Corresponding with Spring

Dear My Long Lost Friend, Spring,

How are you this year? It's been AGES since I've seen you. I kind of forget what you look like! I mean, do you come with sunshine and a little bit of rain? Is there lots of green and growing things? Will I be able to take off my long underwear and winter coat when you get here? Will I be able to open the windows in my apartment without catching my death of a cold? Will I be able to enjoy walking to school with you again? I need you to hurry up and get here so that I can have these questions answered. Please don't keep me wondering and wondering. I can't sleep because I keep thinking about how great it will be when you get here.

I'm really not trying to rush you or anything.

Actually, I am trying to rush you. I've been dealing with your cousin, Winter, for far too long, and frankly, he's not that nice. I don't really like him. He has a bad temper, is bitter, and is making me miserable. I don't want to live with him anymore. Please don't make me. He's not that bad when he lets me have some big, beautiful snowflakes, but he really isn't all that generous, so I didn't get to enjoy them very much while he's been here.

Also, he won't stay outside where he belongs. He keeps coming inside and making everything all cold and miserable like he owns the place. What is that? Can't he learn better manners? I'm not one to complain (clearly that's not true, but work with me), but Winter is overstaying his welcome. Let me just lay out my complaints against him for you, my dear Spring, to see:

1. He left my feet with signs of frostbite
2. He makes me wear at least 4 layers of clothing everyday.
3. I have to re-wear socks several days in a row (to much info??) because I HAVEto wear wool socks everyday.
4. He kept me sick for, oh... 4 months?
5. He made me want to move to Darwin where it's constantly hot. I mean, I've never heard anything about Darwin other than the fact that its hot and yet, I couldn't get it off my mind.
6. I had to hold a mug of hot water constantly in order to maintain feeling in my fingers while at school.
7. I didn't get to show off my cute sweaters to anyone because I was constantly wearing a huge coat.
8. I had to bake banana bread and brownies all the time to stay warm. (This doesn't seem like a complaint, does it? Please refer to #9)
9. I had to run on a treadmill in order to not get fat from eating banana bread and brownies.
10. I can't really think of another good complaint, but a list of 10 is so much better than a list of 9. Don't you think?

Surely you agree, this can't go on any longer. Won't you please come and save me? Challenge him to a duel. Kick is icy butt! I promise I'll be good. I won't complain about the rain you bring or about chilly mornings. I'll be happy and thankful, like a good girl! Really, I will! Cross my heart.

Just one more thing. Just a little question. A tiny one. No big deal. Aren't you late? I mean, I could have sworn you were supposed to be here already. I don't think I have a perfect memory, though some of my friends would say I do, (Name that movie!) but I seem to recall that the end of March is your time to visit. The calendar says so. Don't shoot the messenger, the calendar told me to tell you. So yea, where are you?

Hopefully you receive this correspondence promptly and can rectify the situation. I'd be most obliged to have you here and for you to send Winter packing.

Your ever faithful and somewhat impatient friend,

Emily

Relating to a basically ominpresent internet, and an actually omnipresent God

Emily writes well, doesn't she? It makes being her co-blogger an intimidating prospect and I've been having trouble thinking of things worth sharing via that prestigious medium, the internet. However, writing that sentence has just given me an idea for a blog post (see the blog post's title). Huzzah!

In the previous weeks I have spent desk warming, my apparent sweet release from boredom and inertia has been that triumph of the human spirit, the internet. Where capitalism reigns in equal measure with socialism, so much money and so much freely shared. I cannot fathom the technological advances that have brought us to this place. I have a free period at school. What should I do? What would I like to see? What would I like to know? The internet is basically limitless in promises. I can look up pretty much any subject of history of science or politics or geography or grammar (useful as an English teacher) I want, without moving 90% of my body. I can cross check one source with another. If these immediately accessible sources aren't satisfying my scholarly standards, I can type in my credit card and have instant access to peer reviewed online journals. Humanity's collective knowledge is available to me at the expense of abstract credit card money that I've never seen and doesn't really belong to me, and however many calories it takes to type and think. This surely is remarkable.

But my eyes are lower than the far reaches of humanity's collective knowledge. Or are they perhaps higher? What of art? Music? Beauty? I can go on www.youtube.com and listen to pretty much anything that anyone has ever called a song and anyone else has enjoyed enough to put on the internet. I can look at any painting famous enough to justify looking at, and I can often zoom in so close that I can see the individual hair strokes in the individual brush strokes, an option not possible at most galleries and museums, which wisely wish to prevent my moist breath breathed on that which should instead be breathtaking. But on the internet I will surely miss out on the beauty of collections won't I? I can't see an entire exhibit, I can't go from one painting to the next, so thoughtfully laid out by a passionate and instinctive curator who has made this type of thing their life's work. Or can I? Check this out, it is amazing. www.googleartproject.com. World famous galleries I can virtually walk around in.

But I confess, my eyes are still lower than the higher arts, but surely my time is no less wasted for that. While I don't spend my time listening to and viewing the much heralded genius of Mozart or Monet, I still pay attention to genius. I still see artists at work. I can watch any cricket game good enough to be broadcast in India, which currently includes the World Cup, the greatest of all cricketing events. I need only search "cricket live streaming" and I can watch the graceful art of Tendulkar or the beautiful grit of Kallis. Admittedly, the time zone difference hasn't been generous to me in this regard, but I can still read a ball by ball description of 6 hours worth of play the very next day.

But I confess, my eyes are still lower than that. I wish I could justify the five minutes I spend on Facebook as a reflection of my love for people, but when that five minutes is repeated 6 times over the period of a day and I have barely related to anyone aside from reading their status updates, it's difficult to fool myself.

The internet is revealing to me that my eyes are aimed too low to appreciate the enormity of humanity's knowledge, too low to appreciate the staggering genius of our art, too low even to properly and fully appreciate the people who hold so much of my heart.

This is not a criticism of the internet, just the too often low standards of my heart.

And if I don't take the time to relate to people, observe genius or find out some of the vastness of humanity's knowledge, what hope do I have of ever seeking the God Most High, whose wisdom, knowledge, genius and love we have collectively barely noted, and never measured. The God who is the good giver of our knowledge and genius and passion and relationships.

As I said, this is not a criticism of the internet. But it is a hopeful, tentative, nervous resolve about the internet. I will seek to use it as something that helps me raise my eyes higher than they have ever been raised. As something that will help me seek and know Him who made me and loves me. I say hopeful, tentative and nervous because I know, and you now know, that my heart is easily satisfied. Fortunately, God promises to do something about that.


"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 11:19.

(I wasn't exactly sure where that verse was, so I checked on www.biblegateway.com.)

The Do's and Don'ts of Desk-warming

This is it, folks. Today is my last day of desk-warming this winter. The new school year starts on Wednesday and I'll be in front of the class once again - doing what I get paid to do. I've learned a lot about the fine art of desk-warming this January and February and the time has come for me to divulge some of those secrets to you, our readership.

First, you ask, what IS desk-warming, Emily? Let me ever so briefly explain. During the school year -- we teach kids, during the breaks -- we sit at our desks. Why, you now ask? Good question. There is hardly anyone at school- no students, maybe a teacher or two coming in for a random meet or to clean their desks, and yet, here I am sitting at my desk from 8:20-4:20 (actually, its been more like 9-4:20, but that's beside the point). Our schools aren't being mean or spiteful, we signed a contract that said we would be at the school everyday except for national holidays and our personal vacation days. We suspect (though it hasn't been confirmed by a proper source) that these stipulations are made so that western teachers don't come gallivanting over to Korea and refuse to do things like teach English camp during the break, etc... 

So yes, desk-warming. Basically, there are a good number of days in the past month and a half that I've been sitting at my desk with absolutely no work to do. 8 hours at a desk. No work. Now, Chris has had a much easier time with this than I have. He enjoys taking things slowly and not having tasks piling up before him. I, however, have been stressed about having nothing to do. I get bored. I get frustrated. I feel worthless. You get the picture. It's driven me a little bit crazy. So I've had to implement a set of goals and principals for my day. They are as follows:

1. Don't check your e-mail, facebook, or do any internet research/surfing at home. Save every single bit of internet time for school. Not only do you have a computer sitting in front of you all day long, you also need to give your eyes (and wrists and fingers, etc...) a much needed computer break. I also do quite a bit of chatting online - I'll be honest, I mainly chat to Chris. We walk to work together in the morning and when we break apart to our different schools we always some variation of "Love you! Have a great day! Talk to you on g-mail!"

2. Bring food with you to school. You'd be surprised how long it can take to eat an apple when you are savoring every bite. I've learned to take my time with food and drink. I make a cup of instant coffee, and I don't do anything else while I drink. The coffee (or apple, or cookie, or pb&j) is not merely sustenance, but entertainment as well.

3. Shop. It's amazing all of the steals you can find online. I'm not advocating actually purchasing the items you are looking for, I'm simply saying that you can be a very well educated consumer. The next time I happen to need a set of floral measuring cups, I will not only know exactly where to find them, but I'll know the best price as well. (For those of you interested in floral measuring cups, check THESE cuties out  
Anthropologie Florist Measuring Cups

4. Find new, interesting (even mildly interesting) blogs and start at the beginning. You can read up to 3 years of a person's blog posts in pretty quick fashion. I feel like I've becoming good friends with Ree from www.thepioneerwoman.com, and Dara from www.cookincanuck.blogspot.com and Joy from www.joythebaker.com .... and so many more. Perhaps you noticed that all of these are food blogs -- this brings me to my next point.

5. Thoughtfully and with much research, plan dinner for the night. Now, DON'T plan in advance for the entire week. Only plan for tonight. I make a mental note of all the ingredients I have in my kitchen. I begin looking over blogs while I mull over whether I'd like chicken, steak, ground beef, or shrimp -- maybe even tuna. When I limit it to a specific meat (or perhaps another main ingredient that strikes my fancy) I begin the search in earnest. For this example, let's say I chose steak. Maybe 10 websites later I've looked at about 25 difference steak recipes. Some are Italian, some are Mexican, some are Thai.... What do I feel like tonight? I think I feel like Mexican. So I go BACK over all the Mexican recipes I've just looked at, double checking to make sure I have the ingredients or that I can actually acquire the ingredients in Korea for some less than exorbitant price. I think I've found it. Lime Steak Fajitas. Yum. Wish YOU could come over for dinner had have some with us, but maybe its better this way so that Chris can have thirds if he wants.

6. Try to think of creative blog posts.

Well, I hope that this gives you a taste of what I've been up to for the past few weeks. I can't speak for Chris and what exactly he's been up to while he desk-warms, but I have a strong suspicion that a lot of time has been spent pouring over cricket scores and articles and anything else you can read about regarding cricket. :) Ok, I should probably get back to all that instant coffee drinking and blog reading and I'll probably send Chris a message over g-mail just letting him know I finished this post!

Regular, everyday, normal life

People often ask us, "So, what are you guys doing over there?? Anything new? Anything exciting?" I always feel a little bad tell them, "Its all pretty normal, actually." Sure, we have funny things happen to us, but who doesn't? We regularly encounter horrible drivers, have funny exchanges with kids in our classes, and we buy the wrong ingredients in the stores. But even with those reminders that we live somewhere new, after 6 months here, life is starting to feel pretty normal.

Our first month was just a hazy. We like to refer to it has the "blur period." We were like babies. We had no idea how to get anywhere or use anything or find what we wanted. In that time, you assume that what you see is what you get. So, if I couldn't find any dish towels, I assumed that Koreans didn't use dish towels. If I didn''t see any chicken in the store, I assumed Koreans didn't eat chicken. Over time, though, we figured out how to get around our area and where to find certain kinds of food or other items we were wanting.

It's funny how a place that at one time was so foreign can become so regular and comfortable. We notice the smallest change in the junkyard across the street (such as 5 homeless grocery carts disappearing - a mystery?), we wave to the guy who directs traffic outside an apartment complex we pass every day (yes, Chris brags that the guy bows to him and not to me), and we know where to get cheap pizza just around the corner from our apartment. It is the little things like this that make our life here seem normal.

Our apartment is very modern and we've made it a bit more homey. A funny story though. Korea was taking a Census and they kept putting leaflets in our mailbox. They said, "Census" on them in English, but due to the fact that we didn't know what to do, we did nothing. Seems reasonable, right? One night our doorbell rang and Chris was the unlucky one to answer. Despite Chris's best attempts to communicate that he doesn't speak Korean, the woman insisted on talking to him and getting him to answer questions about the Census. When it became clear (why it took so long, I'm not sure) that Chris wouldn't be able to answer the questions in Korean, the woman promised to come back tomorrow at 8pm (how this was communicated, again, I'm not sure. The reason I'm hazy on all the details is that I wasn't actually present for any of these conversations. All of this is from Chris's mouth - I cannot verify its accuracy) She did return the next night with another census taker and Chris was able to answer the questions. A majority of the questions revolved around our apartment. Did you have indoor plumbing? Is your kitchen a modern kitchen? Do you have hot water? It's a bit amusing that these questions made it on the census when we (and everyone else we know) live in very modern housing, but I guess they wouldn't be asking the questions if it wasn't relevant to at least a segment of the population.

So to conclude, our life here is pretty normal. It's good, it has funny moments, frustrating moments, and we wonder if at some point we will no longer have indoor plumbing (I jest), but otherwise its pretty normal.

Swings and Roundabouts (Part 2)

picking it up again here. I preface all of this by acknowledging that what I am comfortable with isn't what is inherently right. Without further ado, here are 5 things that are harder in Korea. 

1. Grocery shopping. The bane of my Korean experience. I've never been a good shopper, but I really struggle here. Partly it's hard because my Korean is dreadful (my own fault). Partly, it's hard because Koreans eat different foods to what I am accustomed to (their fault?). 

Mostly, it's hard due to cultural differences. Koreans have a different concept of personal space to what I have grown up with. Australian cities and towns are sprawling affairs, fueled by the knowledge that there is a pretty decent middle to the continent that is basically uninhabited [citation needed]. Korea is exactly the opposite, with the 22nd greatest population density in the world, as opposed to Australia's ranking of 233rd [Yes, Wikipedia said so]. I like to imagine (while grossly oversimplifying culture) this is why Koreans are much more likely to position themselves in a place where they are touching strangers for as long as it takes to choose which vegetables one might want to buy - which can take a while in any country.

In addition to personal space differences, Koreans and westerners have a different idea on how to behave towards strangers. In the west, we are (supposedly) polite towards strangers, while more likely to be distant towards the vague acquaintance we work with or live near, etc. Koreans, instead, have a concept of in-group versus others (according to the books we have read).  They are conscientious towards people in their in-group, maybe work colleagues, family, club members, but less bothered by strangers. I almost daily get to enjoy being in an in-group as a co-worker, but struggle with being a stranger in a crowd. It is not uncommon to see someone block a grocery store aisle with their trolley (editor's note: cart for y'all Americans) as they casually browse the shelves, or push in front of others to taste a free sample.

Anyway, shopping = harder.

2. Pedestrian safety. Koreans drive their cars like they drive their shopping trolleys. They park them like they park their shopping trolleys. This could be well out from the curb, congesting traffic, or more commonly, by mounting the curb and parking their car on the sidewalk - which, let me tell you, is a bit of a surprise until you get used to it. It makes sense, and is an efficient use of space when there is almost no on-street parking, but I am still getting my head around dodging moving cars (and motorbikes!) while window shopping.

Something Emily and I initially found interesting was that people rarely J-walk in Korea, particularly at traffic lights. Road rules aren't especially policed, so why this aversion to a law that everyone breaks in Australia? Well, we now think it is because of the aforementioned lack of road rule policing. Drivers in Daegu run red lights at will, especially fast food delivery motorbikes, who blow their horns, close their eyes and keeping going almost regardless of the flow of traffic. In such a situation, J-walking becomes a much more dangerous proposition.

3. Home maintenance. We rent a place in a 5 floor building where the landlords occupy the top floor. This is very convenient in some ways, we can ring their doorbell whenever we have a problem, and they are the most obliging lovely couple. But then what? How do you mime that plunging the toilet didn't solve the problem? Do you take the plunger with you? How do you explain that there is an odd water build up along the external walls that is resulting in mould? And most pertinently during the winter, how do you explain that sometimes the hot water doesn't work or disappears mid-shower only to return 10 minutes later after you're freezing, dry and dressed?

4. Cold school. This problem is almost universally complained about by foreign teachers working in Korea. Apparently, the school administration likes to save money on heating bills, and Koreans believe that cold, fresh air is good for our health (maybe it is, I don't know). I say 'apparently', because I haven't experienced this problem, my school is toasty warm except when students leave the staff room door open. Em's school, however, is cheap about heating. She recently got such cold toes that they exhibited signs of frost bite and we had to cancel a ski trip. Fortunately the toes seem to be healing now.

5. We aren't near all of you, our faithful readers (Ohhhhhh!). Nah, I lie, the cold showers are so annoying that they deserve a second mention.

I keep having to remind myself that I've never lived in a place before where I was so free to choose whether to leave or stay, meaning that Korea comes under closer scrutiny than I would normally subject my home to.  Em and I are loving living together, we love being in Korea, we love the area in which we live. 

This time, I'm really finished.

Swings and roundabouts (Part 1)

(Editor's note: I finished this blog post last night but couldn't post it, then Em snuck in and wrote an informative and engaging post that you can find below. How do I compete when she uses photos?)

There is an expression, "what you make on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts". I have no idea where the expression comes from, but to my understanding, it means to break even. We've lost things, but we've also gained things. I have recently been thinking about our move to Korea in this fashion. I should say from the start that we are really glad we are here, and we would do it again in a flash... rendering the theme of this post pointless and untrue... hmmm. Well, minutes have passed and I can't think of a more cohesive theme for what I want to write about, so let's just roll with it.

Anyway, some things here are harder, but many other things are easier. Let me tell you about 5 of each.

Easier

1. The availability of fresh kimchi. Can I describe something that is very fermented as 'fresh'? Anyway, it's much easier to find here in Korea.

2. Going to the doctor. This should be a difficult process. It should be painful, slow, expensive, and confusing. At least, that has at times been my experience in Australia, and Em's in America. But in Korea, wow! I've been to the doctor twice, Em, three times. We have each received prescriptions to be filled out at the pharmacist conveniently located next to any doctor's office. It hast cost under $5 each time we have gone, including medicine. It turns out you don't really need to speak to visit a doctor, just mime. I have taught more than one English lesson on going to the doctor, and can't help having a small existential crisis about what I offer the world.

3. Going to the gym. We joined a gym two days ago and it was easy, hence, its location in this 'Easier' list. It is a 10 minute walk, on the way to school, and it costs about $90 for 4 months membership. The guy who runs the gym seems really nice, even after he patted my protruding belly. It will be gone (again) soon.

4. Spending time together. We work the same hours at schools on the same block. We live a decent distance from our nearest friends. We live a massive distance from our nearest family. The TV is nearly all in Korean. This leaves us basically distraction free. We are so glad we don't need to set time aside for each other, it's happening so easily. This is definitely my favourite thing about being in Korea (Ohhhhh!).

5. Bestowing blessings. In Australia, I was pretty much anonymous to pretty much everyone. Sure I had my friends, family, acquaintances, neighbours I never spoke to, but to most people, I was a stranger that didn't warrant a second glance. In Korea, if Em and I so much as make eye contact with Korean teenager, it makes them excited. If Em and I so much as pretend we don't notice the elderly people staring at us, it  allows them to indulge their curiosity. But the real blessing, is when we say hello to an elementary student. Faces torn in half by huge smiles, they delight in their ability to cross - nay, destroy - cultural barriers. Their parents glow with pride, and I too am able to cross the cultural barrier as I read their thoughts - "my child is a genius and will be the president of Korea." Emily and I bring joy and hope wherever our feet take us. We make a more beautiful world. Previous existential crisis averted.

Now I would post the 5 things that are harder here, but my mother pointed out that Emily has been posting more than me. With that in mind, I'm going to terminate this blog post, with the intention of 

Our American Holiday in Seoul

As I mentioned in my previous post, Chris and I went to Seoul for a few days to submit his visa application (in preparation to hopefully go to seminary when we finish teaching here) as well as to get away and see some sights. Thankfully, everything went incredibly smoothly. We stayed in a hotel just a 10 minute walk from the Embassy, we were the first appointment of the morning, so we didn't have to wait at all. Everyone who helped us was very friendly, and we were assured that we had filled out all of our forms correctly and would hear back from the Department of Homeland Security within a few weeks. Step number one - CHECK. In fact, we even had some extra information that they didn't need. That's how prepared we were.

I'll post a picture of the Embassy below. It really wasn't impressive. The location was fabulous - across the street from a huge palatial complex as well as the cultural center (which is the lovely home of the Seoul symphony). Despite its nice surroundings, the embassy itself looks like a 1970's office building. What WAS impressing, though, was the number of Korean police officers swarming the place. They were guarding all the entrances and there were mobile police stations and we even saw the body shields that you see police carrying if you watch a riot on the news. Intense.

With all this in mind, when I lost my security badge while in the Embassy I started to freak out a little bit. I'm just one little person - no match for the entire Korean police force even with a husband who stands a half a foot (on average) above every other person in the country.  So yes, I lost my badge. Freaking out. I tried to tell a security officer who didn't understand me but then I kept seeing him everywhere watching me! On our way out of the building before we exited through security (and ideally turned in our badges) I asked the last American I saw what I should do. "Well, you're just going to have to risk it with them [meaning the security officers outside the door], we don't handle that." Umm... thanks.

You know what happened next? NOTHING. Chris turned in his badge. I didn't make eye contact with the security officer. We walked out the door. Perhaps I shouldn't be bragging about this in such a public forum, but really. I must look super innocent (or incapable) or doing anything  tricky, because she didn't even bat an eye when I left without giving back my security badge.

After our embassy adventure, we were free to explore at our leisure. We saw some really pretty sites - a famous palace, a trendy, artsy shopping street, some huge statues, and witnessed a Seoul snow-storm. Side note: apparently they don't plow roads in Seoul. No lie.

But, even though we did make the effort to see some nice, Korean spots in Seoul, we did a lot more "American" things. We went to a theater and saw an American movie (while eating popcorn and drinking Coke). We ate Dunkin Donuts one morning for breakfast, and then McDonalds another morning. We had Indian food one night, and then Subway another night. Oh yes, and I went to Starbucks an embarrassing number of times.  Don't judge us. That's right - you. I know what you're thinking, "Man, they were in Seoul! Why didn't they eat KOREAN food!!"

Upon reflection, we did feel bad about it -- but only for about a minute. We live here. We eat Korean food all the time and our TV has 70 Korean channels. And, for the record, I have missed Subway. It was actually kind of a nice mix of Korean and western on our holiday. I'm looking forward to going back to Seoul in warmer weather. And, I hear they have a few Taco Bell's, so that's definitely incentive. :) Just kidding.