Actually an Ajumma

I'm not even 30, but sometimes I have the feeling that I might actually be an ajumma. Ajumma means married woman, with more of a connotation of old woman, in Korean 아 줌 마. But they are not like older women in the U.S., or anywhere else for that matter. They are a whole subcategory unto themselves, defined more by style and attitude than age necessarily. They are usually short, fast walking, no-nonsense, fearless women with permed hair, track clothes, floral prints, and big sun visors.

Have you ever heard that poem "When I am old I shall wear purple" about a woman who looks forward to doing whatever she wants when she is older? That poem reminds me of ajummas. It's like these women have spent their whole lives working, raising a family, living in an apartment, looking perfect, and wearing high-heels... then one day when their children are grown they realize they can take some time for themselves and finally do what they want. And they do it unapologetically.

Anyway, let's look at the evidence as to why I might be an ajumma at heart.

1. I like to hike. You don't see many young women hiking in Korea. And the few that I've seen on short trails have been in heels, no joke. The other day on a trail I saw a young woman walking barefoot, carrying her strappy heels, which was actually more practical. But ajummas wear full Korean hiking gear- synthetic pants and jackets, visors, face masks, gloves, and boots- usually all black with one matching accent color (ie hot pink trim on visor matching the boots matching the pants' racing stripe). I'm not that hard-core, but I do like to get out of the city and explore as many provincial and national parks as possible. Usually while being passed by an ajumma on the trail.

2. I always think things are too loud. I feel like an old person complaining about noise, but REALLY. There aren't noise ordinances, so vendor trucks will drive around selling whatever, blasting their megaphone at 7am. Neighbors' TVs blare. Or they talk really loud after getting home from a night of drinking soju. Is a little peace and quiet too much to ask?

3. I iron regularly. Okay, so every one has to do this because no one has dryers. But then the other day I lint-rolled my ironing board. I have never done that. I felt old.

4. I like to garden. This is definitely an ajumma activity too. I mentioned this before, how there are little guerrilla gardens everywhere in this city. It's almost always older women working the land, digging and planting and wedding and harvesting as you walk by on the sidewalk. Occasionally you see a man, but never any one under 50. Here are some of the gardens I've seen around town.



This garden is larger than usual, and I love that it's pretty diverse, and right next to the Ritz-Plaza hotel.

And if some one can't find actual land to grow food on, they make due with container gardens. This is in front of a business on the sidewalk, pumping out a fair amount of peppers and tomatoes and herbs.

We have this extra land on the side of the school, so my Headmaster let me use whatever I wanted for my own garden venture. The soil has a lot of heavy clay and is really rocky, but I wasn't going to let that stop me! I did a little amending and hoped for the best. It is my little oasis back there where no one else goes- I would sneak out at a quiet moment to check on the garden, weed, water seedlings, watch spiders, and just enjoy having a "yard" in this land of apartments.


I grew some cabbage, lettuce, other spicy greens, cherry tomatoes, sunflowers, peppers, and herbs. I got a little harvest from everything, the most successful being the peppers or gochu 고 추.

5. I want to make traditional food. Kimchi is top on my list to learn to make, and nothing says ajumma like homemade kimchi! Fall is the time to do it, as it was traditionally a way of preserving greens for the winter. In my ideal world I will have a huge bed of cabbage ready by November so I can harvest my own for my kimchi.

A few weeks ago I went out to the countryside to the home of my Colombian friend's Korean in-laws. They have a bit of a farm, and it was SO nice to be somewhere with some land. Our plan was to make traditional Colombian empanadas and Ecuadorian torta de choclo (corn cakes) with corn from the property. They had quite the homestead there with a huge garden, chickens, rabbits, and preserved food all around like drying peppers, garlic, and rice, plus frozen corn, and stored potatoes. The ajumma of the house (mother-in-law) used to run a restaurant, and shared a delicious lunch with us, then set about making kimchi the rest of the day. She sent me home with a huge bag of fresh sweet-potato-greens kimchi. The ajoshi (old man; my friend's father-in-law) is a Christian pastor who visited partner churches in the U.S. When they told him I was from Seattle, he took out a business card from a church outside Bellingham, the address on the Mount Baker Highway! Seriously, what a small world.

And Maria and I gorged ourselves with tomatoes from the garden. That means you've officially experienced summer, and it's okay if fall is on its way.

Couples Outfits

Okay, this post is for Elizabeth because she wanted more info, and is my best blog reader and commenter. :)

So Koreans are pretty contemporary when it comes to marriage age. They encourage both men and women to go to college and get established in a career before starting a family. Around 25 is a good time for women to start getting married. The problem is, by 30, you are considered to be past marital prime. I mean, I'm 28 and feel the slight occasional pressure to get married and make babies, but it's not as if my window of opportunity will close in 2 years. But in Korea these 5 years are key. Consequently, relationships progress very quickly and many couples get married within a year of dating. It's looked upon very favorably by society to have a partner, so it ends up getting flaunted in public. There isn't a lot of making out in parks or anything like I've seen in many parts of Latin America. But there are couple's photo booths, romantic heart sculptures in the park, love rocks, and yes, matching clothes. The most basic couple's getups are matching shirts, but you will see whole outfits, or a man's shirt matching a dress. I see at least one matching couple a day if I'm in a downtown or crowded area.


Oh yeah, matching underwear too.

Korean Fashion

Korean Fashion is a style all its own. Here are some of my main observations over the last 5 months.

1. The women are very feminine.
Unless specifically going to the gym or hiking, I'd say the women in general dress more feminine than women in the West. And actually, you see plenty of heels and skirts in the woods. I find Korean women very beautiful, and they definitely make an effort to be "pretty". I think this picture typifies a young Korean woman- dress, long hair, perfect make-up, bows, flower, pearls. They are very well put-together. (Except for the mismatch, see #6) Not that they don't wear jeans and t-shirts, especially more here in the small city of Gunsan than somewhere more cosmopolitan like Seoul, but overall short hair, no makeup, pants, and tennis shoes are not as common as on an American woman. (Photo from YoCo Fashion)

2. The men are pretty feminine as well.
I love the men's style here. It manages to be funky, professional, and metrosexual all at once. For a country where gender roles are strict and homosexuality is outlawed, it's a little surprising to see man-purses, guy-liner, and impeccably styled hair. Boys have golden years in fashion, usually around 18-25, when they no longer have to wear high-school uniforms, but they also don't have to look too professional yet. Once entrenched in the working world, their style gets more subdued.


Have you ever seen celebrities wear these pants that are loose at the thigh and tight at the bottom? I think they're called harem pants. I say celebrities, because most average people can't wear them. You need really slender hips to pull them off. Not surprisingly, they look great on Koreans and are fairly common. I even saw a guy wearing a pair the other day. Whole outfit: capri harem pants, a ribbed tank-top (I hate saying wife beater but you know exactly what I'm talking about), plaid slip-on loafers, and a thick, studded leather bracelet. He looked great.

3. High heels are a must.
The Korean woman's ability to walk in heels is astounding. It's like they were all stepped out of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video. They walk all over town, and I have seen them book it when necessary. I recently saw a young mom walking with a small baby in a kangaroo sling in front of her body, also holding the hand of her 3 year old daughter... while wearing incredibly high heels. You see pumps and sandaly heels, but more popular are thick-strapped, boot style heels, like this. And yes, you frequently see high heels at the beach. (Photo by Sarah Shaw)

4. The standards of modesty are different from the West.
This is a comic from ROKetship on Facebook that illustrates this point perfectly. In Korea, there is no such thing as a skirt or shorts that are too short. Showing lots of leg is totally acceptable, even at work. However, in the U.S., such display is considered provocative. Conversely, at home, showing shoulders, collarbone, and moderate cleavage is totally okay. But here, a tank top, especially on a foreign woman who tends to have larger breasts than the average Korean, is fairly racy.
5. Office-wear is its own genre.
My last two jobs in the U.S. were barista and farmer, so I'm not exactly an expert in contemporary office styles. But there seems to be a sort of overlap between work clothes and non-work clothes, in a style I would dub 'sexy office' or 'business glam'. Sometimes my coworkers look like they are ready to go straight to a cocktail party after work.


6. An outfit is nice as long as the separate pieces are nice.
I see this more on middle-aged Koreans than younger ones. Seriously though, there can be quite the mismatch of styles, though it's clear that each article of clothing is expensive and fashionable. For the most part, Koreans can totally pull it off looking good too. Well, maybe the women more than the men. I can't tell you how many times I've seen men wearing nice silk suits with plaid pants and a DIFFERENT print of plaid shirt or jacket.

One day I saw a middle-aged woman wearing black slacks, and a nice dark purple silk blouse with ruffles up the front. In the U.S. this would have been a complete outfit, but here she added a fitted short brown leather vest. Another time I saw a similar aged woman in capris, a business jacket, and a 1970's-looking flight attendant scarf riding a lime green cruiser bicycle with a basket on the front full of cabbage. Not bad, not good, but definitely makes you go, 'hmmm'.

Here's another outfit on a younger woman: skin-tight blue polyester mini-skirt, cream colored cotton shirt tucked in, with a black satin bow over the chest, cream high-heeled strappy shoes over purple ankle socks, and to tie it all together, an oversized red leather purse. Another: floral ruffled shirt, fuscia denim short shorts, and high heeled sneakers. Another: flowy black genie pants, striped shirt, floral blazer, and black tennis shoes with gold swirls.

7. Couple's outfits.
They wear matching shirts, sometimes whole outfits. Commonly. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
(Photo from lajavasyle)

8. I'm not immune to the influence.
All clothes I have bought since coming to Korea have either flowers, ruffles, lace, or sparkles... or some combination thereof.

A Truly Great Nana

This post is in memory of my Great Nana Florence. She passed away peacefully at 90 years old. I really wish I could teleport home for a few days to be with my family right now. International living definitely has its drawbacks at times. She was very ready to pass on, so that is somewhat comforting, but of course you can never be completely ready to say goodbye. I will miss her gentle but powerful presence in our family. She was incredibly sweet and kind, but she also raised 7 kids on a rural island and had to be tough as nails. Here are a couple pictures: above with my niece Kali, and below with the 5 generations of women in the family (my niece, sister, mom, grandma, and great-grandma). That's right, she is holding her great-great-granddaughter Emma.

I'd like to dedicate a song to my Great Nana. It's called Ella Mae, by Greg Brown. There is a version where his daughters sing it in harmonies, and it is really beautiful. The song reminds me of her- maybe not in the details like the name of her husband or dying shortly after him- but in the general way of life that it portrays. A steady, hard-working time when people lived closer to the land, watching birds, digging in the garden, smelling like bread, and being a beacon for their family with their love.

Ella Mae - the redwings returned today
A little rain fell in the morning
The afternoon was clear
An' that song you loved to hear
Was filling up the fence row where the birds all go
To talk over their long journey and sing.

Ella Mae - all the gifts you gave
Tremble in my life like a startled deer
You gave me my Pa
Who is in me as you are
And the southern piney hills
The clear water and the running rills
That tumbled through the lives of us all.

Six big men and one big strong woman
You and little Grandpa David raised up there
They all had families
We all come back to see you
You hugged us all in turn
Cocked you head and said we'd grown
And touched us with your hands
That smelled like bread

Ella Mae - it's a clear warm summer's day
The young birds are trying out their wings
Ah it's something to see them try
To get up there and fly
And my own child is bound to do the same
Today she learned three birds' names.

Ella Mae - I can see you plain as day
Sailing out like a ship to your garden
In your old wide-brim straw hat
With a long handled hoe in your hand.
pausing at the gate I see you look south to the pond
A long time quiet smile on your face.

Ella Mae - when your David went away
After cutting brush all day long
Well, your life just slowly closed
Like a worn out autumn rose
You could not find the bread
You could not make your lonesome bed
Or really do a thing but rise and go.

Ella Mae - the redwings left today
Passing in a long cloud of wings
They're headed down your way
They'll be there in a couple of days
They'll sing that song you loved
As they fly above
Your resting place by David in the pines.

China

I have never gone on a trip without packing pants.

The weather forecast for Beijing promised to not get below the 80's, and I believed it. People warned me about going in the summer heat, but I shrugged them off. My vacation was for the end of July, and I had to go somewhere! Whether I stayed in Korea or went to Japan or China, it would be miserably hot. But I really had to fight my Washingtonian sensibilities for packing. Even in summer, I would always pack pants, a warm top layer, a rain jacket, socks, and tennis shoes if I was going overnight somewhere. This time, my backpack was barely half-full with tank tops, shorts, and sandals.

I spent a week in Beijing, and Facebook was blocked as well as blogspot! I wanted to write at the time, but now that I'm back in Korea, I don't know where to start. Overall it was a good trip, but definitely hot and humid, conditions which were compounded by the pollution. Here's some highs and lows...

Highlights:

GREAT WALL OF CHINA: I avoided the most touristy spots and did a hiking tour from Simatai to Jinshanling. This was probably my favorite day of all. I got to the meeting spot a little before 6am and had a breakfast of watermelon and fresh steamed dumplings with a French couple on the tea house porch. By the time we got the rest of our group and drove out to the wall, it was nearly 10:30. There were many Europeans and also some Americans; tourists as well as business students and English teachers. It was about a 30 minute hike up continual stairs just to get up to the wall.

Once on the Wall, it was pretty spectacular. It stretches and snakes away from you, dotted with watchtowers in various states of decay. Unfortunately, the visibility was not very good, and I couldn't see super far, and my camera could see even less. We walked 7 kilometers on the wall, passing maybe a few dozen other hikers coming from the other direction. It was pretty rough terrain between the uneven stone, steep crumbling staircases, and blazing sun. We descended to have lunch and followed by a content and sleepy ride back to Beijing.


SUMMER PALACE: This royal summer dwelling is more than a palace; it's a whole complex of buildings with temples, gardens, walkways, and a huge lake. I preferred it to the Forbidden City, which although impressive and beautiful, is very linear and manicured. (In the Forbidden City, you pretty much have to walk straight through and see things in a certain order, and it was extremely crowded. There is a Hall of Supreme Harmony, but it was so packed I couldn't get close enough to even see inside the hall without getting pushed and elbowed. Hah, not very harmonious. But it is beautiful with impressive architecture, you can see below.)

Anyway, I liked the wildness of the Summer Palace; the rocks to scramble on; the meandering pathways; the shade; the boats floating about; the dispersed crowds of people. But again, as you can see from the pictures, the visibility was not great. One guide referred to the "glistening lake", which I'm sure would be accurate when you can see it. Yeah, that's the lake through the gate in this picture. Yeah, all that white.


BIKE RIDING: I don't think I would have been as confident about riding a bicycle around Beijing if I hadn't already been riding a bike in Korea. I've had time to get used to the craziness. And actually, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and logical 2-wheeled navigation was in this mega-city. Many people are on bicycles and scooters, and most major streets had huge separate bike lanes, as well as bike crossing lights. And when in doubt, I just crossed the street following closely behind Chinese cyclists. Wedged between the big 8-lane roads, there are still traditional alleys called hutongs, so I spent a day riding around hutongs, sort of following a route and sort of getting lost and found again.

FOOD: I ate some freakin delicious food. First of all there is the street food, which I'm a big fan of. Gastrointestinally risky, but so good and varied. I really liked these little yogurts, which they sell in reusable heavy ceramic cups, so you have to drink them at the shop you buy them at.

And dumplings...

And all sorts of meat-on-sticks...

Including fried sea horses...

Then there was the night market. I love night markets in general- that people are out and walking around in a safe public space. It feels like Europe. It feels vibrant. The smells are strong and new and distinct. There were scorpions and all sort of unusual foods, but I stuck to tamer fare, like bean sprout burrito thing, and noodles and gyros and pear juice.

I had some really nice sit down meals too. The first night I met two French guys at my hostel and we went to this nearby hole in the wall and had a feast. Beef and onions, chicken, pork with peppers and mushrooms, dumplings, rice and beer all for about $5 each. Then of course I had to eat Peking Duck, which I did on my last night with my British friend, and was not disappointed. The very best part was that they make a stock of the leftover duck and bring it to you at the end of the meal. It was really simple, just duck and cabbage and I don't know what else, but it was AMAZING. Maybe in the top 5 most perfect-tasting soups of my life, and I can't remember the other 4.

NEW FRIENDS: I have friends in Korea of course, but while traveling in a different country, I was exposed to a wider variety of foreigners. It was just nice to have that change of pace. There were a lot of French staying at my hostel, and in all of Beijing in general. There were a handful of Spaniards and Argentinians as well, so I got to practice plenty of Spanish. I met 5 other Americans who were teaching English in Korea and just on a short vacation like me.

INGRISH: I am amused to no end by the funny English translations in Asia. Most of these are from menus.






Lowlights:

NO XIAN: The biggest let-down was that I didn't get to go to Xian, the city with the Terracotta Soldiers. It's an overnight train ride from Beijing, and I booked my train tickets as soon as I got to China, and was barely able to find room. Usually you need train reservations about a week in advance. I was looking forward to going to a smaller city and seeing this infamous army. My mom has a set of small terracotta soldiers of different ranks in different positions, and those men and I have been staring each other down for about 15 years from their place on the shelf.

I took my first bus in Beijing to get to the train station with no problem. It was PACKED. You have to elbow your way just to get through the front door, and then go through security and push people to get your bag on the X-ray belt. Everything takes longer in crowds, but I had arrived an hour early which I thought was plenty of time. I asked at the Station Master's desk (after lots of waiting and then some elbowing) which platform I boarded on, and she just looked at my ticket and shook her head. "Ticket office downstairs" she said. I didn't know why. I got the ticket through my hostel, but maybe it wasn't the final version of the ticket?

Downstairs there were about a million ticket windows, each with a line of 20 people, and no help desk. So I waited in line, only to get to the front to be told "Window 17". So then I waited in that line, and suddenly my hour early didn't seem like so much time. They told me, "Ticket refund window, downstairs." I asked why, but the clerk just said, "refund window" while meanwhile 3 people are pushing me aside. I just wanted to know what was wrong with the ticket before I missed the train, which was looking likely. I started asking people if they spoke English, but no one did. I was so frustrated. One man I asked looked at me contemptuously, "English? No. China! CHHHIIIIINAAA!" On the verge of tears, I got in the long refund window line. I was holding my cursed ticket. Men were perusing the refund line waiters, trying to buy tickets off people before they got their official refund. "I don't want to sell you my ticket! I want to get on this train! But I don't know what the problem is!" I shouted at the man trying to grab my ticket. The woman in front of me turned around and looked. "Xian?" she asked. "Yes!" She showed me her ticket, also for Xian. "Uh, roon". I thought she meant there was no room, maybe the train was overbooked. "No," she said, "rooning cats and dogs!" Oh, raining! I finally figured out that massive summer rains and flooding had damaged parts of the track, and the train was cancelled. I got my refund, and the lady said most likely the train would be cancelled the next day too, and then I would be out of time.

LACK OF VISIBILITY: I've already mentioned this several times. But it was bad. One night coming back from the market I got off the subway at the Tiananmen West stop, but came out a different exit than I had entered. I was close to my hostel but literally had no orientation to where I was. I was one block from the massive Tiananmen Square, the biggest public square in the WORLD, and couldn't see what direction it was because visibility was so bad! No one was around to ask, so finally I had to take a rickshaw the 4 blocks home.


PRICES: Bargaining was sort of a joke. I just wasn't into it. My reference for comparison is Latin America, where at most markets they might quote about double of what they want you to pay for something. Then you bargain for a few minutes, find a middle ground that is reasonable to both parties, and you're happy. But in Beijing, most vendors would tell you a price that was literally 10-15 times what you wanted to pay... 10-15 times what you would pay in the U.S. for the same thing, AFTER it had been imported and marked up by the retailer. So then you haggle for 10 minutes just to get a somewhat expensive price, and finally 3 hours later you pay something cheapish, and wander away wondering if you even wanted that thing to begin with. It was just too exhausting for me.

INTERNET BLOCK: Also known as "The Great Firewall of China". There are many websites that are blocked from public view including Facebook, blogs, and information related to negative aspects of Chinese history, police brutality, free speech, the Taiwanese government, pornography, criminal activities, the Dalai Lama/Free Tibet movement, and some foreign news. Apparently there are ways around this, but in general you can expect a lot of censorship.

Desk Warming

Right now it's summer break for Korean students. Most teachers have a few weeks of summer camp to teach, but still are left with at least a few weeks of no classes. Instead of having any extra time off, most teachers just have to sit in the office and "desk warm". Most of my last week has been in my office chair, catching up on email, watching Glee, studying Korean, and working in my school garden. I came across this video which is ridiculously spot-on to what foreign English teachers experience with desk warming.



Hmm, but I don't know how to make this video fit the screen, sorry. To watch an un-cropped version, here is the YouTube link to the same video.

Boryeong Mud Festival

The Boryeong Mud Festival is probably the festival in Korea that attracts the most international visitors. For one week during the summer, thousands and thousands of people (foreign and Korean) come to Daechon Beach on the west coast of the country for this mud extravaganza. The festival was first started because of the therapuetic properties of the mud, with the high mineral content said to be good for the skin and used in local cosmetics. Now in its 13th year, it is a festival of not only cosmetics, but mud wrestling, mud slides, mud massages, mud painting, traditional competitions (in mud), parades, outdoor concerts, and dance perfomances. For more info, they have a festival homepage in English.


I went this past weekend, which was the festival's opening. My friend Tonya had booked a guesthouse for 15 of us one block from the beach. Saturday morning I got a ride there with a Korean friend, driving through the pouring rain. Not exactly good beach weather, but I suppose of all festivals, a mud festival is an okay time for rain. I was pleasantly surprised at how well layed out the grounds were- many games, booths, information kiosks, food and beer tents, free lockers, changing areas, and all literally steps from the beach. It was a bit hard to find friends between the crowd of people and our lack of carrying cell phones. Despite the rain, there was still a huge turn out, and it was warm and humid enough for bathing suits.


The mud area shuts down between 6 and 7pm, forcing revelers to go home, clean up, and recharge for the night. There are numerous seafood restaurants in this coastal town, and we went out for the largest clam feed I have ever had. Like most large Korean meals, you cook your own meat on a grill at your table. We had several kinds of shellfish, seaweed soup, corn, and cold beer in the warm night air. Luckily it had stopped raining, and in the evening there was music and dancing along the beach as well as at a huge stage venue on the festival grounds.

I thought the event had the potential of feeling too much like Spring Break in Cancun or something. Too many drunk, bikini-clad foreigners reeking havoc on the local community. But it did not feel that way. There was drinking, but I didn't see anything out of control. There were many foreigners, but many Koreans too, including families and Korean women in bikinis, which is rare. The local business-owners and festival staff seemed like they were genuinely enjoying the atmosphere, and not at all jaded by chaos. There were many types of festival-goers and a good variety of activities, and I think this diversity really contributed to a fun, sincere environment.

The only real downside of the weekend was on the beach when I walked away from my purse for about 15 minutes. All day, people had been leaving sandals, sunglasses, bags, etc. sitting around, and it felt like a very safe place. But my purse got stolen, and unfortunately a couple friends had put wallets and cell phones in it too. I happened to have my camera, phone, and cash in my pockets so all I lost was my waterbottle, umbrella, and a pair of earrings. I feel really bad for my friends, and that we had to be blatantly reminded to not be too complacent about safety. Of course the main thing is that no one got hurt, and what was lost are things that can be replaced.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny. I have hardly seen blue skies in Korea this summer. It is typically hot, but overcast and humid. Like an international hobbit, I first had a Korean breakfast of ramyeon and kimchee, then a second breakfast of home-cooked potatos, cheesy eggs, and bacon. Then I was fully ready for day two of mud and beach!


I can't describe how wonderful swimming in the ocean was. It was my first time REALLY swimming this year, not counting a brief, chilly plunge in April. There aren't really public lakes or ocean beaches in Gunsan. Here in Daechon, the water was refreshingly cool but not cold, clearer than most Yellow Sea waters, and with big waves perfect for wave jumping and body surfing. I felt so at home just hanging out in the water. By afternoon we were feeling the heat, probably all a little tired, sunburned, and dehydrated. There were 6 left in the group, and we decided to take the train back. The city buses that went past the train station were all packed. We asked where we could catch a taxi, and the event staff guy said we had to walk about 15 minutes out of the festival area. Then he told us to wait. A couple minutes later, a fancy tour bus pulled up, and he told us it would take us to the train station. We got into this huge bus with a/c, empty except for us. I have no idea how that happened, but it was really nice, and testament to personal and caring organizers amidst so many people.

Gratitude

A friend recently sent a message on Facebook asking many people what gratitude meant to us. And today one of the blogs I follow, "Lessons from the Monk I Married", did a post about being grateful. If you haven't checked out this blog, I highly recommend it- daily "lessons" written by a woman who was an ESL teacher in Korea for many years and ended up meeting her husband, a former Buddhist monk. They now live in Seattle together. Following her lead, I'm doing a post on what I'm grateful for in my life.

1. My Job- I really knew almost nothing about this job when I came halfway around the world for it, and I totally lucked out. I really like my school, coworkers, and students. It's fun teaching kids every day and seeing them get excited about language learning. They can even joke in English and make puns- some students last week called me 'Amberger', which shocked me because my family used to call me that when I was little.

2. Teachers- The more I teach, the more grateful I become for the amazing teachers I have had in my life.

3. My Health- I could probably exercise more, stretch more, eat less refined sugar, and drink less Hite, but overall my body feels great. I ride my bike every day and can go run 5 or 6 miles around Eunpa Lake for fun. My sleep has been a little weird in Korea with all the construction noise near my apartment, but recently I haven't been hearing it at 6am, and am actually sleeping more than 6 hours straight.

4. Learning a New Language- My Korean is still pathetic, err limited, but I'm still having a great time wading though it. I can read Korean, even though I don't know what it means unless it's Konglish. But studying a non-Roman alphabet is exciting, like learning a secret language! A secret language only shared by me and 75 million other people.

5. Gardens- As I've mentioned before, there are small gardens in every nook and cranny of this city. It makes me absolutely gleeful to watch plants grow every week; see people cultivating the land; riding my bike past onions drying in the sun; marvel at how high vines have already climbed. And that's just on my way to work!

6. My friends back home- From skype to Facebook to real letters in the mail, and even friends I haven't been in touch with, I am so so lucky to have the wonderful friends that I do. Like really. I don't even know how to express my love for all the beautiful, kind, thoughtful people in my life.

7. My community in Gunsan- It's a somewhat different group of people than I usually hang out with back home, but fun, vibrant, and awesome nonetheless. I'm thankful to find a well-rounded group- friends to play music, have dinner parties, volunteer in schools, go hiking, trade garden starts, study Korean, get teaching tips, and sample the local mekju of course. I have rarely had a lonely moment in Korea.

8. My Family- I wouldn't say I have always been close to my family, and I am very different from them in many ways. But over the years it seems we have met each other in the middle somewhere, appreciating each other more than ever. Now I consider my family one of the most important parts of my life, and I can no longer picture living abroad indefinitely like I dreamed about when I was younger. I just want to be close to my family. I'm grateful for my grandmas, aunts, uncles, and older cousins who have been role models to me; for my younger cousins who have recently finished high school and are making their way in the world responsibly and creatively; for my brothers and sisters who are dear friends and kind, fun people; for my nieces and nephews who couldn't be any sweeter or more adorable; for my dad and step-dad, who have been great fathers in different ways (variety is the spice of life!); and for my mom, who is one of the most loving, awesome women on the planet.

Knee High By the 4th of July

Happy 234th Birthday America! I don't consider myself a particularly patriotic person, but for some reason I REALLY wanted to have a proper 4th of July celebration in Gunsan. So my friend Jen who has a BBQ and a large apartment agreed to host a potluck with me.

All I really wanted was to be with friends, grill meat, drink some beer, eat watermelon, and make an American flag cake. What says USA more than that? It was a muggy, humid day, but we stayed cool with fans and homemade soju lemonade. People brought meat, shrimp, pasta salads, fruit, guacamole, salsa, deviled eggs, bruschetta, and tabbouleh. There were Koreans, foreigners, babies, cats, dogs, civilians, GI's, young, and old. It was a wonderful, eclectic afternoon.


There is an agricultural adage in the U.S. that says for your corn to be on schedule for the season, it should be "knee high by the 4th of July". Well, here in Korea, I think the growing season is about 6-8 weeks ahead of NW Washington. The corn shot up recently, and most of it is as tall as I am (5 feet). Here they trellis their cucumbers (a space-saving measure that is not surprising from people who are used to high-density living) and the vines are also over 5 feet tall. I saw a 6-inch eggplant growing this weekend, and a 4-inch pepper. My cucumber grew about a foot in 2 days. There is not always a lot of sun here, but it is quite warm and wet, and the gardens are absolutely lush. I've mentioned before that there are a lot of guerilla gardens in the city- mostly older Koreans who will dig up any unused land and plant vegetables, on the side of the road, near ditches, on the side of a building. They have no way to irrigate this land, but luckily summer is the rainy season, so nature does most of the work. I LOVE this aspect of living here- it's like being in one big community pea-patch garden with no fences. I can check on what's happening in the garden anywhere I go.

I've heard that it has been a really cool and cloudy summer so far in Seattle. It seems like often summer doesn't reliably start until the 5th of July. I hope the sun comes out soon and that your corn is somewhere near your knees.