 14 USD right now!). From 6 to 9 you can eat your heart out and you can continue to get drinks til 9:30. The beer was delicious for Korean beer, but only passable for a brew house by American standards. The food included sushi, spaghetti, a salad bar, wings, a yogurt and coffee bar, and a meat smorgasbord that you cook at your table. This will probably become a Friday night tradition.
Saturday we went ice skating! It was easy to find the rink because ice skating in Korea is ice skating. It's only 6k won for skates and you can stay on the ice as long as you want. We skated for over 3 hours and I definitely won most improved. The skates here don't have the grooves on the toe of the blade, which is what I've always used to grip the ice to go. So at first I couldn't move at all while the others were skating laps around me. But I gradually picked it up and by the end I was skating backwards and doing spins and the hockey stop. Shannon's school took all of the kids skating there that Saturday too, and all the 3rd graders learned "can you ____?" the week before. One of the examples was "can you skate?" so all the kids were coming up to us and asking if we could skate and they were so excited to be able to talk to us. Oh, another thing about Korean skating rinks - you have to wear a helmet. They had skates that almost fit Brian and David, but the helmets didn't come close. See for yourself.
Sunday Brian and I decorated the apartment for Christmas. It only took 5 minutes, but we still did it justice with Christmas music, red wine, and then The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's the dinkiest little Christmas job I've ever seen, but it's ours and I love it. Don't judge our tree to harshly, it was only 2,000 won at the dollar store.
tiny stockings
tree and poinsettia
Jess
Brian and I started cooking Tuesday to manage all the food in our tiny kitchen, and the results were delicious. We had rosemary garlic bread, stuffed acorn squash, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, some wasabi rice (a meal's not a meal in Korea without rice), fruit salad, apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and some of Dad's snickerdoodles that came just in time. Yun Jae brought his 5 year old son, Yae Dam, and David came bearing red wine so that we had a cozy little house full. Poor Duck was home sick and missed the festivities. Like any good Thanksgiving, the eating never ended until everyone went home, but unlike other Thanksgivings, this one involved a who's-the-wimpiest-girl-arm-wrestling-extravaganza! I have a new perspective on my strength now that Sa Jin (not quite 5 ft tall, not quite 100 lbs) beat me with ease - she was laughing in fact, and Mi Yeun (looks frail as cotton candy) and I tied. Yae Dam was too busy playing the wii to condescend to our competition, but I think I could have taken him.
Brian, Mi Yeun, Sa Jin, Yae Dam, me, and our Thanksgiving dinner.
The Koreans loved Thanksgiving dinner, but they liked the rosemary garlic bread and apple pie the best. They'd never eaten rosemary before and Yae Dam said it tasted like flowers. Well said my boy.
Friday night we continued the feasting by going to the Brewery. This is a brew house in Seomyeon that has an all you can eat and drink (in beer) special for only 16,000 won per person (that's less than 14 USD right now!). From 6 to 9 you can eat your heart out and you can continue to get drinks til 9:30. The beer was delicious for Korean beer, but only passable for a brew house by American standards. The food included sushi, spaghetti, a salad bar, wings, a yogurt and coffee bar, and a meat smorgasbord that you cook at your table. This will probably become a Friday night tradition.
Saturday we went ice skating! It was easy to find the rink because ice skating in Korea is ice skating. It's only 6k won for skates and you can stay on the ice as long as you want. We skated for over 3 hours and I definitely won most improved. The skates here don't have the grooves on the toe of the blade, which is what I've always used to grip the ice to go. So at first I couldn't move at all while the others were skating laps around me. But I gradually picked it up and by the end I was skating backwards and doing spins and the hockey stop. Shannon's school took all of the kids skating there that Saturday too, and all the 3rd graders learned "can you ____?" the week before. One of the examples was "can you skate?" so all the kids were coming up to us and asking if we could skate and they were so excited to be able to talk to us. Oh, another thing about Korean skating rinks - you have to wear a helmet. They had skates that almost fit Brian and David, but the helmets didn't come close. See for yourself.
Sunday Brian and I decorated the apartment for Christmas. It only took 5 minutes, but we still did it justice with Christmas music, red wine, and then The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's the dinkiest little Christmas job I've ever seen, but it's ours and I love it. Don't judge our tree to harshly, it was only 2,000 won at the dollar store.
Our lovely poinsettia
tiny stockings
tree and poinsettia
Jess
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