This last week before Chrismas in the clinic, both the other doctor, Sarah and I fell ridiculously ill one day. We were both having stomach trouble, trying to treat a million patients and generally hold it together. At lunch, the food sounded revolting though it's the same thing every day--Dal Baat, rice and lentils, so I layed up on the roof in the sun and fell asleep. The interpreters were all worried about us, and tried to think up reasons for being sick. Pradjil thought it was the chicken we had for dinner the night before, because apparently the butchers sometimes sell you 3 or 4 day old chickens (no refridgerators). Satya Mohan thought it might be that the walk we went on with him the afternoon before had been too long, though it was only maybe an hour and a half. Ramita called her mother, who said that while we were roaming the village someone had definately cast the evil eye on us, and we should be dewitched. She sprinkled some water on a bench, sat me down, and traced each side of me 3 times with different handfuls of uncooked rice. She then plucked a hair from my head, did the same to Sarah and threw it all off the roof.
I rolled around in pain for a while longer, but everything went away maybe faster than it should have and I'm now pretty convinced that the dewitching worked, but I don't think I'll have village chicken for a while.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Things to do to make a small monk laugh
1. While rubbing neem oil for head fungus, massage it in as if he were coming to a salon.
2. Sing songs from Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, dance along.
3. Waltz with another doctor to imaginary music.
4. Shadow puppets
5. Stand behind your collegue, put your arms through theirs and pretend to be their hands.
6. juggle
7. giggle back
2. Sing songs from Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, dance along.
3. Waltz with another doctor to imaginary music.
4. Shadow puppets
5. Stand behind your collegue, put your arms through theirs and pretend to be their hands.
6. juggle
7. giggle back
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sacred refuse
Our little clinic is located next to a monastary, or Gompa, which is 5 minutes away from a tantric Hindu temple. The people in the village make their way, every morning starting about 6:30 to give and receive blessings to both. Women walk with plates of flowers--poinsettias and marigolds, incense, candles, dye powder and salt to take part in the blessings. The incense and candles get burnt, but the powder, flowers and salt are thrown and placed to color different parts of the temple.
What is even better though is that this is done not only at the gompa and temple, but all around the village so that seemingly random places are colored red and orange with dye and flowers, a rock here, a water spigot there.
The whole place is covered in the rubbish of blessing and thanks.
What is even better though is that this is done not only at the gompa and temple, but all around the village so that seemingly random places are colored red and orange with dye and flowers, a rock here, a water spigot there.
The whole place is covered in the rubbish of blessing and thanks.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
A slow day
I had 7 patients today, instead of the usual 14-19 which was a relief, as youthfully exuberant as I am practicing what I love every day.
The reason why is because the maoists decided they were unhappy, and led a citywide strike which shut down all transportation. Apparently some policemen killed 6 people, and so they see it as their civil duty to set fire to motorcycles and generally cause a disturbance that stops people from doing what they'd normally do. Apparently the strike is scheduled to continue until Tuesday. Wednesday, however, the 'untouchable' cast has decided to schedule a protest to make a point about being treated as untouchable, and so it seems the traffic may remain slow throughout midweek.
This is the news I have in my village. It took one of the interpreters an hour and a half to walk here after she had to abandon her scooter.
In other news, I live next door to a building of heavily armed mafia.
All in spitting distance are those guys with the guns, a gompa training quite a few young monks (whom I love to treat for their various ailments--mostly ringworm/fungus) and the clinic. It is a powerful little compound.
The reason why is because the maoists decided they were unhappy, and led a citywide strike which shut down all transportation. Apparently some policemen killed 6 people, and so they see it as their civil duty to set fire to motorcycles and generally cause a disturbance that stops people from doing what they'd normally do. Apparently the strike is scheduled to continue until Tuesday. Wednesday, however, the 'untouchable' cast has decided to schedule a protest to make a point about being treated as untouchable, and so it seems the traffic may remain slow throughout midweek.
This is the news I have in my village. It took one of the interpreters an hour and a half to walk here after she had to abandon her scooter.
In other news, I live next door to a building of heavily armed mafia.
All in spitting distance are those guys with the guns, a gompa training quite a few young monks (whom I love to treat for their various ailments--mostly ringworm/fungus) and the clinic. It is a powerful little compound.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Drive by Tilaka
Durbar square, 1st time in Kathmandu looking up at the carving of some ancient 14th century, 15th century Newari building. The history and life is real, more so than anywhere else I have been. Piles of garbage burning in the street as a family of cows lives next to an ancient temple previously guarded by fierce tribes in the middle of the middle of the city.
A holy man dashes by, throwing marigold petals on my head and blessing me with a red third eye. It has happened thousands of times before to thousands of travelers, but the mood of the day is still set. I have been made a gift. He was gone as fast as he came.
The 100 rupees hence requested could have been spent in worse ways.
A holy man dashes by, throwing marigold petals on my head and blessing me with a red third eye. It has happened thousands of times before to thousands of travelers, but the mood of the day is still set. I have been made a gift. He was gone as fast as he came.
The 100 rupees hence requested could have been spent in worse ways.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
4 buckets--2 to wash, one to carry, one to sit
If you have never washed your clothes in a bucket and then hung them by moonlight on the roof looking out over the village, then perhaps you have never lived.
I hadn't.
In some ways, I feel I've waited my whole life to do that.
Washing machines make me lazy, allowing me to throw my clothes on the floor whether or not they are particularly dirty, knowing that I can throw them in the wash in my wasteful and western way.
In other ways, it feels awkward hanging my big city panties emblazoned with their materialistic designs--hearts, stars, stripes, hand-painted skull and cross bones--on the roof next to the monastary where they are banging drums and playing prayer games.
Perhaps the pink string bikinis will embarrass the young monks.
I vow to collect them as early in the morning as possible to hopefully avoid affecting their early morning prayers.
I somehow feel that vows of compassion and devout Buddhism don't cover pink panty curiosity.
But what do I know, I've only been here for a few days.
I hadn't.
In some ways, I feel I've waited my whole life to do that.
Washing machines make me lazy, allowing me to throw my clothes on the floor whether or not they are particularly dirty, knowing that I can throw them in the wash in my wasteful and western way.
In other ways, it feels awkward hanging my big city panties emblazoned with their materialistic designs--hearts, stars, stripes, hand-painted skull and cross bones--on the roof next to the monastary where they are banging drums and playing prayer games.
Perhaps the pink string bikinis will embarrass the young monks.
I vow to collect them as early in the morning as possible to hopefully avoid affecting their early morning prayers.
I somehow feel that vows of compassion and devout Buddhism don't cover pink panty curiosity.
But what do I know, I've only been here for a few days.
Nepal, Day 2 morning one
Morning sounds.
No clock to know the time
wouldn't want to any way
early.
dogs barking, taking over the town. they decide they have collectively slept enough.
first-waking noises. then, fighting over some small scrap of something perhaps
eventually all falls silent.
the pack is somehow sated enough to give way to chatting birds
and the occasional howl.
then, two monks chatting on their way to prayers
passing by the window
car horns
sunrise turns the cacophony to music.
No clock to know the time
wouldn't want to any way
early.
dogs barking, taking over the town. they decide they have collectively slept enough.
first-waking noises. then, fighting over some small scrap of something perhaps
eventually all falls silent.
the pack is somehow sated enough to give way to chatting birds
and the occasional howl.
then, two monks chatting on their way to prayers
passing by the window
car horns
sunrise turns the cacophony to music.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
My favorite trick
I'm not sick, but this is the 3rd or so time this year I have lost my voice. It tends to happen from time to time but has happened more this year, probably due to dry air, more pollution and having to use a big voice everyday with the little ones. When it happened last fall, I taught the kids the expression 'I have a frog in my throat', and they remembered it for this time and said things like "teacher? frog in?" and of course I said yes.
They like to ask me how, and I've made up all kinds of things but my favorite has been for this past week. It has been exceptionally cold and windy, so I told them that frogs, since they can jump high, sometimes jump *too* high and get caught in the wind. I was standing outside singing (like I do), and a frog fell from the wind into my mouth and I've been unable to cough it out. Kids are gullible, so as long as I nod my head enough they tend to believe me, but my favorite part is giving them tangible evidence. I have always had pretty big tonsils, the kind that make nurses go "oh wow!" during routine checkups and they are palpable from the outside of my throat. So, I have the kids put their hands (one at a time please) over my tonsils and if I swallow, it feels kind of like a frog breathing or jumping or something. They all look at me with wonder after they feel it and often they'll go get their friends from out of the room to feel too.
It makes my day, and I'll giggle for years about it. I hope they tell their parents.
They like to ask me how, and I've made up all kinds of things but my favorite has been for this past week. It has been exceptionally cold and windy, so I told them that frogs, since they can jump high, sometimes jump *too* high and get caught in the wind. I was standing outside singing (like I do), and a frog fell from the wind into my mouth and I've been unable to cough it out. Kids are gullible, so as long as I nod my head enough they tend to believe me, but my favorite part is giving them tangible evidence. I have always had pretty big tonsils, the kind that make nurses go "oh wow!" during routine checkups and they are palpable from the outside of my throat. So, I have the kids put their hands (one at a time please) over my tonsils and if I swallow, it feels kind of like a frog breathing or jumping or something. They all look at me with wonder after they feel it and often they'll go get their friends from out of the room to feel too.
It makes my day, and I'll giggle for years about it. I hope they tell their parents.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I'd better write about China before I go to Thailand
So I went to China for my 28th birthday. It was the best trip yet, and I love China more than ever. While it is dirty--you can't find a clean bathroom to save your life--it is charming and full of surprises.
On the 29th I flew into Qingdao and we (Timber and I) made our way from the Qingdao airport on a slightly rickety but relatively normal public bus. Stopping off at the hostel to drop our few things, we made our way down to the beach where I saw more thongs, g strings and naked children than I probably, hopefully, will ever see again. I guess Chinese men aren't as shy about their skin showing as Koreans are. While it seemed like everyone was pretty into being at the beach, swimming and making sand sculptures, many many extraordinary precautions were made to not get sun tanned.
The next day we took a train to Tai Shan, one of the most famous mountains in China. The train ride wasn't too bad--lots of rice fields and countryside, 5 hours of chatting and music.
The hike up Tai Shan was longer than it could have been, and shorter than it should have been. Once in Tai'an, the city at the base of the mountain, we evaded hundreds of taxi drivers who wanted to give us a "special rate" to get to the top of the mountain. We found the bus instead, and made our way to the stairs that would torture my legs for the next 2-3 hours. Halfway up the mountain, we found the oasis known as the cable car and took that the rest of the way up.
Once nearly to the top, there were more stairs but also a more relaxed pace since we knew we'd make it in time for our hotel reservation, having caught the very last cable car. There are lots of pretty temples and views from the top.
After staying the night in a schmancy hotel, we woke up at 4am for the sunrise and cheered along with hundreds of Chinese (we didn't see a single foreigner the whole time we were there) when the sun poked its head out from under the clouds. This sunrise is supposed to signify the beginning of the world, and it may have been.
After going down the other side of the mountain, we found a bus to get us back to town. While waiting for the mountain to town shuttle bus thingy to leave the mountain, we made friends with a super helpful mountain man who liked to scare me with cicadas. Once we were already inside the bus, he thought it was really funny to catch one and thrust it through the window at me, scaring me out of my seat. I think he wanted to crush it between some paper and gift it to me, but I insisted he let it go instead.
Now onto the absolute highlight of the trip. While waiting in line to buy a train ticket back to Qingdao, we met a guy who wanted to sell us two extra tickets he had for the next train out of town. In a snap decision, not knowing the train schedule, we bought them from him and boarded in the half hour, only to discover what should have been a 3-5 hour train ride was a 7-8 hour train ride. We'd had no lunch, breakfast several hours ago and only a bit of water, which turned out to be a good thing since the train bathrooms were squatter holes that emptied onto the tracks--and forbidden to be used while the train was stopped. After about two hours sitting separately, Timber came to tell me how long, exactly, our ride would be. She came to stay and hang out a while, and we ended up making friends with about 50 other passengers in the car.
We taught them to play a Korean game--3.6.9--with Chinese numbers and soon had even the train conductor wondering what was going on. It was the perfect opportunity to use our Lonely Planet phrasebook, since we had oodles of time to trains-late.
It turned out that most of the people in our car were on their way to an Amway convention, and couldn't understand why we didn't personally know the guys in their 80s brochure about the company. There was nothing about pyramid schemes in the phrasebook.
After getting back to Qingdao, we went to our next hostel where we stayed right on the beach. We had some amazing Schezuan noodles, saw some pretty temples, parks and music, and some good times at the beach before heading back to Daegu, and back to work.
Kimchi and Quietze/Eggplant out China! Hope to see you again real soon.
On the 29th I flew into Qingdao and we (Timber and I) made our way from the Qingdao airport on a slightly rickety but relatively normal public bus. Stopping off at the hostel to drop our few things, we made our way down to the beach where I saw more thongs, g strings and naked children than I probably, hopefully, will ever see again. I guess Chinese men aren't as shy about their skin showing as Koreans are. While it seemed like everyone was pretty into being at the beach, swimming and making sand sculptures, many many extraordinary precautions were made to not get sun tanned.
The next day we took a train to Tai Shan, one of the most famous mountains in China. The train ride wasn't too bad--lots of rice fields and countryside, 5 hours of chatting and music.The hike up Tai Shan was longer than it could have been, and shorter than it should have been. Once in Tai'an, the city at the base of the mountain, we evaded hundreds of taxi drivers who wanted to give us a "special rate" to get to the top of the mountain. We found the bus instead, and made our way to the stairs that would torture my legs for the next 2-3 hours. Halfway up the mountain, we found the oasis known as the cable car and took that the rest of the way up.
Once nearly to the top, there were more stairs but also a more relaxed pace since we knew we'd make it in time for our hotel reservation, having caught the very last cable car. There are lots of pretty temples and views from the top.
After staying the night in a schmancy hotel, we woke up at 4am for the sunrise and cheered along with hundreds of Chinese (we didn't see a single foreigner the whole time we were there) when the sun poked its head out from under the clouds. This sunrise is supposed to signify the beginning of the world, and it may have been.
After going down the other side of the mountain, we found a bus to get us back to town. While waiting for the mountain to town shuttle bus thingy to leave the mountain, we made friends with a super helpful mountain man who liked to scare me with cicadas. Once we were already inside the bus, he thought it was really funny to catch one and thrust it through the window at me, scaring me out of my seat. I think he wanted to crush it between some paper and gift it to me, but I insisted he let it go instead.
Now onto the absolute highlight of the trip. While waiting in line to buy a train ticket back to Qingdao, we met a guy who wanted to sell us two extra tickets he had for the next train out of town. In a snap decision, not knowing the train schedule, we bought them from him and boarded in the half hour, only to discover what should have been a 3-5 hour train ride was a 7-8 hour train ride. We'd had no lunch, breakfast several hours ago and only a bit of water, which turned out to be a good thing since the train bathrooms were squatter holes that emptied onto the tracks--and forbidden to be used while the train was stopped. After about two hours sitting separately, Timber came to tell me how long, exactly, our ride would be. She came to stay and hang out a while, and we ended up making friends with about 50 other passengers in the car.
We taught them to play a Korean game--3.6.9--with Chinese numbers and soon had even the train conductor wondering what was going on. It was the perfect opportunity to use our Lonely Planet phrasebook, since we had oodles of time to trains-late.
It turned out that most of the people in our car were on their way to an Amway convention, and couldn't understand why we didn't personally know the guys in their 80s brochure about the company. There was nothing about pyramid schemes in the phrasebook.
After getting back to Qingdao, we went to our next hostel where we stayed right on the beach. We had some amazing Schezuan noodles, saw some pretty temples, parks and music, and some good times at the beach before heading back to Daegu, and back to work.
Kimchi and Quietze/Eggplant out China! Hope to see you again real soon.
Friday, July 24, 2009
So, what I really need to write about is my trip to Boryeong for Mud Fest, and the wild time that is cosmetic mud, torrential rain and comedic umbrellas. But for now this post is a palatable excuse. I've been working on organizing a fundraiser at a club here in Daegu, S. Korea, for my volunteer trip to Nepal this coming November. (See poster image above, thanks to a good friend here).
Some personal notes:
I'm exceedingly excited. I've never had a fundraiser before, and never done anything important enough to warrant one. It feels amazing, nerve wracking and all together too adult for my tastes. But, I guess I will be 28 in a few short days, so it's about time I at least feel adult, whist I go about doing adult things and making adult decisions.
In conjunction with the fundraiser is a photography show, something else that I never thought I would do. As it so happens, I take some pictures, and as it so happens, it seems that some of them are show worthy enough to perhaps raise some money for the project. Now, it's not like it's a *real* show, like I had to submit my photos, or even have the space for more than an evening, but I will be honored to have people purchase my photos for themselves or their families, and even more honored that it is for such a worthy cause. I am proud of the photos I've taken, and impressed with the way they are looking all matted in their little photo pockets.
Who knows? Perhaps this is the beginning of what may become being a more serious photographer? (...maybe you should buy prints now before I am world famous...wink wink).
So, this is why I haven't written about Mud fest, or anything else for that matter. After August 8th is finished however, I make a solemn web blog vow to share the hilarity that was the festival, one poorly remembered event at a time.
If you're not in Daegu and you'd like to see my photos, visit: http://www.internationalphoto.weebly.com
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Pride spectacular, Jeju Island adventures and exciting plans for the future!
So much has been done and happened since I last made kimchi (see last post) that it seems funny to write it all on one screen, so I'll chronologically compartmentalize.
Pride, Seoul!
I have been to a fair number of prides in Portland, OR, but none have felt as eventful or necessary as this one. It was a small event compared to any pride in the states, kept mostly secret from the public despite being held in one of the biggest cities in the world. Because coming out is dangerous for many people, the event staff handed out "no photo" stickers as well as press passes giving permission to take any photos at all. So, while I have a grip of excellent pride pictures, I cannot put them up anywhere on the web, save perhaps this one:
because there are no people in it. There were many booths giving out all kinds of information, just like your regular stateside pride, as well as a stage with a few "main events" just like home. But what was remarkable was the air of actual *pride* many of the Koreans exuded and the exuberance of the multitudes of foreigners. While there was a lot of information that I couldn't read, I gathered that there is a fairly organized if small undercurrent of GLBTQ activism alive in South Korea. This makes me really really happy, as there are no laws protecting anyone from anything happening to them because they are gay here. Even for foreigners, even for me. So, I too wore a sticker 'just in case', cause the last thing I need is some Korean parent claiming I'm corrupting their toddler with my 'choices', unless I want to be sent home early (which I've considered). The highlight of the day time was perhaps the parade, which is less of a spectator event like at home, and more a solidarity march. It was fab. At night a bunch of friends and I went to a "women's club" in Seoul, and had the time of our lives. Why a 'women's club', you ask, and not an all everyone queer fest? Because the gay bars are segregated into "women", "men" and "trans", which makes it hard to hang out with some of your friends. lame. This is sadly not for some sort of fist in the air decades behind the times feminist agenda, but for the protection of those who may go. double lame. I have hope that sometime Korea will catch up to the west, and the west will catch up to say--ancient Greece or something, but for now, I love what I got.
Jeju Island!
Because I am spoiled with travel in Korea, the following weekend 3 of us went to Jeju Island to see what the "Hawaii of Korea" was all about. It turns out that it's all about unpredictable weather, excellently variable modes of transportation and awesome beach swimming. We arrived Saturday to find out that we *did* indeed need our international driver's licences to rent scooters, but after many phone calls from the nicest hotel manager ever, we managed to rent three 50cc scooters for 20,000 won a day. This may be the best money I've ever spent. I'd never been on a scooter before, and my cursory lesson didn't do much to teach me how to ride, but I managed OK, even riding into a thunderstorm at 10pm, lost as lost can be on the highway. Over the course of 24 hours, I fell in love with scooting on scooters, and vow to get one sometime that I can call my own.
If this isn't the picture of happiness on my face, I'm not sure what
is.
The helmet w/goggles was especially great, though the goggles only hampered any effort at effective steering. I kept them off.
Saturday we took the scooters for a couple hour drive up the west coast of the island and discovered a great raw fish resterant, teeming with locals and other mainlanders on vaca. It was good, but I could have done without the live shellfish pulsating at me. (I have since re-vowed to become vegetarian). It was after this meal that we ended up scooting home on the highway, into a thunderstorm. This might have been the stupidest thing I've ever done, not having much experience driving a car, nevermind a scooter, nevermind in a foreign country, nevermind in the rain and thunder. But having survived it, I may one day be able to bungee jump, paraglide, or many of the other things that scare me senseless.
I slept like the dead (ha ha) Saturday night and woke up Sunday to lazily getting around to scooting over to some w
aterfalls and witnessin
g some old mermaids free diving. These ladies are amazing, and the last of their kind. They free dive, that is, do not use any scuba gear but can hold their breath up to two minutes and descend up to 20 feet to gather fish, shellfish and seaweed near the beach. All of the women are grandma-aged, and their daughters have not followed in their footsteps, mostly working in the cities and such. What is even more spectacular, is that they work as a collective and share all the profits from their catch, including what they make at their makeshift restaurants on the rocks, where they will cut you up some of whatever it is they've got, and happily serve it with some raw garlic and soju. When we went, much of what they had is what they call "sea squirt", which looks about as appetizing as it sounds. I have so much respect for these women and what they do--they're real life mermaids!
After this, we had to return the scooters and catch a bus/hitch hike to the famous lava tubes. While they were about to close and we could only go 250 meters into the some 7,000 meter long tubes, I got a good feeling for what it must have taken for Mrs. Earth to create something so spectacular. The tubes were underground, pitch black and rocky like nothing else I've ever seen. It was kind of like being inside a damp loaf of bread burned black, but way colder and much more inspirational. I wish I had a picture.
Afterwards, we took the bus again to Sanguang beach, with black sands purported to relieve arthritis, athlete's foot, and a variety of other ailments. I was barely there 5 minutes before I put on my swimsuit and jumped into the warm-ish water. My friends could hardly get me out, and I felt like I was 6 years old when they started with "Ali---aren't you hungry? Shouldn't you stop swimming now?" I did finally get out that evening to go eat, but was promptly back in again around midnight and then again around 5am. What can I say, maybe I belong with the old mermaid ladies.
I really hope I can get back to Jeju before I leave Korea, as there is *so* much more to see, if I can keep out of the water long enough.
Now, onto:
~~~The Future~~~
I am exited to announce, over this venue and many others, that I will be travelling to Nepal in November and December of this year to donate my time and money giving medical aid through acupuncture. This is a dream come true for me, and I feel very very blessed to be able to participate. I think acupuncture is amazing, and though I don't know much about Nepal or the specific community in need, I know they could use some help and I am happy to get in there and do it. It is so important to give what you can to the world, especially as westerners because no matter what our life's lot may be---we usually have more than our share compared to so many others. I balk at this injustice, and while I've come to terms with the whole "life's not fair" thing, I think I can do something to make it better, if not fair-er. We'll see.
So, to this end, I have fulfilled another one of my life's goals, which is to have my own website and share my love of the visual. While I may be an amateur photographer, it makes me endlessly happy to be able to share my photos and perhaps raise some funds to donate towards the trip to Nepal as well, since volunteering isn't free for the wallet, however free-ing it may be for the spirit.
I encourage you to take a look at:
http://www.internationalphoto.weebly.com
Let me know what you think, and get some photography to pretty up your wall space, or cross someone off your gift list.
And this brings me to today, which is again miraculously Thursday and two days away to a visit to the beach in Pohang. Maybe there'll be more swimming!
Pride, Seoul!
I have been to a fair number of prides in Portland, OR, but none have felt as eventful or necessary as this one. It was a small event compared to any pride in the states, kept mostly secret from the public despite being held in one of the biggest cities in the world. Because coming out is dangerous for many people, the event staff handed out "no photo" stickers as well as press passes giving permission to take any photos at all. So, while I have a grip of excellent pride pictures, I cannot put them up anywhere on the web, save perhaps this one:
because there are no people in it. There were many booths giving out all kinds of information, just like your regular stateside pride, as well as a stage with a few "main events" just like home. But what was remarkable was the air of actual *pride* many of the Koreans exuded and the exuberance of the multitudes of foreigners. While there was a lot of information that I couldn't read, I gathered that there is a fairly organized if small undercurrent of GLBTQ activism alive in South Korea. This makes me really really happy, as there are no laws protecting anyone from anything happening to them because they are gay here. Even for foreigners, even for me. So, I too wore a sticker 'just in case', cause the last thing I need is some Korean parent claiming I'm corrupting their toddler with my 'choices', unless I want to be sent home early (which I've considered). The highlight of the day time was perhaps the parade, which is less of a spectator event like at home, and more a solidarity march. It was fab. At night a bunch of friends and I went to a "women's club" in Seoul, and had the time of our lives. Why a 'women's club', you ask, and not an all everyone queer fest? Because the gay bars are segregated into "women", "men" and "trans", which makes it hard to hang out with some of your friends. lame. This is sadly not for some sort of fist in the air decades behind the times feminist agenda, but for the protection of those who may go. double lame. I have hope that sometime Korea will catch up to the west, and the west will catch up to say--ancient Greece or something, but for now, I love what I got.Jeju Island!
Because I am spoiled with travel in Korea, the following weekend 3 of us went to Jeju Island to see what the "Hawaii of Korea" was all about. It turns out that it's all about unpredictable weather, excellently variable modes of transportation and awesome beach swimming. We arrived Saturday to find out that we *did* indeed need our international driver's licences to rent scooters, but after many phone calls from the nicest hotel manager ever, we managed to rent three 50cc scooters for 20,000 won a day. This may be the best money I've ever spent. I'd never been on a scooter before, and my cursory lesson didn't do much to teach me how to ride, but I managed OK, even riding into a thunderstorm at 10pm, lost as lost can be on the highway. Over the course of 24 hours, I fell in love with scooting on scooters, and vow to get one sometime that I can call my own.
If this isn't the picture of happiness on my face, I'm not sure what
is.The helmet w/goggles was especially great, though the goggles only hampered any effort at effective steering. I kept them off.
Saturday we took the scooters for a couple hour drive up the west coast of the island and discovered a great raw fish resterant, teeming with locals and other mainlanders on vaca. It was good, but I could have done without the live shellfish pulsating at me. (I have since re-vowed to become vegetarian). It was after this meal that we ended up scooting home on the highway, into a thunderstorm. This might have been the stupidest thing I've ever done, not having much experience driving a car, nevermind a scooter, nevermind in a foreign country, nevermind in the rain and thunder. But having survived it, I may one day be able to bungee jump, paraglide, or many of the other things that scare me senseless.
I slept like the dead (ha ha) Saturday night and woke up Sunday to lazily getting around to scooting over to some w
aterfalls and witnessin
g some old mermaids free diving. These ladies are amazing, and the last of their kind. They free dive, that is, do not use any scuba gear but can hold their breath up to two minutes and descend up to 20 feet to gather fish, shellfish and seaweed near the beach. All of the women are grandma-aged, and their daughters have not followed in their footsteps, mostly working in the cities and such. What is even more spectacular, is that they work as a collective and share all the profits from their catch, including what they make at their makeshift restaurants on the rocks, where they will cut you up some of whatever it is they've got, and happily serve it with some raw garlic and soju. When we went, much of what they had is what they call "sea squirt", which looks about as appetizing as it sounds. I have so much respect for these women and what they do--they're real life mermaids!After this, we had to return the scooters and catch a bus/hitch hike to the famous lava tubes. While they were about to close and we could only go 250 meters into the some 7,000 meter long tubes, I got a good feeling for what it must have taken for Mrs. Earth to create something so spectacular. The tubes were underground, pitch black and rocky like nothing else I've ever seen. It was kind of like being inside a damp loaf of bread burned black, but way colder and much more inspirational. I wish I had a picture.
Afterwards, we took the bus again to Sanguang beach, with black sands purported to relieve arthritis, athlete's foot, and a variety of other ailments. I was barely there 5 minutes before I put on my swimsuit and jumped into the warm-ish water. My friends could hardly get me out, and I felt like I was 6 years old when they started with "Ali---aren't you hungry? Shouldn't you stop swimming now?" I did finally get out that evening to go eat, but was promptly back in again around midnight and then again around 5am. What can I say, maybe I belong with the old mermaid ladies.
I really hope I can get back to Jeju before I leave Korea, as there is *so* much more to see, if I can keep out of the water long enough.
Now, onto:
~~~The Future~~~
I am exited to announce, over this venue and many others, that I will be travelling to Nepal in November and December of this year to donate my time and money giving medical aid through acupuncture. This is a dream come true for me, and I feel very very blessed to be able to participate. I think acupuncture is amazing, and though I don't know much about Nepal or the specific community in need, I know they could use some help and I am happy to get in there and do it. It is so important to give what you can to the world, especially as westerners because no matter what our life's lot may be---we usually have more than our share compared to so many others. I balk at this injustice, and while I've come to terms with the whole "life's not fair" thing, I think I can do something to make it better, if not fair-er. We'll see.
So, to this end, I have fulfilled another one of my life's goals, which is to have my own website and share my love of the visual. While I may be an amateur photographer, it makes me endlessly happy to be able to share my photos and perhaps raise some funds to donate towards the trip to Nepal as well, since volunteering isn't free for the wallet, however free-ing it may be for the spirit.
I encourage you to take a look at:
http://www.internationalphoto.weebly.com
Let me know what you think, and get some photography to pretty up your wall space, or cross someone off your gift list.
And this brings me to today, which is again miraculously Thursday and two days away to a visit to the beach in Pohang. Maybe there'll be more swimming!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Baby's first kimchi
This weekend was an amazing weekend of food. On Saturday, Timber and I visited the home and kitchen of one of our Korean friends here, who taught us how to make proper Bi Bim Bap (rice and veggies with red pepper sauce). Sounds fairly easy, yes? But it took around two and a half hours just to prepare each of the 7 vegetables involved in the dish, as well as a side dish of ji jim, a type of green onion pancake. I have a profound new respect for perhaps Korea's most popular dish, which is maybe second only to bulgogi. On Sunday, I made my first kimchi, pictured above. I've found that for foreigners, kimchi is either a love hate relationship and for Koreans it is a life or death situation. I've never known such passion for any dish. I, however, got my kimchi recipie from a cookbook and made a traditonal type of daikon radish kimchi that has become my favorite here. It is easy to make, apparently chock full of vitamins and reportedly may save me from nasty things like SARS, cancer, swine flu and perhaps even death. It won't be completely ready till morning after it ferments overnight, but I can't wait to test it out on a Korean co-worker tomorrow at lunch.Perhaps my favorite thing about this kind of kimchi is that daikon radish is called "mu" in Korean, and there is a popular commerical on TV here that chants "mu mu mu". It makes me giggle every time I think of it and is yet another way kimchi makes me happy.
Tonight, we went to dinner at Bella Cucina, an excellent Italian restaurant with a couple of lovely friends and had one of the most delicious and properly plated dinners ever.
At the moment, Timber is making "massaged pork" for lunch tomorrow, another kind of Korean food she learned to make from our Korean mom friend here.
I am one spoiled lady.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tokyo trip: 5-2-09 to 5-5-09
Day one:
6am to 10am--Flying first class! Story and Pictures
10am to 1pm--Getting to Tokyo from Narita and checking in. Tokyo's metro system is INSANE! There are several train systems working within the city, which is really just a bunch of individual prefectures. It was so frustrating that there were a few times I wanted to cry, and I've been used to the NYC subway before. yipes. It was also very expensive. Timber and I probably spent about US equivalent $15/day just on subway fare.
1pm to 6pm--After checking into our hostel, we took a walk down to the river, took the water bus into central Tokyo and made our way through the Hama-rikyu gardens. Gorgeous!
Story and Pictures
6pm-9pm--Shibuya crossing, one of the busiest intersections in the world. Story and Pictures
Day two:
I slept really great inside the crazy capsule bed in the doom room at the hostel. Timber didn't sleep as well, being a little claustrophobic, but I was happy to close the sliding door to my bunk enclosure and hunker down. I was surprised at how comfy the mattress on the floor was. Booking the room, I was honestly a little scared of Japanese bedding, but I'm sold.
After rousing a sleepy Timber with coffee and juice from the convenience store, we made our way to the Meiji-jingu gardens, which were full of lovely surprises. Story and Pictures
After the gardens, we walked to nearby Harajuku, a huge shopping area full of great fashion and lots of really interesting characters, including the cozplay kids and the Elvis gangs. Story and Pictures
Day three:
We set the alarm for somewhere around 5am to try to get to the Tsukiji fish market by 6, but overslept and only got up around 8:30. It turned out to be early enough to see some of the action of the world's biggest fish market and have the best sushi meal of my life.
Story and Pictures
After the fish market, we headed back to Asakusa to drop off Timber's treasure and go to Senso-ji temple. We had been to a couple of gardens and a Shinto shrine, but not a temple proper, so we figured we probably should. Story and Pictures
Day four:
We packed up and made our way across town (yet again) to go to the Ghibli museum. It was too lovely for words. Story and a few pictures. (cameras aren't allowed inside the museum)
After the museum, it was back to the airport and Korea. I loved Tokyo, and if and when I go back, I was LOADS of money to spend--and not just on Pachinko.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Glamorous: Tokyo Day one
So as not to forget...
After staying the night at a classy love motel in Busan (condoms and calling cards included), T and I made our way to the Busan Gimhae airport via taxi at 6am to check in for our 8am flight. While sleepy and very much not excited to be awake, I was thrilled to pieces when we were bumped to business class in order to "sit together". I still contend that it was my highly fashionable and sexy pleather jacket that got us the glamour, but no matter why, it was awesome! Two other girls we are acquainted with were also bumped and sat across the aisle. Sporatic garbled attempts at Fergie were made throughout the flight.
T had Sake, our friends had wine, and I tried some non alcoholic Japan airline specialty Yuzu, or Yuku, or something like that. It was delish. They served us actually really good food, and I had all the legroom I could shake a knee at. It was fabulous.
We arrived in Tokyo at around 10, made it through the swine flu infared detectors without a hitch, and thru customs etc by 11. Then it was a battle with Tokyo's mass transit system(s), which may be one of the most confusing in the world. I swear, I thought Seoul had it bad, but Tokyo is considerably worse. There are at least 3 if not 4 different systems working on different fare schedules throughout the city. Some share transfer stations, some do not. Sometimes, if you need to transfer from one line to another on the same system, you need to pay another fare, sometimes not. I took pictures, it was that confusing. Once, I almost cried. Really--New york, San Francisco, Busan, Seoul, Shanghai: cupcakes, not even regular size cake, in comparison. Tokyo: I would like to compare it to cake, but it is more like a snack that looks like it will be sweet and delicious, but a rude awakening when you bite into it and find out that it's dried squid flavored.
So, in any case, after figuring out where and how we were getting to Tokyo from Narita airport, we took a train trip into the city and checked into our hostel in Asakusa. We then took about an hour's walk to the pickup station for Tokyo's river bus "cruise", which we took to Hama-rikyu Gardens, sort of by accident. We were just trying to take the river bus, see some of Tokyo by water and get to another part of town, but a ticket to the Garden was included in the price so we strolled around there for a while. It was probably, aside from the garden for the blind in San Francisco, the coolest garden I've ever seen. Immaculately manicured and immense, it included a salt water pond, a red and white peony garden (herbs used in Chinese Medicine), a duck hunting field (kind of weird, but I guess royalty has to do something with themselves), a tea house and what seemed like miles and miles of paths.
From there, we headed to Shibuya Station, the busiest intersection in the world. We walked through the intersection twice, and had coffee on the 2nd floor of the Starbucks and watched the mobile people museum walk by. I have loads of pictures, but that will have to wait until I get home. I have to say that I have never seen that many people in one place before. It was absolutely stunning to imagine how many people must cross through every day.
We did some window shopping and watched people play Pachinko in awe, ate some dinner and headed back to the hostel around 9. While being part of the huge mass of people in that neighborhood was exciting, it was also one of the most draining things I have ever done, and I was more than ready to go back to the hostel after a couple of hours. I'm determined to play Pachinko before I leave however, and while I didn't buy anything this shopping trip, I'm sure I will soon. It was really hard not to blow all my cash on some of the coolest fashion I have ever seen, but I'm sure sooner or later I'll give in and buy some really spendy socks, at least.
After staying the night at a classy love motel in Busan (condoms and calling cards included), T and I made our way to the Busan Gimhae airport via taxi at 6am to check in for our 8am flight. While sleepy and very much not excited to be awake, I was thrilled to pieces when we were bumped to business class in order to "sit together". I still contend that it was my highly fashionable and sexy pleather jacket that got us the glamour, but no matter why, it was awesome! Two other girls we are acquainted with were also bumped and sat across the aisle. Sporatic garbled attempts at Fergie were made throughout the flight.
T had Sake, our friends had wine, and I tried some non alcoholic Japan airline specialty Yuzu, or Yuku, or something like that. It was delish. They served us actually really good food, and I had all the legroom I could shake a knee at. It was fabulous.
We arrived in Tokyo at around 10, made it through the swine flu infared detectors without a hitch, and thru customs etc by 11. Then it was a battle with Tokyo's mass transit system(s), which may be one of the most confusing in the world. I swear, I thought Seoul had it bad, but Tokyo is considerably worse. There are at least 3 if not 4 different systems working on different fare schedules throughout the city. Some share transfer stations, some do not. Sometimes, if you need to transfer from one line to another on the same system, you need to pay another fare, sometimes not. I took pictures, it was that confusing. Once, I almost cried. Really--New york, San Francisco, Busan, Seoul, Shanghai: cupcakes, not even regular size cake, in comparison. Tokyo: I would like to compare it to cake, but it is more like a snack that looks like it will be sweet and delicious, but a rude awakening when you bite into it and find out that it's dried squid flavored.
So, in any case, after figuring out where and how we were getting to Tokyo from Narita airport, we took a train trip into the city and checked into our hostel in Asakusa. We then took about an hour's walk to the pickup station for Tokyo's river bus "cruise", which we took to Hama-rikyu Gardens, sort of by accident. We were just trying to take the river bus, see some of Tokyo by water and get to another part of town, but a ticket to the Garden was included in the price so we strolled around there for a while. It was probably, aside from the garden for the blind in San Francisco, the coolest garden I've ever seen. Immaculately manicured and immense, it included a salt water pond, a red and white peony garden (herbs used in Chinese Medicine), a duck hunting field (kind of weird, but I guess royalty has to do something with themselves), a tea house and what seemed like miles and miles of paths.
From there, we headed to Shibuya Station, the busiest intersection in the world. We walked through the intersection twice, and had coffee on the 2nd floor of the Starbucks and watched the mobile people museum walk by. I have loads of pictures, but that will have to wait until I get home. I have to say that I have never seen that many people in one place before. It was absolutely stunning to imagine how many people must cross through every day.
We did some window shopping and watched people play Pachinko in awe, ate some dinner and headed back to the hostel around 9. While being part of the huge mass of people in that neighborhood was exciting, it was also one of the most draining things I have ever done, and I was more than ready to go back to the hostel after a couple of hours. I'm determined to play Pachinko before I leave however, and while I didn't buy anything this shopping trip, I'm sure I will soon. It was really hard not to blow all my cash on some of the coolest fashion I have ever seen, but I'm sure sooner or later I'll give in and buy some really spendy socks, at least.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Some party: Lotus Lantern Festival, Seoul, 2009.
The Lotus Lantern festival is held every year to celebrate Buddha's birthday, 2553 years ago. There are events all over Seoul, the main being in the Insadong neighborhood. There is a huge street festival with hundreds of booths offering everything from make your own mask, lantern and clay pot to face painting to acupuncture and tea ceremonies. We got free books, t shirts, wood prints and tons of photos. It was definitely the best birthday party I've ever been to. At night there was a 2 hour parade of a ba-jillion lanterns, most made of paper. There were the most amazing floats I've ever seen, also mostly made of paper and some anamatronic and breathing smoke and fire. There was incredible dancing and music. A sincerely incredible parade.
Photos can be seen here. (please click).
Videos can be seen here. (please click).
I can't say much that the pictures won't express. Really, take a look.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Oh, right, medicine.
I forgot to add in my list of awesome things I did last week: acupuncture! I went to see this Dr. by my house who I've been to a few times before. He's extra nice and has excellent English. He's been treating Timber, and I decided to go and get some treatment too. I asked him some questions during the treatment process and he was more than happy to talk all about his points. He mainly does Dr. Tung's points (from Taiwan), and some hand acupuncture. I learned cool stuff about where to bleed for muscle and bone recovery for the entire body on the hand, and the basic map of the body. My plan is to go back for one more treatment, ask some more questions and then ask if he would be willing to let me hang out in the office with him sometimes. This is exactly what I've been wanting, and I might be ready to finally make it happen. See? Best week ever.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The week plus in review.
Ok, so I'm a slacking blogger. Or a blogging slacker, something like that. At the moment I am making cupcakes. Just to make cupcakes, really, but also to take on the train ride to Seoul tomorrow for Buddha's birthday lantern festival. I successfully completed a two week spring cleanse and feel fabulous for it. Yay cleanse! Now bring on the cupcakes...
So last weekend was fruits and veggies only, appropriate for the earth day celebration being held downtown. A friend was performing with his band (in a bus stop---classic), so we made sure to get there for the show. It was fairly small, especially in comparison to the earth days I've been to in Portland. There was some good performance however, especially from the Daegu step dance academy. There were also stations were you could pot a plant and make some kind of pot holder. Even basket weaving! A lot of it was for kids, as are many things in Korea. For a while I thought it was just because I'm teaching children all day and that's my perception of things here, but I really do think it's super family oriented.
On Tuesday we went to the Korean sauna/bath house, known as a Jim Ji Bang (or something close to that) and soaked and sweated out toxins like nobody's business. I've been wanting to write about the bathhouse experience for some time, but can't quite find the words to really describe it. I will try. For one, bath houses are absolutely everywhere, and they are always full of Koreans doing their bathtime rituals. So, the sheer number of them and consistency with which they're used is incredible. Some are nicer than others, and luckily for me, the one by the house is pretty nice. They all have shower areas where women (I can't speak for the men) will soap and scrub for what seems to be hours on end. Everyone has these rough little scrubby mitts which are meant to be used as basically a full body pumice stone to get every iota of dead skin off your body. After you scrub all the parts you can reach, you have a friend scrub all the parts you can't as hard as possible. If you're too tired or scrub yourself, or without a friend or the nerve to ask a stranger to scrub your unreachable parts for you, a lady in black lacy underwear will be happy to help you out for somewhere around 10,000 won (about $10). I should mention that you can also get this done at Olympus Day Spa in Tacoma and Lynwood, Washington, where it's a little more spa-like and a little less utlitarian. This is actually where I had my first two Korean bathouse experiences, but I have to say that while the set ups are simiar, the practical use is completely different. So after you scrub yourself shiney, you can sit in the hot tubs of varying temperatures and ingredients. One or two are always some sort of herbal soup, often green tea or mugwort. There is a cold pool to dunk in when you get too hot, and also steam-sauna rooms to sit in and watch T.V., or scrub yourself down with some salt (as if the scrubby mit wasn't enough). On another floor there is a mixed mens and women's dry sauna space, with a variety of rooms all made of different materials. The one by my house has a charcoal and onyx room which is my favorite, as well as several jade and amethyst rooms, a salt stone room and a rose quartz room. You get little orange pajamas to wear, blankets and can hang out for as long as you like. Many people stay the night here when travelling or, perhaps, simply avoiding home. All of this will put you back a mere 6,000 won (about $6 USD). Incredible. Aside from the luxury of the easy access to hot tubs and saunas etc, I think what strikes me most is the culture of the bath house. Women are not at all modest, and don't seem to care who sees them doing what while naked. Babies are taken starting at around 2-3 years old, and scrubbed down like anyone else. I've seen really elderly women as well, scrubbing, soaking, sweating in the saunas, wrinkles and all. Out of everything I love about Korea, I think I will miss this the most of all. So, yey for Tuesday and yey for the JimJiBang.
Thursday was a rather long day, on account of the preschool field trip to the part for a picnic and a look at some butterflies. It's hard to herd the kids around, but fun to see them outside of class, having a good time, playing games, being kids. At one point I had caught a little flying bug of some sort off another teacher's jacket and was showing it to one of my new preschool kids, Ben, who at first thought it was cool, and then decided to smoosh it. I made a sad face and pretended to cry, but I don't think it will really prevent him from squishing bugs in the future. boys.
On Friday, Timber and I got our tickets for the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo for next Tuesday. I'm excited to go to Tokyo, but especially excited for the museum and really, really can't wait to pet the cat bus. We also found out that our summer vacation will be from July 29th to August 2nd, which means I don't have to work on my birthday! score! So, we've decided to go to China. We're going to go to Qingdao, Tai'an and climb mount Tai (Tai Shan), one of the 5 sacred mountains in China. I climbed Huang Shan in September, and can't believe I'm going to be able to add climbing another giant internationally famous mountain to my list of things I have done.
Today I went to yet another completely non-helpful Korean class, had a delicious lunch of BiBimBap with friends, re-visisted foreigner agony consulting (Now "Himilayan Market") to buy some chick peas and ended up enjoying a free sampling of their new restaurant menu, and saw "Monster Vs Alien" at the movies. I can't say I'd reccomend seeing it in the theater, but it was a good way to spend the rainy afternoon.
So, yep, tomorrow is the Lantern festival where I will hopefully buy a handmade lantern, probably see some cool stuff and come home super late on the KTX to get some sleep before the week starts itself over again on Monday.
So last weekend was fruits and veggies only, appropriate for the earth day celebration being held downtown. A friend was performing with his band (in a bus stop---classic), so we made sure to get there for the show. It was fairly small, especially in comparison to the earth days I've been to in Portland. There was some good performance however, especially from the Daegu step dance academy. There were also stations were you could pot a plant and make some kind of pot holder. Even basket weaving! A lot of it was for kids, as are many things in Korea. For a while I thought it was just because I'm teaching children all day and that's my perception of things here, but I really do think it's super family oriented.
On Tuesday we went to the Korean sauna/bath house, known as a Jim Ji Bang (or something close to that) and soaked and sweated out toxins like nobody's business. I've been wanting to write about the bathhouse experience for some time, but can't quite find the words to really describe it. I will try. For one, bath houses are absolutely everywhere, and they are always full of Koreans doing their bathtime rituals. So, the sheer number of them and consistency with which they're used is incredible. Some are nicer than others, and luckily for me, the one by the house is pretty nice. They all have shower areas where women (I can't speak for the men) will soap and scrub for what seems to be hours on end. Everyone has these rough little scrubby mitts which are meant to be used as basically a full body pumice stone to get every iota of dead skin off your body. After you scrub all the parts you can reach, you have a friend scrub all the parts you can't as hard as possible. If you're too tired or scrub yourself, or without a friend or the nerve to ask a stranger to scrub your unreachable parts for you, a lady in black lacy underwear will be happy to help you out for somewhere around 10,000 won (about $10). I should mention that you can also get this done at Olympus Day Spa in Tacoma and Lynwood, Washington, where it's a little more spa-like and a little less utlitarian. This is actually where I had my first two Korean bathouse experiences, but I have to say that while the set ups are simiar, the practical use is completely different. So after you scrub yourself shiney, you can sit in the hot tubs of varying temperatures and ingredients. One or two are always some sort of herbal soup, often green tea or mugwort. There is a cold pool to dunk in when you get too hot, and also steam-sauna rooms to sit in and watch T.V., or scrub yourself down with some salt (as if the scrubby mit wasn't enough). On another floor there is a mixed mens and women's dry sauna space, with a variety of rooms all made of different materials. The one by my house has a charcoal and onyx room which is my favorite, as well as several jade and amethyst rooms, a salt stone room and a rose quartz room. You get little orange pajamas to wear, blankets and can hang out for as long as you like. Many people stay the night here when travelling or, perhaps, simply avoiding home. All of this will put you back a mere 6,000 won (about $6 USD). Incredible. Aside from the luxury of the easy access to hot tubs and saunas etc, I think what strikes me most is the culture of the bath house. Women are not at all modest, and don't seem to care who sees them doing what while naked. Babies are taken starting at around 2-3 years old, and scrubbed down like anyone else. I've seen really elderly women as well, scrubbing, soaking, sweating in the saunas, wrinkles and all. Out of everything I love about Korea, I think I will miss this the most of all. So, yey for Tuesday and yey for the JimJiBang.
Thursday was a rather long day, on account of the preschool field trip to the part for a picnic and a look at some butterflies. It's hard to herd the kids around, but fun to see them outside of class, having a good time, playing games, being kids. At one point I had caught a little flying bug of some sort off another teacher's jacket and was showing it to one of my new preschool kids, Ben, who at first thought it was cool, and then decided to smoosh it. I made a sad face and pretended to cry, but I don't think it will really prevent him from squishing bugs in the future. boys.
On Friday, Timber and I got our tickets for the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo for next Tuesday. I'm excited to go to Tokyo, but especially excited for the museum and really, really can't wait to pet the cat bus. We also found out that our summer vacation will be from July 29th to August 2nd, which means I don't have to work on my birthday! score! So, we've decided to go to China. We're going to go to Qingdao, Tai'an and climb mount Tai (Tai Shan), one of the 5 sacred mountains in China. I climbed Huang Shan in September, and can't believe I'm going to be able to add climbing another giant internationally famous mountain to my list of things I have done.
Today I went to yet another completely non-helpful Korean class, had a delicious lunch of BiBimBap with friends, re-visisted foreigner agony consulting (Now "Himilayan Market") to buy some chick peas and ended up enjoying a free sampling of their new restaurant menu, and saw "Monster Vs Alien" at the movies. I can't say I'd reccomend seeing it in the theater, but it was a good way to spend the rainy afternoon.
So, yep, tomorrow is the Lantern festival where I will hopefully buy a handmade lantern, probably see some cool stuff and come home super late on the KTX to get some sleep before the week starts itself over again on Monday.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Hummus, SK style
What you need:
1 huge bag dried chickpeas from the Himalayan market aka "Foreigner agony consulting" (no joke)
1 bottle of toasted sesame seeds, sesame of a breed only grown in South Korea.
(A lot of) garlic, pre-peeled from Lotte (I love how they wash and prep all your veggies here for you)
(Some) Olive oil imported from Italy (Hey, I guess it's no farther than importing it from Italy to the US)
Several handfuls of Korean chili flakes than never seems to make anything hot.
Some teaspoons of cumin lovingly sent from the states. (also available at Foreigner agony consulting)
Salt, pepper.
Soak the chickpeas forever. The following century, boil them with some salt, cumin and chili flakes. Boil for at least an hour, or until you really do have to get ready for work. As they are boiling, grind the sesame seeds in your rad Korean made blender contraption. Remove sesame seeds, replace with garlic cloves (enough to make sure your kids stay in their seats during class). Chop the garlic cloves, then add olive oil and ground sesame seeds. Set to the side.
When the chickpeas look like they might be done, blend them with your awesome Korean immersion blender along with the remaining liquid. Be amazed at the power the tiny thing puts out, and then remind yourself that Korea's "only exports are their technology and intelligence" (real quote). When they are well blended, add the sesame garlic mixture, blend some more. Add some more water (cool) to make it super creamy. Stand back in amazement as you realize that someone now has to eat the 17 pounds of hummus you just made. Give to friends and be really glad you love hummus: eat.
Yummy
1 huge bag dried chickpeas from the Himalayan market aka "Foreigner agony consulting" (no joke)
1 bottle of toasted sesame seeds, sesame of a breed only grown in South Korea.
(A lot of) garlic, pre-peeled from Lotte (I love how they wash and prep all your veggies here for you)
(Some) Olive oil imported from Italy (Hey, I guess it's no farther than importing it from Italy to the US)
Several handfuls of Korean chili flakes than never seems to make anything hot.
Some teaspoons of cumin lovingly sent from the states. (also available at Foreigner agony consulting)
Salt, pepper.
Soak the chickpeas forever. The following century, boil them with some salt, cumin and chili flakes. Boil for at least an hour, or until you really do have to get ready for work. As they are boiling, grind the sesame seeds in your rad Korean made blender contraption. Remove sesame seeds, replace with garlic cloves (enough to make sure your kids stay in their seats during class). Chop the garlic cloves, then add olive oil and ground sesame seeds. Set to the side.
When the chickpeas look like they might be done, blend them with your awesome Korean immersion blender along with the remaining liquid. Be amazed at the power the tiny thing puts out, and then remind yourself that Korea's "only exports are their technology and intelligence" (real quote). When they are well blended, add the sesame garlic mixture, blend some more. Add some more water (cool) to make it super creamy. Stand back in amazement as you realize that someone now has to eat the 17 pounds of hummus you just made. Give to friends and be really glad you love hummus: eat.
Yummy
Monday, April 13, 2009
Yay, it was the weekend again!
So today, I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the musical in Korea in Korean. It was incredible. Aside from not understanding most of what was said-- except the random Korean word I knew or English thrown in, I was really entertained. They did a really good job, and I think it's amazing what the show must be doing for the gender divide here. I know there is a pretty big subculture, but all in all the expectations are still pretty intense and a lot of pressure is put on young men and women to not only get excellent scores on tests, have excellent high paying jobs, be spectacularly thin and attractive, but also somewhere around 35, get married, raise a family and do it all on one income (the man's). So, I'm impressed. I got to have a small conversation with the stage manager after the show as we were buying the CD (music in Korean). He said that the original Hedwig show had come to Korea last year or the year before and must have inspired the lead actor to do the show. There were pictures of the two of them together and everything!
Enjoy the video!
On Saturday I went to the big bulk herbal market Daegu is famous for. It was pure heaven, but also reminded me that I need to study! I recognized most of them, but 7 months away from the herbal dispensary and their names are escaping me. I have my computer notes and the internet, but if anyone wants to send me this book: Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology I would send you a lifetime supply of Korean socks, possibly the best postcard you'll ever receive and maybe even $90 or so. I emailed the Korean Board of Oriental medicine (or something like that), but had to do it in English so am unsure as to whether or not I'll get a reply. Unfortunately, the doctors know the Chinese names written in Chinese (not pinyin) but also give them their own Korean names which may or may not be similar to the Chinese names. So, even though I can read Korean, and ask for the herb in Chinese and also by Latin botanical name, that may or may not help me. Dang it, how fluent in how many languages do I have to be, exactly? I was looking for some Chai Hu (OCOM friends--Hi!), but I guess they have a different name for it. I even listed the ingredients of the most popular formula it's in, but no luck. Oh well, one day I'll find the name written in Chinese in some book and bring it in. But even Dr. Luo (my first herbs prof) couldn't blame me for not recognizing it in there. Hell, sticks look like sticks no matter where you snap them.
Tomorrow's Monday yet again, and the start of this year's dietary Spring Cleanse. It might make me a loopy teacher, but it'll be worth it.
20 days to Tokyo!!!
Monday, April 6, 2009
A stellar weekend
Though Saturday started out with another frustrating Korean class, in which I *sort of* learned how to ask and answer "What time is it?", the weekend turned out rather excellent. After crying (literally) through class, there was some shopping therapy time downtown until it got too busy to move. So, we went home and got ready to go out that night. Timber, and friend of ours and I tried to find this club that was listed online that apparently closed down 3 years ago (hello, online travel guides, update please!). Instead, we ended up at the same bar we had been at the weekend before, a "ladies" bar, no boyz allowed, in this mysteriously quiet alley downtown. (quick! hide the gays!) We met some of the same people we had last weekend, and a Korean couple who we drank and talked with the whole night. I learned some interesting Korean words and customs, and a little bit about how difficult it can be to be a Korean lesbian. They were totally adorable, and between my three months of Korean and their fourteen years of English, communication went OK. I'm pretty sure they did most of the work. It was totally impetus to keep on going to Korean class no matter how frustrating. My liver had another lesson in the chemical breakdown of soju, and I was up bright and early Sunday morning at 9 and at brunch by noon. A bloody mary and a B-fast burrito later I was all fueled to go to Woobang tower/Duryu park where Daegu has it's most gorgeous cherry blossoms. The park was FULL of people who all had the same idea we had. I can't figure out if it's just a population to square footage issue or that we just plan to do the same thing as everyone else all the time, but in any case it was busy. The park was full of families, couples, and groups of elderly people sitting around on mats on the grass playing cards as well as go and some other games, eating snacks, drinking soju and enjoying the sunshine. Timber and I sat down for a while and this sweet girl came over and gave us both cookies and a flower to me. This sort of thing has happened a couple of times. Sometimes on the trains and such, if a family or couple has had snacks they have gifted some to Timber and I, and our coworkers, as well as our kids at school are always trying to feed us things. I'm not quite used to it, but it's really sweet. With the kids it can be a little strange, because often the hospitality comes in the form of a sticky kid handful of candy. (mmMMM, delicious, thank you. I'll just put that right here for after class...) But, I'll take individually wrapped cookies from strange girls in the park any day. Another highlight was the butterfly I got to crawl on my finger. It had been circling around and around me while I was laying on the grass and when I got up to leave it let me get super close to it and crawled on my hand for a second before flying away. I was amazed! I wonder if they are just used to all the people.
At the temple in the middle of the park there was a siamese monk-cat who greeted us and let us take her picture under some paintings while she napped and bathed. Forget the buddha statues, people were gathering around the cat like she was handing out free tickets to enlightenment. Everyone kept saying "meyongi, meyongi", "cat, cat" when I think they might have otherwise been there to pray.
As we were walking around we saw two groups of older people dancing and singing. The first had a drum, a singer and several accompanying dancers--all old men shaking their shoulders like they were b-boys back in the day. We tried to take a video but I don't think they liked that very much. The next group featured an old lady with bleach blond permed hair, crazy makeup and a shiny gold suit. I was invited to dance with her, and in retrospect maybe I should have. When will I ever get the chance again?
As we were leaving, we met this older guy with a golden retriever puppy Timber just had to pet. We asked him, and he bent down, lifted the dog's ear and told him to come greet and sniff us. They are totally BFF.
Now it's time for bed, and another week of school starts tomorrow. It's not so bad, but I definitely need the weekends to look forward to.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Seoul graffiti
Seoul graffiti
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
We went to Seoul last weekend to see the Gustav Klimpt exhibit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisonjl/3379213866/) at the Seoul arts center, and explore Itaewon, the international district for the weekend. I honestly didn't think I would like it, as it had been described as a sea of generally drunken and derelict foreigners, but during the daytime anyway, it was pretty great. The only way I can really think of to describe it is as a big city (NY, SF) Chinatown, but in reverse.
Chinatown: You're walking along in little Italy or exploring past SF's pioneer square and all of a sudden, you can no longer read the signs. Is that a bakery? A dry cleaner? A pharmacy? Who knows.
Itaewon: You're walking along, such and such street (who knows what it's called---the streets don't have names anyway) hoping to find shoes in your size when bam, all of a sudden there's a Croc store followed by a Nike store followed by a Thai restaurant. Take a right past the Calvin Klein knock off underwear cart and find "Little West Africa", with stores selling plantains and more cassava based products than you ever thought tiny little South Korea would hold. Take a left and you're in India, another block down and it's Pakistan. Intersperse a little Mexican here and there and that was basically Itaewon. The population was delightfully diverse, and I think I heard more languages being spoken than I saw "traditional Korean gifts" being sold...amazing!
We ate Indian for dinner, chorizo and eggs for breakfast, and had thai for lunch before heading home. I think the new rule might be "no Korean food in Seoul", as much as I like it. We even did a little grocery shopping to bring home some black eyed peas, tapicoa and tumeric.
It made me think I could live in Seoul, since it was the first time I have felt sort of at home since I've been here. Coming from the US, I'm used to a kind of diversity that I haven't seen here at all. Foreigners stick out like sore thumbs. I can see why the Koreans stare because hell, I stare when I see a westerner walking by. But in Itaewon, as the muppets say "piples is piples", and it was fantastic to feel like that again.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
First Cherry blossoms!!!
First Cherry blossoms!!!
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
I cannot express how happy I was to see this tree blooming on my walk to school Thursday morning. Wintertime is long and cold here, and I have been overjoyed at 45 degree weather. I think the temperatures are actually similar to Portland, but it is so dry here that the occasional wind is absolutely frigid. I hear summer is crazy hot, so I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that, but I am thinking Spring should be nice. With the change in season, I got sick (yet again) and lost my voice. I was still teaching of course and actually convinced all the little ones that there was an actual frog in my throat. I forgot how gullible kids are and they all totally believe me. I told them that I had slept with my mouth open and a frog had jumped in during the night. Once they understood, they all wanted to see and touch my throat. Luckily, I have naturally gigantic tonsils that actually do feel a bit froggish from the outside, so once a few kids "touched the frog", they were all totally sold. They even started telling other teachers about it, which I think is great. I'm hoping my voice will be back to normal by Monday and I can tell them all that it hopped back out again. Rather than being a hilarious waste of time, I'm hoping some of them pick up the expression "There's a frog in my throat", but we'll see.
Last night we went to this thing called "crap art" at Club That. We paid 5,000 Won to get in and can make all the art you like. They opened up a bunch of the rooms and people were painting and drawing all over the walls and floors. I found a can of red spray paint and some charcoal and made a rather large and crappy rendition of the tattoo I hope to get in Japan in May. I hadn't drawn in a really long time and it was lots of fun. I might go get some supplies this weekend and start up again.
yay, Springtime!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Will little Noah tell me what I want?
IMG_5652
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
So Korea is a weigh station for me. I wasn't ready to settle somewhere and make any decisions about the rest of my life, wanted to travel, and needed to make so money...so here I am. This was the last of my plans, and now I'm not sure what I'll be doing after this contracted year is up. I like it enough right now to consider another year, but miss home more than I thought I would. That's saying something since my circle of friends and family is so awesome. I've always had some sort of plan and am finding it hard to just be. Living in the moment entails considering my past and future, if I'm being honest with myself. I've realized that over the last few years I have lost touch with what I genuinely want....even vaguely. I've had dreams about my teeth falling out, about a beach that slips out from under me in an icy tidal wave and an assortment of other bizarre situations that make me think I'm trying to tell myself something. I just wish I could be clearer on what.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The cutest billy goats....errr...sheep.
IMG_5743
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
I never thought I would love these little kids so much, but they have gotten to me. So much so, that after mulling over very depressing financial information regarding upcoming student loan payments, the only thing that could make me happy was to watch the preschool graduation videos. They're on Flickr, check them out! I can *almost* guarantee that you'll smile, but I'm biased.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Rare Alison Fish at the Busan Aquarium
rare Alison fish at the Busan Aquarium
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
Busan was lovely. The beach was beautiful, full of kids running from waves and couples strolling. I bought a 2000 Won ($2) frisbee in a shop and we tried to play, but it was too windy. I gave it to some very startled kids who then proceeded to fight over it, but I like to think they ended up having a good time. It is a much larger city than Daegu, and while the extensive subway system was nice to see and use, I'm glad I picked the smaller town. Trekking from here to there was exhausting, and reminded me of the hours and hours I spent on the subway in high school, and how I felt about it: stressed and tired. I spent most of a gorgeous Saturday on the beach in Haeundae and then the evening wandering around one of the many "downtown" type shopping districts before retiring earlyish to a rather fancy and over heated "love motel". It was suprisingly nicer than any other motel I've ever stayed in, even though it was only 40,000 won. It rained all day Sunday, so we went to the aquarium (back at Haeundae) for the day. They had some pretty exhibits, and we got to ride a glass bottom boat over the shark tank. We also found an excellent bakery that makes REAL European style bread. yay! We bought some to eat and some to freeze, and I made a pretty good maranara, given the canned tomatoes.
Tomorrow is the weekend again, and preschool graduation. I'm kind of upset about having to work on a Saturday, but also really proud of the kids and how flipping cute they are. We've been working on their plays and songs for WEEKS now, and I'm excited to see how they do in front of an audience. Sunday should be gorgeous, and hopefully there will be hiking. I start a new schedule on Monday that truthfully, totally rocks and is really conducive for friends and family visiting (cough...visitme...cough). Hopefully I'll use my free time wisely and stop spending it hula hooping in my apartment watching CSI Miami.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
It's a fishy Valentine's day.
ankle biters!
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
Yesterday: perhaps the best Valentine's ever.
We started off with Korean class in the morning and learned how to say "What is that? Is it yours? Waaa! That's really cool!" and an assortment of vocabulary to go along with it. "Is that your cell phone/hat/dictionary/bag/glasses...?" As long as everybody I encounter sticks to the same dialogue when I ask them what things are, I should be good to go.
Afterwards, we went to this spa/cafe called "Dr. Fish" in English and Namul Geleun (roughly) in Korean, which doesn't really mean Dr. Fish the same way it does in English. I really wanted it to be called Ooesa Mulgogi (literally, Dr. Fish), but alas. You pay about $4 to enter the cafe and have self service unlimited tea, coffee, toast and jam and can sit around gorging yourself as long as you like on white bread until you are ready to dip your tootsies into a pool of warm water housing twenty to thirty tiny minnow like fish. They eat the dead skin, and only the dead skin off your feet and ankles until you can't stand the tickling any more or until your twenty minutes is up and you go back to your tea and toast. It was possibly the most hilarious thing I have ever done, and definitely the most ticklish. Having particularly sensitive feet in the first place, I kept moving my feet around and disturbing the feeding fest, so while my feet are noticeably softer, I'm not sure I got the full effects of the nibbling. I think we're going back next week with some friends, I can't wait. (Warning: If you visit me--and you should--I will take you here whether you like it or not. It is permanently on my top 5 list).
After the fishstravaganza, we decided to walk around for a while enjoying the gorgeous spring-like February weather, and see if we could find the black market. We had heard roughly where it was, and had been told we could find a surplus of Oatmeal here. There have been at least two days spent on the hunt for breakfasty goodness already, but the warm spring air made all the difference. We were on a street we had been on a dozen times before, when Timber decided to take a turn into a clothing shop with a few personal items displayed in the back. The clothing shop turned into a long narrow hallway of hundreds of clothing shops with maze like twists and turns leading into an underworld of middle aged Korean women shopping for quilted jackets, paisley pants and giant underwear. At the end of a long string of stores we saw a convenience store set up and made our way towards the plastic curtain separating the food from the clothing. Upon coming through the plastic, we met with a tiny 50 something Korean woman who greeted us in perfect English, asking us in a hushed tone "What are you looking for?" We said that we were looking for oatmeal, and she hurried away telling us to stay where we were. Aha! Black market Ahoy! She returned a few minutes later with a huge canister of instant Quaker oats (hey, I'll take what I can get) for 12,000 won (about $15). Leaving, we turned down a different way from the one we came and found ourselves on yet another street we had been on several times, selling dumplings, sausage, pancakes and shellfish galore, triumphant with our oats.
We walked back to the main part of downtown, happy but slightly exhausted and made our way to Kraze Burger where we had a fairly accurate representation of an American cheese burger (maybe better--more veggies) and steak cut fries. Then coffee, and onto the arcade.
Giggled at for our Dance Dance Revolution skills by a gaggle of middle schoolers, photos taken and embellished in the photobooth, basketball, Mario cart, and a variety of other games later, we emerged a few hours later to weave through the throngs of other warm weather lovers to weave our way home on foot and by cab to watch a movie and have some dinner.
Today, it was biscuits and gravy, relaxing, planning a trip for next weekend and dinner with friends.
Tomorrow is Monday again already, and I can say that I am not actually dreading it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
It's been a while.
dried flowers, apsan
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
I haven't written anything in a while. It's not because nothings been going on, it just seems that there is just too much going on to pick what to write about.
This last weekend I went to a town (Bongseung I think) to be an extra in a movie about the Olympics. In Beijing last year, I guess there was a female heavyweight champion of note. They needed a bunch of foreigners to be in the audience, and promised us a bunch of stuff for the day. It wasn't the best Sunday I've ever had, but it certainly wasn't the worst. Mostly, we sat around in a freezing auditorium in t-shirts all day fake cheering. But afterwards we got to see the green tea fields and a "light festival". Pictures to come later.
The weekend before last, I had a four day break and spent it messing around Daegu. We had an Obama party which was way fun, went out dancing one night (also way fun) and went hiking one day. There's one day I can't seem to remember, probably on account of all the partying. Oh well. The picture above was from the hiking.
It was actually pretty spectacular. We went to Apsan (Mount Ap, since San is Korean for mountain, I guess). After taking the cable car up, we had lunch and took about a 2.5 to 3 hour hike across and down. There were temples and gyms all over the trails. There was even a giant springy horse and a couple of rope bridges! All in the middle of a mountain hiking trail. Why don't we do this in the states? Actually, I think one of the greatest things about Korea is outdoor playgrounds for adults ALL OVER the place. They have random stretching/exercising equipment and acupressure paths for your feet. They're always full of people, too. Not that hiking or jogging along the river isn't sufficient exercise, but why not weight lift while you're at it? Brilliant.
I had an appointment with a really excellent acupuncturist today. He did Tuina on my neck and back and gave me some acupuncture. I am going back to this guy for sure. This is only the second time I've had a treatment here (silly, I know), and both times they only put needles on one side of my body, I'll have to learn more about why.
So that's all the really exciting stuff that's happened recently. I'll try to write more in the coming days/weeks.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
All Lee's Sons
Setting up my bank account in Korea, they had some trouble with my name. Apparently, Al-li-son Lo-er-ch-er is far too long for a Korean name, so it was shortened to Al-li-son, which sounds, in Korean, something like All Lee's sons, a slightly gender bent yet international nod to 'family’ that makes me smile. Growing up, I'd always wanted just one name, not so much as a dis to the patriarchy as an aspiration for my own eventual fame. It has always been difficult for people to pronounce, and I am constantly asked where the name comes from (America?). I've even had arguments about its origins. A telemarketer once insisted that it was French, though I have visited family in Germany. At elementary school graduation, I was asked to write it phonetically for the announcer. Being all of 11 at the time, I barely knew what phonetically meant, and so wrote "Law", as in civil and "chair" as in table and. This is not how I pronounce it, but I figured it was closer than anything else I would get. My name was butchered yet again, however ceremoniously it may have been. It may have been then that I decided that I eventually would only be known by my first name.
Being in Korea is how I would imagine being famous to be. I am invisible until it is convenient to see me. The barrage of “Hello! Teacher!” from middle schoolers on the street is proof that to many locals I am valuable only for my English language skills. Otherwise, it would be just as well if I had never set foot in Korea. Born in a state that is considered the melting pot of all melting pots, begging the shores to send America their tired poor and hungry, this is a strange feeling. This is not a commentary on America’s immigration policy of past or present, but on the dazzlingly diverse population found in New York in specific and in the US generally. Even in Portland, Oregon where the population is for the most part pearly white, there is a ‘Black neighborhood’, however gentrified. Many people can claim some sort of American Indian heritage, however harrowed with stories of ancestral rape. No one is purely one thing or another. Whereas here, you are either Korean or not Korean.
This is the experience I came for. To be an outsider where I am living is forcing me to find my own cultural niche of foreigners as well as expand the boundaries of my usual repertoire. I will never look at cabbage, fish tanks or coffee machines the same way again. AllLeeson Theacher, my new identity is being created day by day. I am a teacher who insists that you can ride a bicycle to the USA as long as it is grammatically correct, who refuses to write “The man smelled the panties” on the board no matter how cute the preschooler is telling me to, and makes her students write comics for homework because it will make them think. Simultaneously I am becoming a traveler who will climb mountains at 15 degrees but complain all the way, stay out till 3am and not drink more than two cocktails and find quiet time between headphone-earmuffs walking in the midst of thousands of people. None of this is extraordinary except in the ways I see my predilections coming true, famous in my own eyes thru the eyes of small children who may or may not forget “strange hair teacher” when my year is up.
Being in Korea is how I would imagine being famous to be. I am invisible until it is convenient to see me. The barrage of “Hello! Teacher!” from middle schoolers on the street is proof that to many locals I am valuable only for my English language skills. Otherwise, it would be just as well if I had never set foot in Korea. Born in a state that is considered the melting pot of all melting pots, begging the shores to send America their tired poor and hungry, this is a strange feeling. This is not a commentary on America’s immigration policy of past or present, but on the dazzlingly diverse population found in New York in specific and in the US generally. Even in Portland, Oregon where the population is for the most part pearly white, there is a ‘Black neighborhood’, however gentrified. Many people can claim some sort of American Indian heritage, however harrowed with stories of ancestral rape. No one is purely one thing or another. Whereas here, you are either Korean or not Korean.
This is the experience I came for. To be an outsider where I am living is forcing me to find my own cultural niche of foreigners as well as expand the boundaries of my usual repertoire. I will never look at cabbage, fish tanks or coffee machines the same way again. AllLeeson Theacher, my new identity is being created day by day. I am a teacher who insists that you can ride a bicycle to the USA as long as it is grammatically correct, who refuses to write “The man smelled the panties” on the board no matter how cute the preschooler is telling me to, and makes her students write comics for homework because it will make them think. Simultaneously I am becoming a traveler who will climb mountains at 15 degrees but complain all the way, stay out till 3am and not drink more than two cocktails and find quiet time between headphone-earmuffs walking in the midst of thousands of people. None of this is extraordinary except in the ways I see my predilections coming true, famous in my own eyes thru the eyes of small children who may or may not forget “strange hair teacher” when my year is up.
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