countdown again

The road to a friend's house is never long.
Monday after work I got to the airport as fast as I could to meet Terrell at the international arrivals gate. As fast as I could turned out to be a three hour subway ride. But when I saw him for the first time in almost a year, there in the dim, empty airport it was all worth it. I had one of those dramatic, surreal moments where I couldn't believe I was really looking at him, standing right there in front of me, in Korea of all places.

It was almost midnight so we took a cab most of the way back to my place. And he was here for almost a week. There were a lot of differences between Terrell's visit and my brothers' visit. Ryan and Corey mostly came just to see me. They learned a few phrases in Korean and found their way around and were so brave. I was really proud of them. But Terrell took it to the next level. He came to experience Korea and really tried to assimilate as much as he could in the short time he was here. He learned some Korean (with a great accent), wore a face mask to prevent getting H1N1, and even went with me to the jjimjilbang. He also had more patience with me than my brothers did, but I guess that's because brothers are allowed to be needy.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. I decided to forego any attempt at making a traditional Thanskgiving meal, because it could never live up to the home-cooked stuff and all those holiday feelings I've accepted I'm going to miss this year. Also, as the thing I'm most grateful for this year is my decision to run away to Korea, I couldn't resist the symbolism of a sit-on-the-floor Korean BBQ in place of turkey and stuffing. Luckily Thanksgiving isn't a big deal to Terrell, so he understood and supported the sentiment.

On Friday morning we went to the Folk Village, which is hands down the best place to take visitors. I have great memories of taking the boys there, and going with Terrell was just as memorable. There are a bunch of small restaurants and a large outdoor cafeteria to grab authentic Korean meals or just snacks. Terrell and I were in the village long enough to do both. We strolled around endlessly, never running out of things to see and talk about (we had a lot of catching up to do, after all).

That evening, we unexpectedly pulled an all-nighter that I would rather erase from my memory, Eternal Sunshine style. In a nutshell, we got really lost. Six hours, one molestation by a cab driver, one feeding of an orange to a different cab driver, several frantic phone calls and one miraculous discovery of trains running at 5:30 AM later, and we made it to the USO just in time to catch our tour bus to the DMZ. However, Terrell will spend the rest of my life reminding me how badly I handle stressful situations in a foreign country.

A couple weeks back I toured the War Museum in Seoul and learned a lot more about the Korean War than I had known the first time I saw the DMZ. So this weekend I had a whole new appreciation for what I was looking at and got closer to North Korea than ever before. But my favorite part was still the tour guide, PFC Coleman, an adorable soldier fresh out of AIT. I think we must have been his first ever tour group. It was a foggy day so we didn't get to see much. I'm really grateful I went on a clear day my first time.

The tour ended around 3pm, and we were home by around 5, passed out from exhaustion. I still wanted to cram in a little more Korean culture for Terrell before his flight on Sunday, so we decided to walk around as much of Hwaseong Fortress as time allowed. When we got to the top, I went up the steps of the last lookout point, the one I'd been saving for my final visit to the wall. Looking out at the foggy view from the top, I felt an amazing sense of closure. I think I'll always wish we'd had the time to make one last go around, for both of our sakes.

For the ultimate Korean experience, we decided to squeeze in an abridged trip to the jjimjilbang. Terrell was (understandably) too intimidated to do the full-on naked scrub, but we spent time together in the saunas, restaurant and lounge. That's what I love most about the bathhouse anyway - getting to just hang out there with my friends, wearing our matching uniforms. Then, after a relaxing chair massage while sipping lemonade tea, it was time for my amazing friend to leave. I waited with him at the airport-bus stop and was sad to see him go.

반갑습니다

Two weeks just disappeared. Not much new here in Dongtan. I started studying Korean. I figured I'm fast approaching the five month mark, I should probably get cracking on the books. It makes me so proud to learn even the most basic words. Also, being able to understand some Korean is a good way to gain street cred with my students.

I've been paying a lot of attention to the graduations on facebook. I think about what that time was like for me this time last year: the May heat, the happy agonizing walk through campus after my last lecture, my final final, how it felt to see my family with huge smiles, weaving through the crowd to pose with me in my cap and gown. I figure those memories will come back to me every year around this time. Yet this year will probably be the hardest, because as I watch the younger generation catch up to me, I can't help but feel they're also kind of lapping me.

But my Grammy once told me she never found her niche and that I should do whatever it takes to find mine. So I'll let myself get lapped for a few years - it's worth it.

I realized that this year is like my gap year, a luxury usually only afforded to rich European kids. I sometimes feel ridiculously spoiled in this lifestyle, and like it can't last forever. But then I tell myself I'll only live once so why not stay abroad as long as I want, even if it makes me so happy I actually feel guilty?

Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby - I just don't care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it's mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to - I just don't care.

-Liz Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Friday was Teachers' Day in Korea. I got a couple flowers from students. My fellow teachers got some interesting, random gifts: candy, gift certificates, powder, sunscreen. The best gifts are the notes that students take the time to write. The extent of broken English directly correlates to the student's age, of course, but as you can probably imagine, the more broken the English the cuter the note. Younger students are more likely to give gifts because they have less teachers. As I've mentioned before, older kids have crazy busy schedules. They go to regular school, math academy, Korean academy, music lessons, Taekwondo, and then my class.

Today I went back to the Hwaseong Fortress with a large group of expats and one soldier stationed in Camp Casey (by the border). It was much better this time around. The last time I was sick, so all the exercise made the walk seem longer than it actually should. I'm making plans to go to the DMZ two weeks from now. Hopefully all the plans will work out and I'll have an exciting blog to share soon.

different dimension

Last Sunday I went to a soccer game in Suwon with a few friends. We rooted for Suwon. They played Jeju, an island off the southern coast of Korea. There wasn't a huge crowd, but the fans chanted and waved flags the whole time, so it was loud and fun anyway. We lost to Jeju. There was only one goal scored the whole game. It was a cheap, good time. Unlike sports venues in good ol' America, the stadium charged normal prices for people to enjoy beer and snacks. When I say normal, I mean, not a penny more than we'd pay at the grocery store.

Like the last week of every month, this week was report card week. I had almost forty students this month, so writing all those kept me nice and busy.

The weather in Korea is a lot like the weather at home; the climate is pretty much identical. So naturally my allergies are acting up with the onset of spring. I feel alright but I sound like Steve Urkel and I had to blow my nose every five minutes during class all week. My kids were pretty understanding, I really appreciated them this week. If only I could be sick and make them feel sorry for me every week!

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.

Yesterday I went to Suwon and walked around the Hwaseong Fortress. It was an almost 6 kilometer walk. My legs hurt so much they practically went numb by the end. The fortress is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's basically a fortified wall that was built in the 1700's and surrounds the main part of Suwon. The whole walk has amazing views of the mountains and city. Suwon has some really run down buildings with lots of character. Some people there live in houses that are quite literally falling apart. I don't see poverty in my town. It's so perfect and new and full of middle class families. I like getting out and seeing what real Korean towns are like.

The fortress was beautiful in retrospect. The walk was exhausting, but that's only because my body has less energy while I'm sick. I'll definitely be going back when I'm back to normal and it's warmer.

Last night I had dinner and drinks to celebrate the birthdays (plural) of an awesome couple here. Troy is Korean and Joanne is American. Being married to a Korean and living here for like ten years, she's fluent in Korean. Anyway she's amazing because she plans trips for all the foreigners in town. In a couple weeks I'll be going on an overnight paintballing and outdoorsy thing she planned at a resort nearby. That's the next big thing I'm looking forward to. Okay, below are pictures from my weekend. I'll let the captions do the talking for me for this entry.