One Month Down... Eleven More to Go

Happy October everyone!!!

I don't know if everyone else is as surprised as I am that fall is already here and the leaves are starting to change color. We even had a cold, windy and rainy storm last night that brought me back to my wonderful years in the PNW. Unfortunately there isn't much to update everyone on in terms of any trips that I have taken over the past couple of weeks as I am waiting to receive my first full paycheck tomorrow :D But there are a few minor normal life details that I thought you all might appreciate.

The first was my experience with paying September's bills. I don't have a bank account yet, but it's proving to be unnecessary as any banking service can be done at any bank regardless of whether or not you have an account there. While this may seem bizarre to those of us operating on the US financial system, there are a few things that I should explain first about the way the banking system works in Korea. First, there are no such things as personal checks. Only banks may write checks and even then it happens on a blue moon. Second, debit cards may not be used for making purchases, only for withdrawing cash from ATMs. Third, all credit card transactions are run on electronic signature which ensures more security than simply signing a piece of paper to be filed later. This leaves Korea with a mainly cash economy. So in order to pay one's bills, one must go to the bank and pay in cash there. It was quite a strange experience to walk into a bank, hand over my statements for my utilities and internet and then simply have them stamped as proof that I paid them. Even better, my transaction took less than five minutes including my wait time to be helped. If only my days at BofA went that smoothly.

My next normal life tidbit involves my cooking situation. So I have literally gone about a month without figuring out how the stove-top in my kitchen worked and I had given up all hope until my co-worker carefully explained to me the several step process to get a flame going. So then I decided to make a grilled vegetable medley and headed off to the grocery store. From now on I will only refer to zucchini by it's Korean English name of "green pumpkin," and I will never forget how cheap cauliflower is back home. Also, can we please talk about how amazing seedless grapes are? I don't know if I just grabbed the wrong batch seeing as how I can't read any of the signs, but it is a pain in the --- to pick the seeds out while you're trying to enjoy a delicious grape.

This past weekend was the Korean version of Thanksgiving called Chuseok and I had the pleasure of enjoying a three day weekend to catch up on all of my American TV shows. Some have really impressed me so far this season (House, Grey's, Fringe and Flash Forward) while other's have really left me feeling unsatisfied (One Tree Hill, Mercy, Trauma). But we do have the season premiere of Ugly Betty in two weeks and LOST's final season is looming on the horizon. So, for the holiday season apparently the thing to do is to give everybody food. I got several pieces of candy from my kids, a coffee and apple juice from my co-workers and a MASSIVE box of pears from my boss that I then got to carry home all by my lonesome. Originally I thought the box was full of several normal sized pears, but I was horribly mistaken.

How am I ever going to finish these?!?! It's a crisis like this that makes me miss my hetero life partner who I know would happily take a few of these off of my hands.

PS: I found a stationary store in downtown Nonsan that may be a little disorganized, but I was completely content to spend almost an hour sifting through all of their awesome stuff. I'm starting to think that I need a boyfriend... :(

Gwanchok-sa Temple

Hello hello!

First, I must apologize for the delay in posting about my recent adventures here in Nonsan, but really there wasn't much to post about lol Work is in full swing and the kids are keeping me busy and always delighting me with their new and inventive ways of butchering the English language. Not that I can hate on them, since I'm pretty sure I still butcher my native tongue (not to mention my four years at attempting Spanish). So the first big piece of news is that I finally have my phone set up here in Korea which means talking over the phone is free for both you and me :D My Skype situation has improved, but my microphone is not as powerful as I would like, so until I get paid next month, if you would like to get in touch with me, just call (916) 475-0171. Just, please remember that I am 16 hours ahead of you west coasters and 13 hours for you east coasters.

Onto the good stuff. So last week I had to make my way down to the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Office in Daejon to register myself as a legal alien in Korea. The drive through the National Park took about an hour and was absolutely stunning. I am of course kicking myself because I didn't take my camera with me so I could show you guys the beautiful scenery. But never fear, I am sure to be returning to the city since there is a Costco adjacent to the trainstation. Yeah, that's right... a COSTCO! How is it possible that the entire Portland metro area is only serviced by one Costco and yet I can find one here in Korea without any problem? Someone in corporate needs a talking to... The best part about this entire trip was that from the instant I walked into the main lobby I could have sworn I had been transported to a DMV office back home, complete with uncomfortable chairs and a number ticker next to the TV. The whole process took less than five minutes (after the 20 minute wait, of course) and I just recieved my Alien Registration Card yesterday.

Yay! I am legal! lol But beyond my short visit to Daejon last Tuesday, nothing much happened during my week other than the boys in my middle school class once again misbehaved and this time I had to have Mr. Kim come in and talk some sense into their pre-pubescent brains. It was bad enough that he had to ask me to leave the room while he went into a lecture that I'm pretty sure I'm glad I couldn't understand thanks to my propensity to experience second-hand embarassment. To make matters worse, the other native speaker had to call Mr. Kim in to discipline the kids for using the f-bomb in class; not just to each other, but to him as well. *le sigh* At least they were better behaved this week for me.

Onto the weekend! So I've been searching for something to do that doesn't require leaving the city and/or costing too much as I won't be seeing a paycheck for another two weeks. Luckily, there is a site nearby called Gwanchok-sa which is home to the tallest freestanding statue of Buddha in the entire country. I knew from reading my guide book that it would be a little bit of a hike, but I didn't realize that my body would still be recovering three days later!

The main entrance leading up to the temple grounds.

Yet another gate to pass through to get up to the main property.

These guys were huge! And hella scary since it was dark as I passed through the gate and didn't know they were there.

This was the first temple upon climbing the main flight of stairs up to the grounds. From what I could gather, they were getting the place ready for a big party. Buddha's b-day perhaps?

A view inside one of the smaller temples.

Here is the mighty statue itself. The picture really doesn't do it justice. But to put it in perspective, the ear's are as long as an average man is tall.

A view of the grounds from Buddha's perspective.

This used to be the main entrance to the temple.

Okay, so story time. After you buy your ticket there are two paths of stairs to choose from. I of course took the main staircase up to the temple grounds first, but then temptation got the better of me and I decided to see where the other set led to. 300 steps later and I finally got to the top of the hill/mountain only to be greeted by these semi-creepy carvings. What a great reward, right?

Strawberry fields! Come April I am going to be a very happy girl :D

Burial mounds. There were some reall pretty birds flying around in the background, but I couldn't quite capture them on film.

IDK what this is, but I thought it was kinda neat, especially with the turtle statue that reminded me of Scorpio. I'll have to inquire from my co-workers as to the translation.

First days in Korea :)

Hey Everyone!! In case you didn't get the memo, I arrived safe and sound in my new home of Nonsan, Korea after a few mishaps in SFO that delayed my trip by two days. Essentially, I am never flying United Airlines ever again unless it is a direct flight and their flight attendants prove to be adequate in their knowledge of gate info. Okay- that's enough negativity for one post. *take a deep breath*

It's hard to pick the right spot in my adventure to be the "beginning" of my story, but I suppose arriving at the international airport at Incheon would be best. Initial reaction as I stepped off the plane? "Holy Mother -----! It's hot!!!" Within perhaps 20 seconds I was sweating bullets from the intense humidty walking through the gate to make my way to customs. But wait! I had to wait in line to be checked for a fever so the Korean government could be assured that I didn't have swine flu. Once cleared, I made my way through the empty international wing of the airport, and began to strip down to my tank top in hopes of cooling off. Nope. It only meant more surface area of skin to be affected by the humidity. Next came my trip through immigration which resulted in immediate service and no questions asked. Go figure, every time I came back into London, I got grilled by immigration officials while my friends went right through. But I guess already having the all important VISA stamp already in place made my arrival less suspicious.

My traveling didn't stop at the airport, however. Nope, I then had to board a bus to Iksan (a city near Nonsan) for four hours!!! Thankfully I got to sleep for most of the way, but not before making several humorous (at least to me) observations about my new home. First, they take the term "limosine bus" very seriously. I'm talking flatscreen TVs and multi-colored lights lining the aisle from above and amazing air conditioning! Next, traffic in Seoul is a b----. I don't know how Koreans can do it. This was even worse than LA traffic. On the plus side, I did get to see the beautiful lights of Seoul (as well as at least 5 Baskin Robbins) as we drove through to get onto the main expressway south. I also utilized my height advantage to look down into the cars beside me. Nearly every single one was a Kia or Hyundai (for obvious reasons) and they all had GPS monitors in the center console as well as a tv for the driver to enjoy while s/he was stuck in traffic. I also was fortunate enough to spot a driver skilled enough to text, watch tv and drive with his foot!

When I finally arrived in Iksan, my director and the other native teacher were there to greet me and take me to my apartment.

A shot of my apartment from the entryway. The sink and stove are to the right.

Another pic of my apartment from my back "porch" where my washing machine resides.

I did a little unpacking that night and then crashed for a few hours until I woke up around 4 AM local time. Mind you, I had just gone to bed at 11:30 pm - darn jetlag! The next day presented me with an oportunity to shadow my fellow teacher to each of his classes. Most of the kids are beyond adorable (save for the painfully shy ones in my middle school classes who hate to talk up and practice their English. The boys even sit on one side while the girls stay clumped together on the other) and were incredibly excited to meet me and practice some of the English they had already learned. In my next post I'll make sure to add pics of them. I also learned that my name in Korean means a type of fish which of course caused a few giggles to erupt in the classroom when I was introduced. After a "full" day of classes - aka six periods of 45 minutes mostly spent playing games- the director and the owner took us all out to celebrate my arrival. What happened next included a huge feast of amazing lean beef (which we cooked ourselves) served with at least seven different side dishes. I also was very quickly introduced to the drinking culture in Korea; which included a few rules like never look your elder in the eye when taking a shot, never leave another person's glass empty and always place your hand over your heart or at your elbow when pouring for someone else (you're never allowed to pour for yourself). The first drink of the night was a Korean version of an Irish Car Bomb where you drop a shot of Soju into a glass of beer. Then came multiple shots of Soju for no reason other than Mr. Kim wanted everyone to get drunk on a Thursday night! I eventually had to turn my shot glass over to opt out of the game, but that didn't stop the awful affects of drinking too much hit me when I got home that night.

The two Korean teachers; Kelly and Sarah, as well as the owner of my school sitting awkwardly behind me.

The secretary of our school along with our director Mr. Kim, Michael from Canada and Nicholas (his wife had her baby the next day!)

The massive amount of food that never seemed to stop coming.

Random action shot at dinner.

After another early morning (six o'clock this time!) I got ready for my first day flying solo. Before getting to actually take over my class, I had to go to the hospital just up the street from my school for several medical tests to establish my health insurance including; a chest x-ray, peeing into a paper cup, vision test and having my blood drawn. My experience in the hospital made me have great appreciation for the Korean health care system, everything was very quick and efficient and being in a rural part of the country meant hardly ever waiting! When I returned to the school I was super nervous, but the kids seemed to like me and my horrible pronounciation of their names! I did have a slight crisis when a boy broke down in tears when he hit himself in the face. I found out after the class that he tends to cry a lot. Poor thing. Later that night we all had dinner at the school. Apparently my director will pay for our night meals as long as whatever we order is under 3,000 won (which will buy you a lot of food!) On Friday's it's the foreign teacher's choice, so we had Chinese food. I know... it's seems pretty darn ironic to be eating Chinese food in Korea, but there you have it. Surprisingly, it was a lot like the American version of Chinese food and I enjoyed every last bite!

Today (Saturday) I took a little walk through downtown Nonsan to do some grocery shopping at Home Plus - aka Tesco (I pretty much freaked out when I realized it was a Tesco, which brought back so many fond memories of London) aka Walmart. I unfortunately didn't have any coins with me to rent a cart, so I could only buy what I could carry, which wasn't much. Next time I will come prepared and take a taxi home because the walk back seemed much longer in the humidty while carrying a super heavy bag. Thankfully, many of the items had English subtitles to make shopping much easier than I thought it would be. I also met a very nice gentleman from Australia who was teaching the next town over and had already been here two years! When I checked out, I also learned that much like in Europe, you have to pay a minimal fee for your bags. Hopefully I will collect enough to not have to buy anymore. Along the way on my adventure, I took several shots of the city to give you all a flavor of where I am living. :)

The entrance to the all girls high school directly behind my apartment building.

The street I walk down every day to get to my school.

The major intersection where the freeway enters the downtown section of our city.

City Hall surrounded by trees.

Korean Mula :)

Six Days :)

Yeah... that's right. In the time if took The Lord to create the universe, I will be getting on a jet plane and sailing across the beautifully blue Pacific Ocean to my new home in Nonsan, Korea. As Mr. B Mabie pointed out, the trip will be longer than the distance from his thumb to his pinkie finger stretched out over the globe. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure, I suggest joining Mr. Mabie on a shopping trip through Office Depot, you never know what random tidbits of information you may learn along the way.

Speaking of spending time with the Mabie's, I got home last week from an amazing train ride up to Oregon to spend more time with my hetero life partner, as well as her amazing family. We even took a detour up to Portland to spend time with some college friends that I hadn't seen since February. So many thoughts and emotions went through my head during this goodbye tour of the I-5 corridor. First, let me dispel any notions ya'll might have that train trips are as romantic as they used to be. From annoying phone calls in the middle of the night, to blaring rap music, to incessant snoring, the 12 hour trip was nowhere near the idealized recounting of travellers past. And heaven forbid an Amtrak train arrive on time! Don't get me wrong, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. And the convenience of not having to drive the entire way by my lonesome and pay to fill up the tank several times there and back, made it all worth it. Maybe I've just been spoiled by the efficient, clean, and well-run European transportation system?

But I digress... The most important part of my trip was getting to spend time with some of the people I value most in my life. We even got to take a tour around campus to check out some of the renovations and new additions to the UP property. Oddly enough, it sort of made me feel insignificant, like campus life just continues on without me, even though it still remains a huge part of who I am and who I want to be. But I guess the new construction should serve as inspiration rather than turn me into a Debbie Downer. The point is that life moves on and I have to move on right along with it. That isn't to say that I shouldn't hold on to all of the fantastic memories that I had on campus either in class with my friends or locked in the basement of the library trying to finish the 10 page paper due the next morning. But now it's time to start making new ones, and that realization made it so much easier to say goodbye to my friends in OR than I thought it would be. This wasn't a goodbye that's going to last forever, this is more of a "see you later" and a "I'm so excited to see how much we can all grow and progress over the next year." Rather than dread getting on that plane, I am eager to come back with a million exciting stories about my kids, my new home, and the incredible people I am going to meet.

As for the slightly more boring part of my trip to Korea, the task of packing is still coming along pretty well. I've cleared out most of my junk and have now filled one suitcase, with two more waiting to be stuffed to the brim. With all of this cleaning and packing, I've been holding my breath in anticipation of finding my camera that has mysteriously disappeared. Unfortunately it looks like the Kodak I bought before leaving for London will not be accompanying me to Korea. Instead I put on my only child charms and conned my dad into hooking me up with a camera from the Air force Base he tends to frequent for work (being a retired serviceman does have it's perks; such as cheaper electronics and no sales tax!). Other than that, it's pretty much been the same here in good ol' Sacto, except for the fact that I'm pretty sure I broke my pinkie toe as it's now swollen and bruised. I would put a picture up because, despite the pain, I find it rather hilarious, but since I am only operating with my camera phone for the moment, I can't quite get enough light for you guys to fully appreciate my pain. :(

Clean House

I don't have much to post today other than I have officially started the first two phases of packing. Yeah, that's right, there are phases. At this point, I'm not entirely sure how many of them there are, but I'm thinking it's somewhere around five. The first phase mainly consisted of going through all of my clothes and finally getting rid of the ones that either don't fit, are too old, or I never wear on a consistent basis. A giant trash bag and donation box later and I have finally whittled down my wardrobe to a size that I think will fit into the two suitcases I am allowed to bring on board.

The next phase involved shopping for clothes to supplement my lack of professional outfits. I know this may seem counter-productive to the first phase, but trust me, I was in serious need of some pieces that made me look like I should be taken seriously. For some reason I don't think my "I *skull and crossbones* Pirates" shirt from Disneyland would do the trick. Not that I don't intend on wearing it if the occasion happens to arise.

In other news I finally got my passport back from San Francisco with my VISA stamp attached.

This whole time I never really appreciated the fact that I was being granted entrance into another country until I saw the full page stamp in my passport. All of a sudden this adventure has become very real and in just three short weeks I will be wheeling my carry-on (okay, more like carrying since I'll be taking my backpack... I just wanted to sound cool like the other travelers) down the international terminal to my gate and saying so long to the good old U. S. of A. and hello to my new home. The anxieties that I have been able to supress since June are coming back with a vengence and I hope that my trip to Portland next week will help calm my nerves and bring back the level of pure excitement I was feeling just a few hours ago.

Can somebody hand me the aloe?

'Cause I am freakin' sunburnt! I guess that's what you get for not asking someone to put sunblock on your back and you end up missing perhaps the most annoying spot to get too much sun. Maybe I should back up a bit...

So this weekend was probably the most amazing four days I've had in a while. (Save for several birthday celebrations that were pretty fantasically awesome in their own right!) It started with a relaxing evening spent with my bff Jess and her family, which involved coloring, cookie dough ice cream and Beerfest on Comedy Central (aka waaaay too many of the same commercials). The next morning was even better because FINA World Championships were on NBC and I got to see Reezy in his finest as the US Men's team kicked @$$ in the 4x100 free relay and beat the French, who should have won hands down. I guess that's the power of Phlochte? Onto that afternoon when Jess and I went to go see the Orphan. To my surprise, the movie proved to be much better than I think either of us had anticipated. It was a little less horror and little more suspense/thriller with this crazy orphan girl on the loose trying to kill everybody. I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending did lead to a thought-provoking discussion on the drive home.

Speaking of driving, the next part of my weekend involved an almost two hour trek up the summit to vist my hetero life partner (copy-right pending) and her hubby in Lake Tahoe. Even though I had just been there for father's day, it had been my first time in years really getting to experience what the lake had to offer. Despite the fact I left with a pretty nasty burn on the bottom of my left shoulder blade, only adding to the color discrepancy between my arms, I had a blast rafting down the Truckee River (see photo below) even though we nearly died several times and Brad may have ended up injured due to my lack of avoiding the bushes... and playing on a remote beach with the Mabies.

By far the best part of this weekend was sharing a room with Chelsea and staying up late catching up on the gossip and laughing about our time spent living together in Portland. On the drive back to Sacramento I got to spend a lot of time mulling over my friendships I've made in my short 23 years. Being an only child, you come to appreciate the friends you have so much more because they truly do become like family. All of my girls back home in Sac and up in Portland are my sisters and I don't know where I would be or the person I would be without them. I've said this before during a drunken love fest with two of my besties, who shall remain nameless, that I truly feel blessed by the women in my life. After losing my mother to cancer in '99, my dad did the best that he could to be there for me and I love him beyond words for the sacrifices he made to keep our family together, but there's only so much girl talk that can be had. I floundered most of my way through high school without that feminine influence, not knowing a thing about make up or tweezers (can we say yikes to the insane eyebrows I had back then?!). But then I solidified friendships with some of the most amazing girls during my last two years along with the first two at uni and there is no way that I can deny that my mom sent them (and their families) to me to serve as strong female role models in my life. Beyond the superficial shopping trips and boy talk, these girls taught me what it meant to embrace being a woman and to stand up for our identity as double-x chromosomes.

Okay, I'm going to climb off of my girl-power soap box now and tell you guys some exciting news about my trip to Korea. So, now that I have my VISA issuance number, I had to deal with the Consulate in getting the actual VISA stamp added to my passport. Well, after being transferred around the Consulate's main switchboard I found out that I had to send in all of my documents, including my passport, ahead of me before they could set up the interview date. Apparently a vital part of my packet was missing as I found out yesterday afternoon. Included in the list of VID (very important documents) was a return envelope for them to send my passport back in. Well, figuring that I would have to drive into SF for my interview anyway, I didn't bother including one. Surprise, surprise! My documents all checked out and they decided that they didn't need to interview me after all *does happy dance* So now I have to wait another week to get my passport back and then everything will be ready for me to go!

On a less exciting note, my swimsuit has gone to crap and I would like to get a new one before I leave. Anyone know of some good sales?

First Post!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to check this out and keep tabs on me while I prepare for probably the most exciting and challenging phases of my life so far. As you all already know, I am moving to Nonsan, Korea for a year long contract to teach elementary/middle school aged students conversational English.

(Insert awkward transition to explain why I am posting maps from GoogleEarth)

(A shot of Nonsan relative to the entire country)

(A closer view of the city. As you can tell, it's not very big.)

I wanted to give you guys somewhat of an idea of where I will be living for the next year since I obviously haven't been able to take any pictures yet. Random factoid about Nonsan: they grow five different varieties of strawberries, AKA my favorite fruit, thereby making it the most awesomest place to be assigned, even if it will take over an hour each way just to go to the bank.

(Insert yet another poorly worded transition to explain the next set of pictures taken of my school.)

Word on the street is that my classroom size will only be about ten to fifteen students and I will only have to teach about six hours a day from 2PM until 8 at night; which translates to sleeping in and being available to Skype (username: margaret.miller86) or chat on AIM (username: haydensjedi04) when most of you guys will be getting off work. If my calculations are correct, I should be about 14 hours ahead of the west coast (that means 17 for you east coasters :) you know who you are).

So most of you guys know that I have been knee-deep in the VISA process to be granted clearance to enter the country and work there for the next year. After dealing with a not-so-friendly clerk at Fed-Ex who wouldn't believe me when I told her which city to select for shipping my package, (Much like in the UK, major cities in Korea are divided into districts or neighborhoods, that you have to clarfiy on the shipping label. For instance, my documents had to be shipped to the Seocho-Gu district of Seoul, ergo simply putting "Seoul" on the label wasn't going to cut it.) I finally got my way and the documents arrived safe and secure. I just recieved my VISA issuance number from the Immigration Office and now I have to drive into the wonderful city of San Fransisco for a formal interview with the Consulate to determine my eligibilty to teach in Korea. You would figure the fact that a company has chosen to hire me would be validation enough, but apparently not *shrugs* But onto the more important tidbit of info I recieved in the e-mail from my recruiter yesterday; my departure date.

That's right, I now know the date I will be leaving for Korea (from now on this will be referred to as 'd-day'). August 22nd will be the day I board my plane for the long haul flight that I am pretty certain will change the rest of my life. Last night I had a lot of time to think about this day as I tossed and turned in the Sacramento heat. I imagined how hard it would be saying goodbye to my friends and family, what we would do to celebrate the night before, and then I had a horrible confirmation. I would be missing all of football season. Yes, I know this should be at the bottom of the list of my concerns after not knowing the native language and learning to eat Kimchi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi. But for those of you who understand my love of the sport, it just simply won't be the same watching highlights from my laptop on ESPN.com. I was trying to figure out last night why I had such an emotional connection to the game and that's when I realized how big of a role watching football with my family played in my life. Every weekend we would wake up after a full morning of sleeping in (this being a huge deal for my dad who was usually up at two in the morning to go to work during the week) and get changed into our team shirts (Cal on Saturdays and Chargers on Sundays) in order to show our support proudly. Then came game time; complete with snacks of the salty and sugary variety. Whether our team won or lost, the latter occuring with the most frequency, the most important thing was that we spent the day together as a family, united as one screaming at the TV to urge on our favorite players or insult the referees (who, in my mother's opinion, were always either blind or getting paid by our opponents). This past year I tried to carry on the tradition on my own via text messaging with my dad during Cal and Chargers games. While it wasn't exactly the same, I felt a renewal of that connection to my past and that I know I am going to miss during my year abroad. I just hope the players and coaches will be able to hear my brilliant advice from thousands of miles away just as well as they did from hundreds :D