Happy New Year, Again!

Location: Back from the Villiage

NEW PICTURES!!!!

Check 'em out.

I stayed in Seoul for this 5 day Chinese New Year Weekend. The city has been virtually empty this week. Everyone has gone to the country side, or skiing, or to visit family and the city was practically closed for most of the week.

Some of the other teachers and I went to Namsan Tower. This structure resembles the Space Needle to some degree and is located right in the middle of Seoul. There is a revolving restaurant and you can see the enter city from up top.

After we left the tower we found ourselves in the "Traditional Korean Villiage". There were many games being played. Some resembling hop-scotch and hacky-sack. The dances are beautiful and reminded me of some of the Indian Pueblo dances back in Albuquerque. Probably because of the drums :)

The next day I simply rested.

Friday I went to the National Museum and had a wonderful experience. I don't know what dance was going on, but the performers used gigantic drums and the space itself is humongous. Beautiful.

Today I joined a photography group. I found myself back at the "Traditional Korean Village" and took some more photos. The highlight was eating a Korean pancake called: buchimgae (부 침개 sp?) and drinking makoli.

Later I think I may go to a sauna. Other than that I've been playing a lot of Magic Online and enjoying life.

Enjoy the pictures and may you have a productive Year of the Rat :D

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What a deal!

Location: Back from the Banks of the Han River

Hi Everyone! This week was a snow filled winter wonderland of goodness. Not to be confused with goddesses. Although, that would be good. Maybe some day soon. The city was cold and white earlier this week but today it's cold and Sunny! Hooray.

Yesterday I went to Namdemum (I think I'm spelling that wrong) and bought a "Prada" bag for about 30 bucks. I still think I probably got ripped off. :) I also bought a new pair of glasses and then went to the local Spa for some relaxation and a Haircut. I LOVE SEOUL! Today I walked near the river and took some pictures. Enjoy!

Sidenote: Can we bring back the interrobang? Or maybe invent some new punctuation? Or make it academically sound to use smiley's in our writings? :D

Speaking of academically sound a former teaching colleague of mine posed these questions:

1. What do you think is the most important thing to know to be (fill in the blank--successful, happy, a good citizen, etc)?
2. What do you think is the most important thing to be able to do in order to be (fill in the blank--successful, happy, a good citizen, etc)?

Any thoughts? From anyone? I think I'll take a cue and withhold my answers until I hear from a few others so I don't "taint" the data.

Speaking of tainted, does anyone know Shakespeare's Sonnet XIX? Some of the students I'm teaching are working on it. Any other favorites?

Since I'm asking so many questions... there's a five day break coming up next week. What should I do? So many options... maybe travel... maybe relax, maybe read maybe... I don't know.

The must read article of the week that was already outdated by the time I found it: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_byrne

Till next week...

Stuck on Sticky Stuff

Locale: Jazztastic

인녀ㅇ하세요

What's happened lately? Well, I'm teaching Speech and Debate right now. And what a great time to be teaching it. It's almost the celebration of the birth of one of the greatest speakers to ever grace the earth with his presence: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Also, I bought some stickers to decorate my kitchen and bathroom with. And some sticky insulation to put on my door and keep the wind out!

Things have settled down from the initial buzz of arriving in a foreign country. The school schedule is relatively calm. I can get groceries on a regular basis. So I'm not worried about eating or any of the essential aspects of life. The Chinese New Year is coming in a couple of weeks so I'm thinking about traveling somewhere. Maybe to North Korea. One of the other teachers is interested in that. Or maybe I'll just relax and sleep... :)

The weather's been kind of cold lately. It snowed last week. Other than that it's been pretty uneventful here. Maybe next time I'll have more adventures to report on.

Hey! Did you ever watch Fairy Tale Theatre on PBS? Goolge Video has a great selection of the program if you're interested. Also, Juno is a good movie, although not as great as I wanted it to be. Time to put more stickers on the wall!

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I've Got Seoul But I'm Not A Soldier

Location: Out of the Cold and into Hagen Daz

It's almost 2008! I have a webcam. I'm tired. Been eating some pizza from Mr. Hand. I mean Pizzahand. But just imagine a big hand walking around in a suit. That's Mr. Hand. Teaching is going, well, very well. SFS, SIS and soon the "regular" classes will start up again. If you check out the photo album you'll see some pictures of me at Christmas with my new Korean family. Saw the Golden Compass. It's good. Oh, the kids are starting to write their own play. Good group. Chris bought a computer and I helped him. Grocery shopping, delicious food.

So that's the stream of consciousness-exhausted-portion of the entry.

Days later....

I LOVE skype. I've been able to talk face to face with my family and a friend or two. Invaluable in this world away from the world I know.
We have a performance tomorrow called: Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow. The class has created a short play/presentation about The Joy of Now, the Sadness of the Past and Hope for Tomorrow. Or anyway that's kind of an explanation for the performance.

Regina Spektor is a delight, if you can take it.

So, Seoul far Seoul Good. And no I will never, ever run out of puns involving the word Seoul.

Oh, and It's 2008 now! Happy New Year to everyone!

I learned how to make Curry from Mr. Lee the other day. I was planning on going to the grocery store and it ended up being an adventure in making curry. Then I set up a photo printer for Mrs. Kim!

Seoulong, until next time.

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Communications Update

Location: Skype

Okay, for anyone who is interested I just started using Skype and it's great. So if you're on Skype feel free to call me. My name is patmce. Talk to you soon!

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Mally Christmas

Location: Korean Bagel

That's right I skipped out on reporting about the election. In case anyone was wondering candidate number 2, the favorite won. He's a former Hyundai exec and is apparently already under some kind of criminal investigation. In other news..

This week the new drama teacher and my companion in arms for this year showed up. His name is Christopher. We taught some new classes this week. Mainly book club where we are reading different books with 2nd grade students in the morning. In the afternoon we're teaching them "Tomorrow" and helping them write a show of their own. On Thursday the school had a Christmas show for all the parents and now the kids are on break. One of the classes performed a version of the Christmas Carol that was very good. Chris and I performed a version of the "The Nigh Before Christmas". I sang and played the guitar while Chris did an interpretive dance. After the performances the teachers were invited to go out to eat at the Outback Steakhouse. Funny, I think this time last year I was at a an Outback in Montgomery, Alabama. The service was about the same...

Chris and I have been walking and taking the subway around town. Yesterday we went to the 63 building which is the largest building in Seoul. I have a picture or two in the photo album. Then we took the subway to the theatre district. Or at least that was the idea... We got off a stop early and much to our surprise and delight we ended up in the clothing/shopping district of Seoul. Everything was 5 or 10 dollars. Can't wait until I get paid! It was Saturday and the Saturday before Christmas so it was extremely busy, people were bustling along the streets and there was much street food to be sampled. My favorite so far are these cinnamon and sugar filled pancakes. Earlier in the week I made a chicken soup with some of the gigantic carrots I bought from a lady on the street. 3 for a dollar! For the carrots, not the lady.

Today I need to read and prepare for week two of the book club. I'm not sick any more and all in all it was the calmest week since I've arrived.

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What Day Is It? Or the Sub Way

Location: Peter and the Wolf

No new pictures to post this week. Unfortunately my usual weekend photo session was canceled on account of my sickness. I don't know if it was the kids coughing all over me and then giving me hugs to simultaneously share the love and the disease or if it's because I'm in a foreign country but I was sick most of the weekend. Luckily a hearty Japanese fish soup cured most of my ailments. Oh, and rest, lots of rest. Right now I'm doing my first load of laundry here in Seoul. The washer is in the apartment of the new teacher that's coming in tonight. So I've got to finish washing and clean up the bathroom. Why? Because the washing machine is attached to the sink in the bathroom and then all the water empties into a drain in the floor there. I think that the hoses were still dirty when I tried my first load because all of my clothes came out dirtier than when I put them in! Of course all the controls on the machine are in Korean. So maybe I pressed the "make my clothes filthy" button instead of wash.

Earlier this week I purchased the Korean equivalent of a Metro-Card and showed Paul how to get around on the subway. On Friday we went to Itaewon which is basically the Foreigner's area of Seoul. We ate Turkish kebabs from a real Turk and then watched Elf. Which in Korean is "El-Pu". Then it snowed at the end to prove that Seoul truly embodies the Christmas spirit. It was fun meeting some new people and hanging out with everyone. There were two Germans, 3 Koreans and 4 Americans in a group. Paul and I left Itaewon just as things were getting rowdy. Beer bottles smashing and club music pounding.

Other new developments: I now have a guitar, there should be a reliable internet connection set up tomorrow and by the end of the week maybe even a phone. Also, Wednesday is a day off for me. Why? Because it's Election Day! I'll have special election coverage talking about all 12 candidates. Or some variation thereof. Oh! And I'm officially an Alien. Thanks Korea!

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