Monthly Archives: May 2012

Plastic me

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Yesterday, Tarita, who took Korean with me last year, arrived in Seoul. She is staying with a homestay family in the same Dreamtown apartment complex.

When we went to lunch, the restaurant ajumma immediately handed Tarita the English menu. For a hot second, I was perplexed as to why I also did not receive an English menu. The ajumma was then very confused when I asked to see it.

After wandering around Dongdaemun, we grabbed coffee (purple sweet potato latte? Okay!) and headed to e-Mart, the Korean equivalent of Target/Walmart to stock up on living essentials. Because the towels in Korea are so small, I ended up buying an ugly mumu to wear in between the bathroom and my room.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

See our blue cart? We saw it sitting abandoned in one of the aisles, so we grabbed it. Later, an employee came over and started jabbering at me. I eventually figured out that we had the wrong kind of cart; all the other shoppers had smaller gray carts. The employee told us to stay where we were and trotted off. Right as I was going to tell Tarita that we should just make a run for it, she came back, this time with an official store cart.

For classes next week, I have to bring in two 2.5×3 cm photos of myself for my university ID card. Yesterday, homestay mom took me to a photo kiosk to get these taken. The photographer was rather disgruntled by my swoopy bangs, but it’s not like this is a passport photo, used for international identification–not a big deal.

I picked up my photos last night:

Do you think it looks like me?

I guess it’s standard to photoshop all images. My skin is now flawless and plastic-looking, and the dark circles under my eyes are gone. I can’t tell if he slimmed my jawline or not. I tried to tell homestay mom about this, but I think I ended up just repeatedly saying “Face! Change!” She kept saying, “No! Pret-ty!”

In any event, I now have like nine photos of my plastic self, so if you want one, let me know.

I also discovered that homestay sister wants to get plastic surgery for her eyelids during high school. This shouldn’t have been surprising, given the prevalence of such procedures, but it still distresses me. I made it obvious that I don’t think she needs to do it, but homestay mom said, “She has small eyes,” to justify the surgery.

 

[Edit: Apparently, homestay mom does not approve of her daughter getting eyelid surgery. Yay!]

Cultural relativism is a hard thing to avoid. On one hand, I don’t want to make judgments about other cultures through the lens of my own. On the other hand, plastic surgery for eyelids (and nose bridges, chin lines, cheekbones, etc.) seems so unnecessary and ultimately detrimental to one’s self-esteem. (Though many Koreans will argue otherwise, saying that it makes them feel better about themselves.)

On the note, I’m going to go get my Friday started. I will leave you with a picture of homestay dog being drowned bathed.

In which I demonstrate semi-competence.

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Today, I took the Korean placement test for Seoul National University. The first part of the test was a fill-in-the-blank/short answer section for grammar points that we had to use. Here’s an example:

Question: What kind of people do you like?
Me: (Thinks to self: “Oh crap! I don’t remember how to say ‘nice’ or ‘funny’!”) I like people with lots of money.

After we gave up on the written portion, we had to go for an individual oral interview. Here, a professor sat across a desk from me and asked a few questions. Then he proceeded to go over my test, marking it up and occasionally stopping to remind me that I had done something wrong.  At the end of the interview, he said (I’m pretty sure.) that I’m in between two levels. I decided to start with the lower level so that I don’t have a nervous breakdown this summer.

After coming home for lunch, I went out to MyeongDong to meet Sooo Hyun, one of my UIUC friends. It was so nice to see her again, and it was also great to be able to speak freely (in English). The language barrier is quite difficult, and it’s frustrating not to be able to express my personality very well. Homestay family probably thinks I’m demure and smiley all the time because it’s often easier than trying to express cynical thoughts.

Later, we stopped for ice cream and marveled at all the thin, glamorous girls in Seoul.

My homestay is in a large apartment complex. It even has a driving range where homestay mom takes golf lessons!

Words I learned today:

충정하다 : to refill (as in, my pre-paid subway card)

Learning traditional Korean things

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Today, it was back to the grind. Homestay dad apparently left the apartment at 7am and won’t return until 11pm. (He is getting an MA in city planning after he works as a municipal official–oof!). Homestay sister went to school, and so I tagged along with Homestay mom to her art class. I thought she was teaching the art class. As it turns out, she was taking a semi-private lesson with a friend and the teacher. Her friend lives in a fancy apartment near Namsan mountain, only a few “blocks” (Blocks? What are blocks in Seoul??) from the guesthouse I stayed in two years ago. I was amused by this sign in the subterranean parking garage: I can’t tell if this is just for pregnant woman or not. I assume not because we parked there. Homestay mom and her friend were working on dackjongie dolls, which is a traditional Korean artform. It’s like papier-mâché, except less runny and using a special kind of paper (한지) made from a Korean tree. Homestay mom has a few of these paper dolls in the apartment, and her friend also had made a lot of whimsical figures. I was really surprised by the level of detail and anatomical accuracy of the dolls, until I watched their teacher at work. She rules with an iron fist. At one point, she picked up the frame of one of the dolls (head, torso, legs) and determined that the legs were too short. As Homestay mom nodded, the teacher proceeded to rip the legs off violently and reform them with wire and paper. Apparently, once you get the hang of it, you can apply to become a teacher of this traditional art form. After lunch, we went with Homestay mom’s friend and her mother-in-law to the Korean traditional village (한옥마을), which has some restorations and replicas of traditional Korean houses. Unfortunately, we discovered upon our arrival that the houses are closed on Tuesdays. Maybe I’ll file this away as something to do with the boyfriend when he comes in August. There were still things to see and do, like an assortment of useful straw items: And tacky photo-ops! Tomorrow is the placement test for the Korean Language program. I reviewed a few chapters tonight, but it’s not worth it to try and re-memorize a bunch of random grammar points that we covered this past year. I’m also excited to meet some other students and eventually add some structure to my day. Since Homestay family doesn’t speak very much English, I spent a good deal of time being silent. Oh, Korean, why are you hard! Things I learned today 은행나무: ginkgo tree (은행 is coincidentally the word for “bank” in Korean, so this can also be translated as “bank tree”)

Organic Farming in Korea

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I woke up this morning after a full nine hours of much-needed sleep. (I realized that I hadn’t even changed into PJs before I conked out.)

Eager to get out there, I went for a three-mile run/walk in the neighborhood, which is on a mountain, no lie. My homestay family lives in “Gwanak DreamTown Apartments,” a huge complex near Seoul National University. I barely made it around the perimeter of the complex without dying; the inclines were intense.

After breakfast, my homestay mom rode the bus with me to Seoul National to find the Korean Language Education Center, where I will be taking classes.

I have my placement test on Wednesday at 10am, and because I’m terrified of Seoul commuter traffic, I’ll probably get to the busstop at 7am.

After lunch, I went with my host family to what I assume was their organic farm plot. Don’t ask me how to find it. Along the way, we picked up a 26-year-old, whose name I was never told. From what I gathered, he was the son-in-law of the woman who owns the organic farm. He is a student at Bergen Community College, where homestay brother will be  starting next year. (Homestay brother is in South Africa studying abroad, so I haven’t met him.)

While we were outside, it started to rain. We moved inside to this room, which (I think) houses all of the awards that this woman has won for her farm:

Basically, Seoul-lites can come here, learn how to farm, rent plots and grow vegetables. Today, the host family and I harvested approximately 23489032849032 pounds of lettuce leaves. I learned that I suck at farming.

After spending several hours at the farm, we started the drive back to Seoul. Jet lag finally caught up to me, and I dozed off in the backseat. When I woke up, we were at Costo. It is just as big as in the US, with most of the same brands. It was absolutely swamped. Homestay Dad said that this is the norm.

After Costco, I fell asleep two more times. At one point, I woke up when we dropped off lettuce at homestay Mom’s sister’s house.

Then I woke up again because we were stopped at Red Rock hof bar, which is owned by homestay mom’s older brother. Before I knew it, I was inside a hazy, American West-themed bar, wearing homestay Cousin’s sweatshirt because I was cold.

And when I asked for the bathroom? Squat toilet. That was hard.

I’m gonna’ go to bed now. Wheeee, I’m exhausted.

Words I learned today:

  • 농장: farm
  • 사의: son-in-law

 

“Once again, we have cheated death.”

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My uncle Dick told me that he says this after every landing. I’ve also picked up this habit, mostly because I am so thankful to be on solid ground and feeling partially in control of my life once more.

After taking me and the boyfriend to El Famous Burrito last night, Kim was a doll and drove me to O’Hare this morning. I was shocked at how many kiosks were open at 4am, which, as far as I’m concerned, is no-man’s-hour.

I managed to hold my shit together on the five-hour (Actually, more like four) flight from Chicago to San Francisco, where I am currently taking advantage of their free Wi-Fi. During the flight, I may or may not have cried while watching The Vow.

The next post I write will (hopefully!) be from Korea. For now, I’m going to go wander the International Terminal and get some exercise.

한국에 갈 거예요!

Getting Ready

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The boyfriend and I made it back to Illinois, and I’m spending about 24 hours here. My flight leaves from O’Hare at 6am, so Kim has kindly offered to let me stay with her tomorrow night. Then she’s going to be a real saint and drive me to the airport at Dark o’clock.

Wow, it has been a whirlwind tour. The boyfriend figured out that for seven days, I will sleep in a different location each night:

  • Monday, 5/21 – Urbanna, VA (Boyfriend’s family’s house)
  • Tuesday, 5/22 – Richmond, VA (where Dad and I didn’t like the wine)
  • Wednesday, 5/23 – Dayton, OH (Mid-route stop-over)

We ate dinner at Blind Bob’s in Dayton. I had the “famous” pickle soup as a side. It was basically potato soup with shredded pickles in it, which sounds gross, but it was delicious!

  • Thursday, 5/24 – Chambana, IL (If I actually go to bed….)
  • Friday, 5/25 – Round Lake, IL
  • Saturday, 5/26 – Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean (Who even knows what “night” will be.)
  • Sunday, 5/27 – Seoul, Korea, assuming that I disembark, get my luggage, find my cellphone, take a bus into the city, and get in touch with my homestay family.

Alright, I’m off to tinker with my computer and hit the sack. Packing is 75% done!

Also, I saw only one friend in Richmond. That special person was Paula! We got fro-yo at a garish, Christian-based store and then complained about being adults.

These days

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These days, I feel like I’m living out of a suitcase, constantly on the verge of forgetting something important.

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Mom, Steve, and family/friends…and dogs:

Having rented many beach houses in the Outer Banks (How bourgeois do I sound now?), I have a lot of happy memories attached to this place. It was great fun, and I wish we could have spent more time there.

Especially since it was too windy and chilly to spend much time on the actual beach!

I leave for Korea in a week, and I haven’t really even thought out my packing or arrival plans. (PANIC!) Everyone keeps commenting on how much whirlwind travel I’m doing this month (the boyfriend too), and it is exhausting. Still, the reason I’m keeping up this crazy schedule  is to see family and friends. I am lucky that people want to spend time with me, so I plan to enjoy this as much as possible.

I can sleep when I’m dead…or, you know, when I’m stuck alone on a 16-hour flight to Seoul. (Except I’ll probably cry and then study Korean before the placement exam.)

From the West Coast

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Hello! The boyfriend and I are with his family in southern California, celebrating his brother’s graduation from Harvey Mudd College. Bill Nye (The Science Guy!) was the keynote speaker, and he gave a somewhat depressing speech.

We’re spending less than 48 hours here. Today, we’re flying back to Illinois. Tomorrow, we drive to the Outer Banks to spend a few days at the beach with my family.

I still took time to stop and smell the roses, which are abundant here, despite California’s arid climate:

All my friends can attest that I am terrified of California, especially southern California, for its natural disasters and its high percentage of beautiful people (and the high prices and glitziness). On the other hand, the boyfriend loves almost everything about it, especially these stubby palm trees.

Since we’re so unsettled, I see every new place we visit as a potential home, so I’ve been trying to imagine myself living here eventually. (I can’t.)

I decided on the plane that I don’t want to buy a house any time soon, and I’m trying to override my strong drive to settle (which stems from my need for control in my life). If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since graduating from college four years ago, it’s that I really shouldn’t try to plan out my life more than a few years in advance. In fact, last week, I lost my mind and tried to re-evaluate my academic plan for my final year of graduate school.

One step at a time. Today’s step: get ready for the beach!

 

Freak-the-F*ck-Out Catering

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Are you a Korean hosting a baby shower for another Korean?

Are you totally confused by the concept of an American baby shower?

Then you should hire Freak the F*ck Out Catering to provide the cake for your next event.

I will bake a ridiculously humongous cake for the shower. Four sticks of butter? No problem! Two packages of cream cheese? Bring it on!

Flying down country roads with a three-layer, half-assembled cake in the backseat of a sedan? Done and done!

(Recipe here.)

Just imagine your pregnant guest of honor cutting through those delicate swirls of jam and cream cheese frosting…

Your caterer may have passed out on the floor, but at least the layers will be clean:

Seriously, this cake was the most massive baking project I’ve ever undertaken, and it wasn’t even that complex! And because it was for Narae’s baby shower, I was terrified that I would mess it up. All in all, I think it turned out quite well, and the other shower guests said it was very tasty. I’ll definitely make it again, though ideally, I won’t have to drive it anywhere….

Last Day

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My goodness, I have been in school for a long time!

We celebrated the last day of 2nd year Korean by having class in a campus coffee shop. Then we subsequently had several issues trying to take a class picture.

한국어 수업:

Later, Jenna showed me her Swahili portfolio. Let’s talk about how sad our window-less office is:

Then I proceeded to “read” Swahili:

And then I said good-bye to this semester’s crop of students. One even sang a Carpenters’ song to me.

 

This week, it’s time to study, grade, pack (for two short trips–to California and then to Virginia!), clean…and also, bake a cake for a friend’s baby shower. I hope I don’t accidentally give the baby diabetes with a sugar overload.