Kimchee and Manatees

I just experienced my first BIG holiday away from America and it was, well, uneventful. It was so bizarre to have to work on Thanksgiving and be in a country where most of the people did not even know it was Thanksgiving. I kept expecting Koreans to see me and give me a nod of the head or something so as to say ‘Happy Thanksgiving Tall White American Girl.’ Then I quickly realized that was just more of my white privilege emerging. Most of the Canadians I worked with didn’t even realize it was Thanksgiving day, let alone the millions of Koreans I interact with in some form throughout the day. It was a good experience for me to go through; sometimes I need to be reminded that America is not the end all and be all of the world, which I’m finding to be ingrained in me in a deep level. I find it a bit disconcerting, but I’m glad some of it is fading away with this new experience.

I had to do some language exchange ‘work’ on the evening of Thanksgiving day. I thought the family would remember about it being an American holiday, especially since they lived in America for some time, but no go. I had dinner with them, which was fish soup that had the bones and innards of the fish included that gave it a weird taste, along with kimchee (of course), rice (another staple), apples/cherry tomatoes/tangerines/corn in a yogurt sauce, some sort of seaweedy thing seasoned with sesame perhaps (very tasty), boiled beef and quail eggs in soy sauce, and pickled radishes. It was almost as though the mom thought to herself, I’m going to make the complete opposite of a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. Bam! It was, and an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.

Korean food is definitely one of my favorite things about this country. It’s delicious, surprising, spicy, and homemade with knowledge passed down from generation to generation. I feel much more connected to the culture and the people enjoying and eating their food so much. My school started allowing the foreign teachers to opt for school lunch for $2.50/day. It’s a SWEET deal. There is always kimchee, rice and some form of soup, along with a variety of sides; kkakdugi (kimchee made with radishes), fried lotus root, acorn jelly, pickled radishes, random meat dishes with random brown sauces, omelet like pieces of egg, and all the foods I mentioned earlier. There is a lot of repetition in the food here, but each meal is accompanied by so many sides, you appreciate the simple basics of every meal.

One of the best parts about eating our (I chose this amazing lunch option as did two other girls I work with) Korean lunches is that we get to do so in the little lunch room at school along with others from the Korean staff; the front desk lady, two bus drivers/maintenance men, the music and art teachers, and the principal (who never did end up quitting, though she threatened to for a while.) It’s great to get to ‘hang’ with more people who are from Korea. The two bus drivers are my favorite of our little lunch bunch. One of them has complimented me on my chopsticks skills multiple times and looks at me and giggles approvingly. He often talks to me and then waits for one of the bilingual Korean staff to translate. One day, after he noticed how much kimchee I consumed during lunch each day, he told me how happy he was that I and the two other foreign teachers liked Korean food so much. Koreans, especially of the older generation of which this man is, take their food very seriously and are really overjoyed when you like it. The next day he proudly brought in his own kimchee and kkakdugi that he and his wife had made to share with us. So good! So happy!

Now is kimchee making season as fall is coming to a close, so there is a lot of kimchee flowing everywhere you look. I have seen stacks of napa cabbage (the main performer in kimchee) that are fifteen high, five deep and 55 wide. Or something like that. This is fine with me as it’s my favorite of the Korean dishes. FAVORITE. I eat it at least twice a day and sometimes as a late night snack. Though the big downfall of having your own is that it STINKS up your fridge (my water sometimes tastes like kimchee, which I’m not all that cool with.) Though most people here have a kimchee fridge. Just for kimchee. This makes sense now knowing that they make the shit out of it once a year and need a big place to store it. I wish I could mail some to everyone I know so they could enjoy the splendors, too.

And holy moly! I almost forgot about an amazing experience that I was recently privileged enough to have. I SAW MANATEES. Most people know about my love of manatees because the obsession at one point in my life was so large, and they somehow make their way into my thoughts and/or conversation at least twice a week. So naturally when two friends of mine here went to the aquarium and saw the manatees, they took a video and showed me the next day. That weekend, I was there. At Co-Ex Mall Aquarium. It was so, so, so, so, so, so, good. There were so many weird fish, sharks, MANATEES, seals, jellyfish, an octopus, and lots of animals you wouldn’t expect to see in an aquarium; monkeys, bats (they were AWESOME), prairie dogs, and even a rabbit on the bank above some water filled with fish. I saw the manatees and I cried a little. I would give my right arm to go to Florida one day and hop in the water with them and have a manatee and the sea adventure day. I can’t wait to go back.

I’m went to an American Thanksgiving celebration last night and got to indulge in the glories of an American Thanksgiving feast; turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing (thanks for the Stovetop, mom!), cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, dinner rolls, and the like. There were a ton of us there crammed into our friend Tia’s tiny (but luxuriously big compared to the apartments the rest of us have) apartment, both foreign teachers and some of the Koreans we work with. We ate, drank, were merry, played a turkey trivia game, had a ‘photo booth’, and played pin the wattle on the turkey. It was so fun and felt like a real-live holiday. It makes me feel a bit more grown up experiencing a holiday away from home and making it my own. I was grateful to have the holiday celebration because I really did miss being home and in a country where it was the national holiday.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are ready to be bombarded with CHRISTMAS. It’s happening here, and I can only imagine the mall displays and commercials in America. Time to get a little jolly.

Until next time.

I Got Lost, But Then I Found

I recently went on a cleaning spree (that ended with the demise of my on-again/off-again bathroom spider friend named Clyde) that made me think about the interesting part of living ‘la vida loca’ in another country, but still having to be a real person and do things like cleaning, laundry, and cooking. Sometimes I feel as though, since I am in a new place for only this year, I need to constantly GET OUT and DO THINGS so I don’t waste my time. But then I realize how happy I am when my floor is swept and mopped, or how joyous I am to share with friends that my bathroom drain is FINALLY unclogged and the floor in there no longer makes me feel weird inside. It’s more practice of this thing Balance that I hear about, and something I get the hang of the older I get and the more experiences I have.

The cleaning spree was enacted shortly after I succumbed to my first Korean Stomach Bug, which was just like an American Stomach Bug; a major bummer. I woke up Saturday morning feeling weird and ended up spending the next two days in bed. I always feel philosophical after having a sickness that confines me inside my bed. (I say inside as I have a mosquito tent around my bed to battle the never-ending hordes of skeeters that make their way into my apartment. The tent changed my world.) I have been working a lot lately and I know that my body enjoyed the rest I got, or ‘deep rest’ as the father in my language exchange family put it when I had to cancel on Sunday. It always feels good to have to stay in bed and do nothing but watch movies, sleep and think about life and get some perspective on things.

This weekend I was able to get some perspective on things even though I wasn’t sick in bed with the flu. I had a most excellent weekend, one that makes me so glad that I am doing what I am doing, one in which I was able to appreciate the present moment a lot and made me thankful for the opportunities I have taken advantage of. I got a lot of sleep Friday night and had a fun Korean adventure on Saturday; I went with some friends to Insadong (I’m trying to link this with a website so you can see more about it if you would like to.) It’s a very traditional and touristy area of Seoul with lots of stores, restaurants, and street food, vendors, and performers. I’ve been there twice and each time have witnessed a seemingly impromptu parade. We ate in this neat vegetarian restaurant located at the end of a random alley where you had to take off your shoes upon entering and sit on the floor. I really enjoy this once in a while, but I have to say that my Western body and mind get tired of eating on the floor after a while. I always want to be really into it and have perfect posture, but the truth is that I slouch, my legs fall asleep and I constantly have to change positions. Anyway, the food was delicious and made my eyes water, my mouth burn and my nose run so I would say it was successful.

We were able to catch some street performers after that and I saw my first banjo playing in Korea!! I let out a lot of ‘Woooooo!! Banjo!!!’ while wildly trying to make eye contact with the older gentleman playing it so we could have that ‘moment’ of being excited by the same thing. There were four of us on this adventure and had previously talked about seeing the lantern festival that was somewhere in Seoul. Once it got dark we called the ‘Korean Foreigner Help Line’ and they informed us it was at the next subway stop over! Not really Proper Planning, but this one worked out in our favor. So over we headed, as did about 500,000 other people, and waited in some long lines to see wondrous, beautiful, handcrafted lanterns on a small river in the middle of Seoul. I took a quick bathroom break with my friend Amber, to one of those ‘pay 10 cents (or 100 won) to enter.’ I don’t think you should have to pay before you go pee, so I tried to cheat the system and sneak in after Amber was done and before the door shut. Word of warning, do not try this. A big jet of water spanning the enter floor sprayed out so a river of water started cascading on my feet and then the lights went out. And I couldn’t open the door from my end. So I started yelling. And Amber was laughing so hard, as were all the other older Korean women standing outside waiting in line who kept chuckling and saying ‘wey-guk’ (foreigner), that she couldn’t find 100 won. Luckily one of those old ladies had an extra so she put it in the slot for me, the door closed, I started to pull my skirt up, and the door opened up again. For long enough that it was just a liiiittle bit awkward staring everyone in the face as I waited for the door to once again close. I stopped drinking so much water after that.

But the lanterns were great and there were many interesting people to interact with. So, so, so many Koreans, which still amazes me one in a while. I love these little festivals that Seoul puts on; it makes me feel more connected to the culture and country, and the people I share it with.

Sunday was a day of victory for me. I finally found Quaker meeting!! I was hell-bent (heaven-bent?) on making it there and I’m glad I had such determination because it was quite the trek from my apartment. I had to ride the subway for a half hour, get off and find a random bus stop, take a bus from there for about 20 minutes, get off at a stop and walk for 15 minutes down a main road, then up a hill that led into a maze of alleys. I walked around those alleys for a good long while, looking for that Quaker Meeting Sign, and started to follow a Quaker looking Korean man (he had sensible shoes, and was dressed in funky clothing and I could smell the simplicity about him) but to no avail. I finally asked someone, which can be a daunting experience when you’re foreign, and he told me the way. Turns out, it was the same place as where I followed the Quaker looking man earlier, but the sign is so small I didn’t see it.

I walked into meeting a little late and after taking off my shoes in the foyer, I stealthily walked into the main room and took a seat on a pillow on the floor. The room was pretty big with a lot of windows and light and there were about 15 Korean folks sitting around; two other women, and the rest were men. Some of the men looked the part of a very spiritual Asian person in big billowy pants and facial hair that came to a point off of their chin, while others were your run of the mill Korean men. Some people shared towards the end of meeting, but as it was in Korean I had no idea what they were saying. I did get a feeling of peace, which was awesome and reminded how amazing the human spirit is. After meeting was over we stood in a circle and held hands for a bit, just like in my Quaker Meeting at Journey’s End in PA and then sat down to chat. There was more Korean and I was starting to get nervous I wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone, until one of the woman said, ‘Would you like to introduce yourself?’ Yes! So I did and it turns out that at least half of the folks there spoke English and were very interested in who I was and how I ever found the Quaker Meeting in Seoul. We all chatted more during ‘hospitality’ which was held in the same room as meeting. We all sat down around a low table in the middle of the room and ate rice cakes, kimbop, bananas, and tangerines and drank tea. It was flippin’ WONDERFUL. I was able to talk a bit and also just enjoy the experience and listen to everyone chat in Korean and laugh a lot. I will be back soon, and it makes my heart sing to know that.

I’m off to school for the day, and looks like today I’ll finally pull my coat out. It’s sunny and 32 degrees, finally getting into winter! Hope everyone is well. Much love.