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.

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.

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

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!!!

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.

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.

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!