Christmas at home is what I have REALLY missed this year. I'm usually the soul of the Christmas spirit in my house. I'm the one crawling out on the roof to put up the twinkle lights. My Mom and I are the ones who really do the tree decorating. i was always the one who would get REALLY excited about Xmas cause it's my favorite day of the year. Nothing comes close. I love the overblown commercial Christmas. Christmas isn't about religion for me. It's about family, decorations, music, good will, and presents. Korea's Christmas is not about family. Christmas is for couples and kids (who barely even know about Santa. They don't know he lives in the North Pole and don't really know about the Reindeer). There are decorations out and about but for the most part, the holiday season in Korea has been just any other month. And, I've been alone for it for the most part except for a few outtings with my coworkers (Lotte World, Messiah, and XMas dinner) and Mycroft. So, overall, it's been a blah Christmas with almost no presents, few celebrations, and a teeny Christmas tree on top of Mycroft's crate (and I only have that cause it was here when I got here from a previous teacher). I've been rather depressed over most of it and I'm kind of glad it's over and I can start looking forward to next Christmas when at least I will be home for it.
Lotte World in December was cold and rainy but still fun. It's Korea's rather toned down and smaller version of Disneyland with most of it being indoors. I have pictures and such I'm going to post later once I find my camera (I THINK I left it at school). There were Christmas decorations and music and the best part was the stage show where they did a Christmas version of Cinderella. Watching Santa boogy down and breakdance with Cinderella was a riot I actually got on video. The rides were fun too and it was altogether a fun way to spend a free Thursday off.
Messiah was a delightful evening. A bunch of us from school went to listen to a full performance of Messiah. The US Ambassador to Korea actually was there in the audience but I didn't see her. There was a full orchestra and the soloists and choir were excellent. All together a most delightful experience which brought back memories of when I used to sing the Messiah at Christmas. Hearing some of the choir number was like revisiting old friends.
Christmas Eve Day was fun with the Christmas party and each of the Kinders was dressed up in a Santa suit. They sang, they did little plays, and then Santa came and gave each of them a present. All and all, very cute.
I did get a few presents, though. I got some Christmas cutout cookies Mom made from home and a pair of fun socks from a family friend which was most unexpected. And then, I got one last very unexpected Christmas present.
Christmas Dinner was at this Irish (and I DO mean Irish) pub in Itaewon. There was this big buffet of traditional Xmas foods including turkey, smoked salmon, mashed potatoes, bread and more. There was pumpkin pie and greenery and twinkle lights hung above the bar as well as a Christmas tree beside the buffet. Both stories were chocablock full of foreigners. It was very strange to see so many non-Koreans in one place. I'm used to being the only one except at school. It was also strange to hear English being spoken. I am used to, nowdays, having background Korean conversations around me more being like white noise. I don't understand what is being said so suddenly hearing English again all around is a bit of a surprise. For awhile I thought all the turkey would be gone by the time Hannah, Margaret, and I got to the buffet but they brought out more. Who would have thought chicken wings were a traditional Christmas food? They tasted good though. After we got our plates full we picked our way over to perch ourselves on bar stools around tables that were completely full. I was right by the window which wouldn't shut properly and let in a draft. It was quite nice considering how warm it was in that building. I got myself a mojito and we talked while I got pleasantly blurred. It was one strong mojito. Then, remember that unexpected Christmas present? Well, it started snowing! The one thing I had REALLY wanted was a white Christmas and it happened over Christmas dinner. I opened up that window and stuck my head outside into the snow and let out a cheer. It was great. It didn't snow hard and it wasn't more than a dusting but it was snow and that's all that counted.
I've spent the rest of the weekend watching Doctor Who, writing Gaia, mixing Who, and relaxing. I think I might make the trek out to Yongsan and seeing if I can at least reserve myself a ticket to Avatar in 3D IMAX. Not the best Christmas overall but it could have been worse.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
"Please"
It is strange how blind and deaf people can be. We're all wrapped up in our own little worlds and life and the trivial crap seems oh so important. The trivial stuff can blind us to what is right there in front of us. We are so conditioned I think to take the quick and easy path because we can be so damn lazy - myself included. I've been so wrapped up in getting work on track, money issues, mixing Gaia and Who, and how difficult Mycroft's been. I was willing to just take the quick and easy path and just give him up and let him be someone else's problem.
A problem. That actually was the problem. I was looking at him as a bother, an inconvienience, a hassle - a problem because he wasn't this perfect dog like what I dreamed. I let myself get overwhelmed by it all and I was willing to just let him go without a fight. I wasn't listening to him. Most unlike me since I am usually very good at listening to animals and I should have been paying attention.
Maybe it was sort of wiggling around in the back of my mind but after teacher training today I was walking back to the subway station when it hit me. I finally knew what my poor boyo had been saying to me for almost two months now. It was simple. It was the word "Please." "Please, Mom! Please don't give up yet! Please, play with me! I'll do what you want but you just have to tell me! Please! Please let me out and go on walks and teach me! Please! I love you! I'm a good dog! I just don't understand! Please! Love me back! Please, don't make me go back in there again! Don't throw me away! Try again! Help me! Please! Please! Please!" I finally got it. I finally heard him.
Some of you won't understand what I mean about animals talking. They do but it's not in words like what we use or even in thoughts. It's feelings. It's body language. It's images. It's all very subtle and so easy to overlook. It's in the sad eyes and lowered ears and tail with the reproachful look as he slinks back into his crate yet again knowing he'll be in there too long. Yet, still he goes like a good boy "Please." It's in the slimy tennis ball brought over and over and over endlessly to throw. "I'm want your attention. Don't ignore me. Please" It's in the climbing onto your lap when you're trying to type. "I'm here. I love you. I don't know how else to tell you. Pet me. Please." It's even in the puddle on the floor with the guilty look. "I didn't really do it on purpose but I had to go so bad and didn't know how to tell you about it so can we please go outside more often until I know what to do? Please!"
He's been telling me so many things all along and I was too stressed and caught up in the little things to miss the big picture shoving a slimy tennis ball right into my lap. I got too busy and forgot to laugh. I forgot what it was like at the very beginning when we were walking with that man on the mountain that first full day. That first day when everything was fresh and new and it was him and me taking on the world with nothing to stop us.
I forgot to just forget about his imperfections and just enjoy him. I forgot that he wasn't a problem. I forgot that he was my partner, my sidekick, my best friend. Things could go bad at work or I could be lonely, and yeah, we haven't had too much so far - especially in the area of doggie toys - but, at the end of the day I got a sweet furball who can make me laugh with his antics. He hasn't been the happiest of dogs. He's been in that crate way longer than he should have been. But he's always had his doggy grin when he gets out and he goes for that tennis ball and plays. Man, he can play for hours.
Dogs are like that. They are always willing to give you another chance and forgive you with a doggy grin. They'll even tell you what to do. He's been telling me all along. "Play with me! Forget about everything else and the fact that I'm not perfect and just play and laugh and forget it all! Play! the rest will come in time! Just play and let me be me and you be you! Forget the fact that I love to use your bed as a surface on which to get tennis balls and bones good and slimy! Just play and love me and I'll love you and everything will be fine!'
It wasn't his fault. None of this has been his fault. He's been telling me plain as day. I just didn't hear him and let the little things that would fade with exercise and training push away and eclipse the most important thing. He's my dog. He's MY dog. I finally heard him walking down the street in the middle of Seoul and it was like the lightbulb went on in my head and I GOT it. I finally GOT it! And, suddenly I couldn't get home to him fast enough. You remember the movie The Holiday where Cameron Diaz is running across the snowy street and field to get back to Jude Law when she started crying in the limo? Or in the movie Secondhand Lions when Haley Joel Osment is walking across the field with this proud smile on his face and suitcase in hand after he finally reclaimed and took control of his life and was free? It was one of those sort of moments. Corny as it may sound but those moments really do happen. I went home to my dog.
First thing I did when I got back was let him out of that crate and tell him what a wonderful boy he was with lots of hugs and kisses and ear and belly scratches. Then we went out and I chased him around the yard and lost his favorite tennis ball in the dark. Hopefully I'll find it tomorrow but if not I'll get him a couple new ones. Then, we went on a long walk through Nowon. He still pulled a lot but I didn't mind. Nor did I get mad. I just tried different techniques to get him to stop and found one that works - well sort of - but it involves me going in circles and getting rather dizzy. The moment he moves in front of me I turn around and go the other way. He gets in front of me I turn around again. About face after about face. I did it in front of this church where services were going on with women wearing veils. I walked back and forth and peered in through stained glass. I actually stopped for awhile and just watched and listened. Mycroft jumped up and put his front legs on the railing to see what I was looking at. We walked back and forth in front of an outdoor diner where a very amused Korean couple watched this crazy American with her big black and white dog go in circles for about 10 minutes. I got dizzy trying to walk back and get it into his head that he was supposed to follow me instead of the other way around and Koreans walking by on the sidewalk must have thought I was completely insane. But I didn't mind. Nothing worth having comes easy. I forgot it for awhile but I remembered before it was too late.
I haven't done my best by him and he hasn't understood. But he's waited. He's been patient. He's been in the background. Have you ever been like that? Have you ever been waving at someone, shouting at them in your own way and they don't see or hear? They might think they see you but they don't, not really. They miss what is right in front of their face. They think they see you but they don't see the real you. The real you is invisible. You can try your hardest. You leave hints and clues. You say in your own way "I'm here! I'm here! Look at me! See me! Please!" Yet, they look right through you or past you or see you but you might as well not even be there. You're part of the scenery and taken for granted. I've been invisible all my life and have hated it. I walk around, live my life. People see me but they don't really SEE me. Nobody has. Not once. Not ever.
That's how I was viewing my dog. He was there. He was in my apartment. He was sending me all the clues, shouting at me, waving in my face, but I didn't see HIM. I should have known better. I know only too well how it feels like. Well, it won't happen anymore. Not to him. It hasn't been easy but one thing that is easy is to tell him I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mycroft. I'm sorry I was a silly fool. I'm sorry you were invisible. I'm sorry it took me this long to hear what you were telling me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't tell him in words. Words aren't the way the wild things work. I'll tell him by throwing that ball a bazillion times if I have to. I'll tell him by going on long walks even if I'm tired. I'll tell him with hot baths and happy voice and by making things different. I'll tell him that way. So what if he has problems and isn't perfect? I don't give a damn anymore. Inperfections make for laughs and hugs and doggy kisses. And, through that and trying new things when what we have been doing doesn't work, the rough bumps smooth away and I'll end up with one trained, happy, and fantastic dog.
I'm sorry, Mycroft. I'm very sorry. But don't worry boyo, it's not too late. You're not perfect but neither am I. You're chewing on that bone you found outside tonight and getting my cushy chair, CD binder, and foot of my bed covered in drool. But, you know what? I don't mind. Those sheets needed cleaning anyway. You're my boyo and I love you. It's you and me, boyo. You and me taking on the world and you'll never be invisible again. Now, let's find your backup tennis ball. It's time for some fetch.
Monday, November 2, 2009
And the Streets Were Paved With Gold - November 3rd 2009
We had a cold snap over the past few days. It was a few degrees above freezing yesterday Celcius and now my Brit coworker tells me it's -2 Celcius which is pretty darn cold considering this time last week it was 70 degrees out. Literally. It's almost enough to make me think I'm back in Cleveland.... Nah! Anyway, the cold snap had one effect that I both appreciated and regretted. It brought down the leaves off the gingkos. I literaly walked to school this morning on sidewalks paved with golden ginko leaves. That color gold has always been my favorite fall leaf color and I have enjoyed walking every morning on sidewalks walled and ceilinged by golden gingko leaves. But, now, in the course of one night, most of the leaves are gone. It was undeniably beautiful and I got a lot of pictures but the street sweepers with their cone shaped blue plastic brooms and their old fashioned twig brooms are already gathering up the leaves while the grandmas collect the gingko nuts in their plastic bags. By lunchtime the sidewalks will just be sidewalks again instead of golden paths into fantasy land and by this weekend golden arches where fairies dance will be few and far between. I'll miss them.
I've enjoyed my walks morning, noon, and night. I know the way now so I never get lost. I walk along with my thoughts and stories zooming through my head and watch the people go about their business. Shopkeepers get their shops ready, mothers walk their children to school (sometimes with one or both wearing hospital masks), grandmas gather gingko nuts, street sweepers clean the streets, the elderly garbage collectors pick up the slightest bits of trash, and everyone walks to work. It's made me really see the change of the seasons from summer to fall and with this cold snap winter is finally starting to say "Watch out! I'm coming!". Still, I'll miss the gingko leaves.
It seems that's how life is. Golden moments of beauty that are here for a blink of an eye and then pass you by. There are so many of them but often we just forget to look and enjoy them. Bittersweet moments. Sweet because the streets were paved with gold this morning. Bitter because once the leaves are gone they're gone for another year. But, still, they always come back and I imagine winter has some beautiful moments in store for me too.
We see life through rose tinted glasses. The past is almost always viewed as being better than the present. The good old days. The bad tends to fade and we seem to remember the good more. That's also bittersweet. If it was the opposite I think people would tend to lose hope and become more enbittered. There's be even less sweetness and light in the world than there always is.
Yet, this nostalgic view is a dangerous one as well. If we are always saying the past was better and forget the troubles then we see more the negatives in the present and fail to appreciate just what we have because we long for a lost time. Dreams are all very well but there has to be a balance to the dreaming. Everyone needs an escape from the real world but living in the dream too much means that you forget to actually live.
Also, how many times through the ages have parents said "Why won't my children learn from my mistakes?" Bittersweet again. Every parent wants to protect their child from harm but if you overprotect you stunt that child's ability to learn and grow. The child won't be a child forever and when they are an adult they might not be prepared to deal with the situations they encounter. Also, we humans are creatures that change a lot. Just look at how our technology has changed over the last century. Look at all the different cultures and languages we have across the globe. If we really learned from all the mistakes our parents made then we would have all the answers by now and there wouldn't be anything new to strive for. We'd get stagnation. Because we keep making the same old mistakes we innovate new solutions to old problems. Change is the nature of life and reality. Nothing stays the same or is forever.
Yet, there is a balance to that too. If we don't learn anything from the mistakes of past generations then a lot of the big problems don't get solved. Look at global warming and the environment. Look at the Middle East problems. Those are just two examples but there are more. We're creatures with such variety and our technology is changing so fast. We don't get a chance to solve the old problems before we are out creating all new ones. Cloning? Biochemical weapons? Genetic engineering? Super diseases? Nuclear weapons? Overpopulation? Global Warming? You can add those to the list along with good old war, starvation, greed, disease, racism, and religious fanaticsm. Yet all these problems give mankind things to strive against and eventually, perhaps, we'll wake up in time before we destroy ourselves.
I suppose the key is balance. Balance in all things. It's when we get to extremes that there are problems. Extremes in religion led to the Spanish Inquisition and has had the Middle East in turmoil for centuries. Extremes in hate and racism led to the KKK and the Holocaust. Extremes in technology has to computers controling so much and genetic engineering and super diseases that have us all paranoid. Extremes in weaponry have lead to the nuclear bomb being able to be accessed by people who have no business having one. Extremes in greed lead to CEOs of business padding their own pockets while their businesses fail and take the world's economy with them. So many extremes. I sometimes think the golden rule was lost long ago if it ever truly was followed. Treat others as you would wish to be treated. Such a simple and true guide to life but one so seldom followed. If only there was more balance in life, more room for tolerance, more sharing of resources, more sharing and collaboration. So many problems and too few answers. I think that these problems will never be solved until we humans get a huge kick in the ass to wake us up and really make us realize what we are doing. So much of what we worry about each day is such self-centered bullshit. Treat others how you wish to be treated.
But, I can't do anything really to stop these big issues. I'm just a teacher and creator of audiodrama. I'm just a very small speck in the scheme of things. I'll settle for trying to make a small difference teaching children English and writing and mixing my stories with my fantastic cast. Who knows what one of my kids might do someday? Who knows who might listen to Gaia and actually like it? That's one thing that keeps me writing and mixing away. But the main thing is I just love it and hearing what my characters come up with next. But, for now, I can't save the world so I'll just enjoy walking through streets paved with golden gingko leaves.
I've enjoyed my walks morning, noon, and night. I know the way now so I never get lost. I walk along with my thoughts and stories zooming through my head and watch the people go about their business. Shopkeepers get their shops ready, mothers walk their children to school (sometimes with one or both wearing hospital masks), grandmas gather gingko nuts, street sweepers clean the streets, the elderly garbage collectors pick up the slightest bits of trash, and everyone walks to work. It's made me really see the change of the seasons from summer to fall and with this cold snap winter is finally starting to say "Watch out! I'm coming!". Still, I'll miss the gingko leaves.
It seems that's how life is. Golden moments of beauty that are here for a blink of an eye and then pass you by. There are so many of them but often we just forget to look and enjoy them. Bittersweet moments. Sweet because the streets were paved with gold this morning. Bitter because once the leaves are gone they're gone for another year. But, still, they always come back and I imagine winter has some beautiful moments in store for me too.
We see life through rose tinted glasses. The past is almost always viewed as being better than the present. The good old days. The bad tends to fade and we seem to remember the good more. That's also bittersweet. If it was the opposite I think people would tend to lose hope and become more enbittered. There's be even less sweetness and light in the world than there always is.
Yet, this nostalgic view is a dangerous one as well. If we are always saying the past was better and forget the troubles then we see more the negatives in the present and fail to appreciate just what we have because we long for a lost time. Dreams are all very well but there has to be a balance to the dreaming. Everyone needs an escape from the real world but living in the dream too much means that you forget to actually live.
Also, how many times through the ages have parents said "Why won't my children learn from my mistakes?" Bittersweet again. Every parent wants to protect their child from harm but if you overprotect you stunt that child's ability to learn and grow. The child won't be a child forever and when they are an adult they might not be prepared to deal with the situations they encounter. Also, we humans are creatures that change a lot. Just look at how our technology has changed over the last century. Look at all the different cultures and languages we have across the globe. If we really learned from all the mistakes our parents made then we would have all the answers by now and there wouldn't be anything new to strive for. We'd get stagnation. Because we keep making the same old mistakes we innovate new solutions to old problems. Change is the nature of life and reality. Nothing stays the same or is forever.
Yet, there is a balance to that too. If we don't learn anything from the mistakes of past generations then a lot of the big problems don't get solved. Look at global warming and the environment. Look at the Middle East problems. Those are just two examples but there are more. We're creatures with such variety and our technology is changing so fast. We don't get a chance to solve the old problems before we are out creating all new ones. Cloning? Biochemical weapons? Genetic engineering? Super diseases? Nuclear weapons? Overpopulation? Global Warming? You can add those to the list along with good old war, starvation, greed, disease, racism, and religious fanaticsm. Yet all these problems give mankind things to strive against and eventually, perhaps, we'll wake up in time before we destroy ourselves.
I suppose the key is balance. Balance in all things. It's when we get to extremes that there are problems. Extremes in religion led to the Spanish Inquisition and has had the Middle East in turmoil for centuries. Extremes in hate and racism led to the KKK and the Holocaust. Extremes in technology has to computers controling so much and genetic engineering and super diseases that have us all paranoid. Extremes in weaponry have lead to the nuclear bomb being able to be accessed by people who have no business having one. Extremes in greed lead to CEOs of business padding their own pockets while their businesses fail and take the world's economy with them. So many extremes. I sometimes think the golden rule was lost long ago if it ever truly was followed. Treat others as you would wish to be treated. Such a simple and true guide to life but one so seldom followed. If only there was more balance in life, more room for tolerance, more sharing of resources, more sharing and collaboration. So many problems and too few answers. I think that these problems will never be solved until we humans get a huge kick in the ass to wake us up and really make us realize what we are doing. So much of what we worry about each day is such self-centered bullshit. Treat others how you wish to be treated.
But, I can't do anything really to stop these big issues. I'm just a teacher and creator of audiodrama. I'm just a very small speck in the scheme of things. I'll settle for trying to make a small difference teaching children English and writing and mixing my stories with my fantastic cast. Who knows what one of my kids might do someday? Who knows who might listen to Gaia and actually like it? That's one thing that keeps me writing and mixing away. But the main thing is I just love it and hearing what my characters come up with next. But, for now, I can't save the world so I'll just enjoy walking through streets paved with golden gingko leaves.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
One Month Ago
I arrived in Nowon-gu Seoul almost exactly one month ago to the hour. At this time a month ago I was getting settled into my hotel room and going out to eat my first dinner with Mr. J and Hannah. This month has passed by incredibly fast. It seems just yesterday I was arriving and I'm still getting my feet under me. Everything moves very fast and you have to think on your feet. Plus, of course, there are the kids which are more than enough to keep anyone busy. My kids are great, for the most part. A few behavior problems but nothing that I can't handle. And even the ones who are a bit more rowdy have great personalities. Overall, I have no regrets at all about my decision to come live and teach over here.
Things I like (in no particular order):
My apartment - Compared to the apartments the other teachers live in it really is a palace. I have a ton of room and even a guest bedroom and a lot of storage space. YAY me! If I decide to stay in Korea another year I'll probably stay at the same school just for the apartment alone!
My dog - Rowdy and rambunctious as he is I still love him and he's always good for company and a laugh. I have discovered his favorite games are tug, chase, tennis ball fetch, and soccer. Don't regret adopting him for a moment even though he is as rowdy as a kinderpeon.
Gingko trees - The streets around Nowon are lined with gingko trees. Their leaves are turning this gorgeous golden color and they are dropping their fruits. Every day as I walk to and from school I see these grandmothers and grandfathers with bags picking up the gingko fruits from the sidewalks. I'm half tempted to grab a bag this weekend and try some myself!
My kids - They all are such colorful personalities and try very hard. I have my favorite classes and while there is some yelling done there is also just as much laughter and stickers given out as well.
The weather - The days have been full of blue skies and soft breezes. It was perfect summer weather when I started and now every day is a perfect fall day meant for long walks in the woods.
The mountains - I live in a town surrounded by mountains. I can go out on my balcony hallway to my front door and see mountain peaks on three sides. Mountain hiking trails are just a short walk away. I don't like living where it is flat or just hills. I want real mountains and I have them here.
The markets - There are street vendors and little sidewalk shops all over the place. It's not superstore shopping here in Korea. It's still very much mom and pop style little shops. It's a big change and one I actually like an awful lot. Every week for a few days these street vendors set up a little market with everything from fresh food to furniture on the sidewalk outside my apartment building. I love walking down a street and seeing vendors with a dozen different types of beans or rice in baskets on the sidewalk. At lunch and dinner time street cart vendors sell dumplings, chicken on a stick, fish pastries and all sorts of other foods. There's this family who sells all sorts of plants right by one of the intersections on my walk to school. Every little type of cactus and potted plant you could imagine up to small trees. And in the afternoons and evenings and nights everything comes alive with lights as the shops and little eateries really come to life with their neon signs and street displays. You never know exactly what you might find along the street or around the corner and everything tastes fresh and good.
Chestnuts - Always one of my favorite yearly treats at home. Here they are cheap and everywhere. I've had them ever since I got here and have them several times a week!
The people - For the most part everyone has been really great. The Koreans have all made me feel welcome and my fellow foreign teachers are a lot of fun. It's strange how everything is so very familiar and yet different too. The kids play and go to school. The little girls wear pink. Yet they chatter on in a different language. Everyone goes to work everyday and lives their lives much as we do in the States. Yet, everyone lives in an apartment and nobody has a house. I don't speak the language but so far that hasn't been a big problem. The subway stops are all in English and so I can get around easier. Yet, despite how familiar everything is there is no denying that I'm in a different country. The feel of everything is different. The food certainly is! I'm getting good at eating with chopsticks but, I must confess, I do not like kimchi. I haven't yet had a chance to really experience local cuisine but once I get paid next month I'm going to make an effort to eat out more.
Couchsurfing - Okay, that's not specific to Korea but I do like keeping in contact with other Couchsurfers in the area and getting notices and such of different events and gatherings happening in the area that I might not know about otherwise. It's a good way to meet new and interesting people to explore a country with.
Subways - They are in English and very safe and fast.
Shoes - I like the habit of taking off your shoes as you enter a building and sticking them in little cubbies. It just makes me giggle and it's also a good way to keep my shoes from being Mycroft chew toys.
Korean eateries - It is fun to eat with chopsticks sitting on the floor or if you are lucky on a cushion or mat. The food is brought to you hot and with a lot of sides (most of them kimchi in at least a half dozen forms). You drink water you pour from a little decanter into a bowl. It is fun to have a menu either in pictures or not and to point and not be sure what you'll be eating but enjoying it anyway. That's how I got a soup with a fish head in it!
Cleanliness - It's amazing how very clean everything is here. There are people who just walk around on the sidewalks picking up with poles the tiniest bit of trash. Everything is immaculate and landscaped with wide sidewalks for people to walk on. Trust me, I know, I walk a good hour and a half a day. Not a slow walk either but a powerwalk.
Just being on my own - It is wonderful to be on my own. Really on my own. I have my own job, my own apartment, and my own dog. My own life far away where I can just do what I want and be myself without any baggage to carry with me. And I have a wonderful view. I'm out of that basement. I can walk out my front door and there are mountains wherever I look and the sun is shining brightly down with a sweet breeze. You can't beat it.
Seoul - so much happens in this city and I have only explored the smallest bit of it. So many different events go on here from street festivals to sports events to broadway musicals. Phantom of the Opera started playing the end of September. If it's still there after I get paid I want to get myself a ticket some weekend! If you want to go out to eat there are places all over. If you want to go clubbing you go to Itaewon. If you want museums or music and dance there's that too. There are mountain trails to hike on and riverside trails to bike on. There's everything you could need.
Things I don't like:
This is going to be a very short list.
The Korean attitude towards dogs - This is NOT a dog friendly culture. There are a few tiny pet shops but they cater only to little toy breeds. If you have a larger dog like I do then finding any basic supply aside from dog shampoo, pee pads, and food is a serious problem not easily solved. I am going to have to either go online or get stuff shipped from home. There is also a fear of larger dogs causing people to react badly to Mycroft though it has not caused any real problems as of yet. A third of the people back away, a third ignore him, a third want to pet him. I have not had anyone run away screaming or try and make trouble.
The absence of real cheese - I miss brie, rochefort, cheddar, and blue cheese. It is all but impossible to find. Maybe I can find some at Lotte for a XMas present to myself.
Having a DVD player made in Korea which will not play any of the DVDs she brought from home.
Having my laptop be funky - I want a new computer! This laptop makes it hard to mix, record, and chat on skype with family and friends.
And that's it. I told you it would be a really short list. I am not homesick at all and never really have been. Oh, I miss home cooking and western food every now and then but I have gotten rather good at cooking for myself. They have broccoli here and I have lemon and butter so I eat that a lot - it's one of my favorites though I can't make it as good as Mom. But that's really it. I am doing absolutely fantastic! I'm in Korea and loving it and have no plans or desires to be anywhere else for at least the next year.
Things I like (in no particular order):
My apartment - Compared to the apartments the other teachers live in it really is a palace. I have a ton of room and even a guest bedroom and a lot of storage space. YAY me! If I decide to stay in Korea another year I'll probably stay at the same school just for the apartment alone!
My dog - Rowdy and rambunctious as he is I still love him and he's always good for company and a laugh. I have discovered his favorite games are tug, chase, tennis ball fetch, and soccer. Don't regret adopting him for a moment even though he is as rowdy as a kinderpeon.
Gingko trees - The streets around Nowon are lined with gingko trees. Their leaves are turning this gorgeous golden color and they are dropping their fruits. Every day as I walk to and from school I see these grandmothers and grandfathers with bags picking up the gingko fruits from the sidewalks. I'm half tempted to grab a bag this weekend and try some myself!
My kids - They all are such colorful personalities and try very hard. I have my favorite classes and while there is some yelling done there is also just as much laughter and stickers given out as well.
The weather - The days have been full of blue skies and soft breezes. It was perfect summer weather when I started and now every day is a perfect fall day meant for long walks in the woods.
The mountains - I live in a town surrounded by mountains. I can go out on my balcony hallway to my front door and see mountain peaks on three sides. Mountain hiking trails are just a short walk away. I don't like living where it is flat or just hills. I want real mountains and I have them here.
The markets - There are street vendors and little sidewalk shops all over the place. It's not superstore shopping here in Korea. It's still very much mom and pop style little shops. It's a big change and one I actually like an awful lot. Every week for a few days these street vendors set up a little market with everything from fresh food to furniture on the sidewalk outside my apartment building. I love walking down a street and seeing vendors with a dozen different types of beans or rice in baskets on the sidewalk. At lunch and dinner time street cart vendors sell dumplings, chicken on a stick, fish pastries and all sorts of other foods. There's this family who sells all sorts of plants right by one of the intersections on my walk to school. Every little type of cactus and potted plant you could imagine up to small trees. And in the afternoons and evenings and nights everything comes alive with lights as the shops and little eateries really come to life with their neon signs and street displays. You never know exactly what you might find along the street or around the corner and everything tastes fresh and good.
Chestnuts - Always one of my favorite yearly treats at home. Here they are cheap and everywhere. I've had them ever since I got here and have them several times a week!
The people - For the most part everyone has been really great. The Koreans have all made me feel welcome and my fellow foreign teachers are a lot of fun. It's strange how everything is so very familiar and yet different too. The kids play and go to school. The little girls wear pink. Yet they chatter on in a different language. Everyone goes to work everyday and lives their lives much as we do in the States. Yet, everyone lives in an apartment and nobody has a house. I don't speak the language but so far that hasn't been a big problem. The subway stops are all in English and so I can get around easier. Yet, despite how familiar everything is there is no denying that I'm in a different country. The feel of everything is different. The food certainly is! I'm getting good at eating with chopsticks but, I must confess, I do not like kimchi. I haven't yet had a chance to really experience local cuisine but once I get paid next month I'm going to make an effort to eat out more.
Couchsurfing - Okay, that's not specific to Korea but I do like keeping in contact with other Couchsurfers in the area and getting notices and such of different events and gatherings happening in the area that I might not know about otherwise. It's a good way to meet new and interesting people to explore a country with.
Subways - They are in English and very safe and fast.
Shoes - I like the habit of taking off your shoes as you enter a building and sticking them in little cubbies. It just makes me giggle and it's also a good way to keep my shoes from being Mycroft chew toys.
Korean eateries - It is fun to eat with chopsticks sitting on the floor or if you are lucky on a cushion or mat. The food is brought to you hot and with a lot of sides (most of them kimchi in at least a half dozen forms). You drink water you pour from a little decanter into a bowl. It is fun to have a menu either in pictures or not and to point and not be sure what you'll be eating but enjoying it anyway. That's how I got a soup with a fish head in it!
Cleanliness - It's amazing how very clean everything is here. There are people who just walk around on the sidewalks picking up with poles the tiniest bit of trash. Everything is immaculate and landscaped with wide sidewalks for people to walk on. Trust me, I know, I walk a good hour and a half a day. Not a slow walk either but a powerwalk.
Just being on my own - It is wonderful to be on my own. Really on my own. I have my own job, my own apartment, and my own dog. My own life far away where I can just do what I want and be myself without any baggage to carry with me. And I have a wonderful view. I'm out of that basement. I can walk out my front door and there are mountains wherever I look and the sun is shining brightly down with a sweet breeze. You can't beat it.
Seoul - so much happens in this city and I have only explored the smallest bit of it. So many different events go on here from street festivals to sports events to broadway musicals. Phantom of the Opera started playing the end of September. If it's still there after I get paid I want to get myself a ticket some weekend! If you want to go out to eat there are places all over. If you want to go clubbing you go to Itaewon. If you want museums or music and dance there's that too. There are mountain trails to hike on and riverside trails to bike on. There's everything you could need.
Things I don't like:
This is going to be a very short list.
The Korean attitude towards dogs - This is NOT a dog friendly culture. There are a few tiny pet shops but they cater only to little toy breeds. If you have a larger dog like I do then finding any basic supply aside from dog shampoo, pee pads, and food is a serious problem not easily solved. I am going to have to either go online or get stuff shipped from home. There is also a fear of larger dogs causing people to react badly to Mycroft though it has not caused any real problems as of yet. A third of the people back away, a third ignore him, a third want to pet him. I have not had anyone run away screaming or try and make trouble.
The absence of real cheese - I miss brie, rochefort, cheddar, and blue cheese. It is all but impossible to find. Maybe I can find some at Lotte for a XMas present to myself.
Having a DVD player made in Korea which will not play any of the DVDs she brought from home.
Having my laptop be funky - I want a new computer! This laptop makes it hard to mix, record, and chat on skype with family and friends.
And that's it. I told you it would be a really short list. I am not homesick at all and never really have been. Oh, I miss home cooking and western food every now and then but I have gotten rather good at cooking for myself. They have broccoli here and I have lemon and butter so I eat that a lot - it's one of my favorites though I can't make it as good as Mom. But that's really it. I am doing absolutely fantastic! I'm in Korea and loving it and have no plans or desires to be anywhere else for at least the next year.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Korean Thanksgiving October 3 - A Most Unexpected Day
The weekend I got Mycroft (October 2nd) was also the weekend of Korean Thanksgiving. I had a five day weekend which was really great. That Saturday (the 3rd) Mycroft and I went into the woods for a hike. That hike is something I don't think I'll ever forget. Not because the weather was perfect but because of what happened.
It was Mycroft and my first hike together. We walked a long way to try and find a trail that led up into the mountains. We finally did and down near the bottom we ran into this old Korean man. I think he was in his 50s or 60s and he didn't speak a word of English and my Korean is limited to goodbye and thank you. Yet, he couldn't get enough of Mycroft. I sat down next to him and he just started grinning this infectious grin, chatting to Mycroft, and laughing up a storm while petting him. It really was the sweetest thing and quite striking simply because of how most Koreans react to larger dogs. It was so atypical.
After I gave him a bit of a dog trick show and we played tug with Mycroft's towel tug toy I made he made a gesture as if to ask if I was going up the mountain. I nodded yes and next thing I knew I had a hiking companion. The day really was perfect - sunny, warm, and with just the right breeze. It was all uphill so every now and then we'd end up finding a nice place to sit down and rest. Then the man would play with Mycroft. That tug toy got thrown for Mycroft to fetch more times than I can count and the man laughed and grinned the entire time. He was having an absolute ball playing with my dog. I can't really convey how infectious he was. He'd start grinning and laughing and I'd find myself doing the same.
We climbed all over that mountain that day. He found some grass at one of our stops and braided it into three separate braids - one for me, him, and Mycroft - which he left growing on the mountainside. Maybe it was for good luck.
We didn't really talk. Well, he talked in Korean a lot and I did a lot of smiling and nodding. We mainly used basic sort of sign language. He made eating motions and that way he asked me if I wanted to eat. I wasn't sure if he was inviting me down to town for lunch or not but it turned out that he was inviting me to eat on the mountain. About an hour or two after he asked we found ourselves walking into a little lunch cafe on the side of a mountain. Korea has a ton of backpackers and the trails were hopping. Some enterprising folks had hiked in camp tables and chairs as well as raman, some basic sides (including tiny dried herring the size of minnows I fell in love with), and this funky white drink that looked like milk but was either carbonated or beer of some sort (which I didn't much like but it was wet).
I ended up getting a raman and we split one of those white drinks which was poured into bowls. Mycroft got tied to a tree nearby but don't think he was forgotten. One man brought him water in a cup and my hiking partner fed him tons of those little fish as snacks and I gave him a hard boiled egg (popular side dishes and even sold by street vendors). We sat and ate and felt the breeze and every few minutes Mycroft would get another treat.
After lunch we headed back to the trails. I had no clue where we were but was happy enough to follow him. It was getting late so I motioned back to the town and so we started our way back. But, on the way we came to what I think was the top of the mountain. The path to get up it was REALLY steep and you literally had to scramble up boulders. I expected Mycroft to balk but that dog didn't bat his eyelash but instead tackled them like a veteran mountain climbing dog. It was narrow, it was twisting, it was not far from vertical but we climbed that mountain trail and came out on the top with a fantastic view.
After the mountaintop it was getting late and so we really started going downhill, slipping and sliding, pulled along by a very happy dog. We laughed still at all our close escapes and grabbed tree trunks to stop ourselves from going head over heels. We found this little park where we sat by a waterfall for awhile before heading back into town. We hugged one another goodbye and then, 6 hours after Mycroft and I started, we went home.
I don't even know the man's name and I doubt I could pronounce it even if I could. But I certainly won't forget him. It was one of those unexpected days that stick in your memory simply because of kindness found when not looking. Mycroft and I could have taken that hike by ourselves but it was made so much richer by an unknown stranger who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. It was a meeting that could have been missed so easily. But I saw the man smile at my dog and we went over to say hello. Sometimes, that's all it takes.
That whole day put me in a philosophical mood and I often think back on it and smile. Neither of us spoke the same language but laughter needs no translation and a black and white dog brought two strangers together for a very special thanksgiving day. Instead of turkey I had raman on a mountainside but I wouldn't trade it for all the turkeys in America.
I wonder how many of those special moments we end up missing because we are in such a hurry we just pass them by. We don't even see them or think to look for them. How much richer would our lives be if we just let go of all the crap and clutter and took our dogs for a walk on the mountain - figuratively and physically.
I met a man on the mountainside who laughed at my dog and it made more of an impact than the National Museum and Changdeokgung Palace. When I think of Korea I'll always see him sitting on the mountainside and grinning. I'll be going back and take Mycroft with me. Perhaps that's what an angel is. A person who shows up unexpectedly and makes a difference and then vanishes as quickly as they came.
It was Mycroft and my first hike together. We walked a long way to try and find a trail that led up into the mountains. We finally did and down near the bottom we ran into this old Korean man. I think he was in his 50s or 60s and he didn't speak a word of English and my Korean is limited to goodbye and thank you. Yet, he couldn't get enough of Mycroft. I sat down next to him and he just started grinning this infectious grin, chatting to Mycroft, and laughing up a storm while petting him. It really was the sweetest thing and quite striking simply because of how most Koreans react to larger dogs. It was so atypical.
After I gave him a bit of a dog trick show and we played tug with Mycroft's towel tug toy I made he made a gesture as if to ask if I was going up the mountain. I nodded yes and next thing I knew I had a hiking companion. The day really was perfect - sunny, warm, and with just the right breeze. It was all uphill so every now and then we'd end up finding a nice place to sit down and rest. Then the man would play with Mycroft. That tug toy got thrown for Mycroft to fetch more times than I can count and the man laughed and grinned the entire time. He was having an absolute ball playing with my dog. I can't really convey how infectious he was. He'd start grinning and laughing and I'd find myself doing the same.
We climbed all over that mountain that day. He found some grass at one of our stops and braided it into three separate braids - one for me, him, and Mycroft - which he left growing on the mountainside. Maybe it was for good luck.
We didn't really talk. Well, he talked in Korean a lot and I did a lot of smiling and nodding. We mainly used basic sort of sign language. He made eating motions and that way he asked me if I wanted to eat. I wasn't sure if he was inviting me down to town for lunch or not but it turned out that he was inviting me to eat on the mountain. About an hour or two after he asked we found ourselves walking into a little lunch cafe on the side of a mountain. Korea has a ton of backpackers and the trails were hopping. Some enterprising folks had hiked in camp tables and chairs as well as raman, some basic sides (including tiny dried herring the size of minnows I fell in love with), and this funky white drink that looked like milk but was either carbonated or beer of some sort (which I didn't much like but it was wet).
I ended up getting a raman and we split one of those white drinks which was poured into bowls. Mycroft got tied to a tree nearby but don't think he was forgotten. One man brought him water in a cup and my hiking partner fed him tons of those little fish as snacks and I gave him a hard boiled egg (popular side dishes and even sold by street vendors). We sat and ate and felt the breeze and every few minutes Mycroft would get another treat.
After lunch we headed back to the trails. I had no clue where we were but was happy enough to follow him. It was getting late so I motioned back to the town and so we started our way back. But, on the way we came to what I think was the top of the mountain. The path to get up it was REALLY steep and you literally had to scramble up boulders. I expected Mycroft to balk but that dog didn't bat his eyelash but instead tackled them like a veteran mountain climbing dog. It was narrow, it was twisting, it was not far from vertical but we climbed that mountain trail and came out on the top with a fantastic view.
After the mountaintop it was getting late and so we really started going downhill, slipping and sliding, pulled along by a very happy dog. We laughed still at all our close escapes and grabbed tree trunks to stop ourselves from going head over heels. We found this little park where we sat by a waterfall for awhile before heading back into town. We hugged one another goodbye and then, 6 hours after Mycroft and I started, we went home.
I don't even know the man's name and I doubt I could pronounce it even if I could. But I certainly won't forget him. It was one of those unexpected days that stick in your memory simply because of kindness found when not looking. Mycroft and I could have taken that hike by ourselves but it was made so much richer by an unknown stranger who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. It was a meeting that could have been missed so easily. But I saw the man smile at my dog and we went over to say hello. Sometimes, that's all it takes.
That whole day put me in a philosophical mood and I often think back on it and smile. Neither of us spoke the same language but laughter needs no translation and a black and white dog brought two strangers together for a very special thanksgiving day. Instead of turkey I had raman on a mountainside but I wouldn't trade it for all the turkeys in America.
I wonder how many of those special moments we end up missing because we are in such a hurry we just pass them by. We don't even see them or think to look for them. How much richer would our lives be if we just let go of all the crap and clutter and took our dogs for a walk on the mountain - figuratively and physically.
I met a man on the mountainside who laughed at my dog and it made more of an impact than the National Museum and Changdeokgung Palace. When I think of Korea I'll always see him sitting on the mountainside and grinning. I'll be going back and take Mycroft with me. Perhaps that's what an angel is. A person who shows up unexpectedly and makes a difference and then vanishes as quickly as they came.
Mycroft
Well, it's been 16 days now since I got my border collie I ended up naming Commander Mycroft Beckert Barrett. I just call him Mycroft. Most of you know how Elizabeth's XO in Gaia is Mycroft. Well, Mycroft is my XO in Korea. Also Mycroft Holmes was the brother of Sherlock Holmes and a genius. Border collies are the genius breed in the dog world. So, the name actually fits all around. Though, in Gaia and in the Holmes stories Mycroft doesn't eat my furniture. My Mycroft tends to want to do that. I've no regrets about getting him, though. I got him and his enormous palace of a dog crate from a New Zealander living in Korea by the name of Ben. Mycroft's a year old and I swear his crate would be more suited for a Great Dane. I could fit two Mycroft's in there easily.
I took the subway to Itaewon and met him and Ben. My first view of Mycroft? Him taking a poop on the sidewalk. It was rather messy too since he had the runs at the time cause Ben got him puppy chow by mistake. Anyway, he was very happy and excited to see me and proceeded to rip my arms out of the sockets by pulling me down the street. That is a habit I am still trying to break him of two weeks later. Ben and I put him in his crate and proceeded to have lunch at a pub down the street. I had a cheeseburger and it was a DAMN good cheesburger! Cooked just right, juicy, and with a ton of fries. I ended up eating it all. It was the first truly Western food I'd had aside from the spaghetti lunch at the National Museum (took forever to get BTW).
After lunch the taxi van came and we got the crate in the trunk with a lot of effort. The taxi driver wasn't very happy about having Mycroft in the back seat with me. He was scared of big dogs. I don't see his problem considering Mycroft was a perfect angel laying on my legs the entire two hours it took us to get back. Traffic in Korea is hell. Don't drive if you can help it.
The taxi driver helped us get the crate up to the elevator (under protest cause he just wanted to drop us flat) and Ben and I lugged the thing into my living room. It is now what you call a feature there. I should get some boards and cover the top with them. It could easily be used as a table.
Mycroft hasn't exactly been the easiest dog. He gets into EVERYTHING and even though he'll mind when you say no or to leave it you'll catch him back doing what he isn't supposed to do two minutes later. So like a man! But, at least he doesn't bark inside his crate even though he pulls like a son of a gun. That makes taking walks hard. He sees me as the dogsitter and not as Mistress and therefore willfully does what he knows he should not. He's a border collie. He's smart enough to know what he can and can not do after all this time.
Part of the problem is the full schedule. It's proving a bit difficult to exercise him as much as he needs since the walk to school is longer than I expected. But both of those problems will be fixed once I get a bike. He loves running by the bike, I've been told, and that should make him happy and my commutes much shorter.
Another problem is Korea's view of dogs in general. Yes, it's true, they still do eat dog over here. I won't eat it and not all Koreans will but their idea of a pet dog is a toy poodle, maltese, pomeranian, and other toy breeds. Mycroft in Western culture would be considered a medium size dog. They consider him a monster sized dog. A third of the people who see him ignore him, a third point and make kissy faces, and a third back away and are scared. I haven't had anyone run screaming yet but I've heard it happens. I never know what'll happen when the elevator door opens though the rule of thirds seems to apply there. I'm teaching him to sit and be quiet but he is a VERY enthusiastic jumper when people are interested in him so it makes things a bit problematic. I don't let him jump up on people but he can get so excited that it can scare people who were already scared. If they ignore him though he'll ignore them which is nice.
There also are no stores like Petco where you can buy everything you need for your dog. There is dog food sold at grocery stores or at the tiny one room pet stores but anything else from leashes to bowls to dog toys is of a size to suit a toy poodle. So, finding toys and other things for him to play with has been quite difficult. Most of it is too soft and too bloody expensive. I only just found him a could tennis balls at Home Plus (Korean version of WalMart) last night on the way home from the music concert (they have a MALL in their bloody soccer stadium) and it was surprising the difference it made. He's carried that ball around with him ever since, happy as a clam, and my corrections have drastically reduced. True, he gets it stuck under the bed about a dozen times a day for me to fish out but it still was worth the 5000 won. There is an online pet store that has a ton of stuff but it is all in Korean. I have a Korean bank account now so I might try it sometime if I can figure it out. I really do need a full set of doggie gear. All I got right now is two tennis balls, poop bags, bowl, food, leash, and a monster sized crate. Oh and the dog clicker I brought from home.
Still, no regrets at all. Every transitioning period has its rough spots and it's only been two weeks. I'm teaching him tricks. I've already taught him to spin in a circle and jump on his hind legs. I'm working on bowing now. It's fun when little kids and others are interested in him to put on a quick little trick show. I want to do doggie freestyle dancing with him someday but that is a LONG way away. I'd settle for him telling me when he needs to go out, stopping eating my furniture, and not pulling my arms out of joint. But, nobody's perfect! He's my boyo and I love him and together we're going to take on the world together. He just needs some manners first!
I took the subway to Itaewon and met him and Ben. My first view of Mycroft? Him taking a poop on the sidewalk. It was rather messy too since he had the runs at the time cause Ben got him puppy chow by mistake. Anyway, he was very happy and excited to see me and proceeded to rip my arms out of the sockets by pulling me down the street. That is a habit I am still trying to break him of two weeks later. Ben and I put him in his crate and proceeded to have lunch at a pub down the street. I had a cheeseburger and it was a DAMN good cheesburger! Cooked just right, juicy, and with a ton of fries. I ended up eating it all. It was the first truly Western food I'd had aside from the spaghetti lunch at the National Museum (took forever to get BTW).
After lunch the taxi van came and we got the crate in the trunk with a lot of effort. The taxi driver wasn't very happy about having Mycroft in the back seat with me. He was scared of big dogs. I don't see his problem considering Mycroft was a perfect angel laying on my legs the entire two hours it took us to get back. Traffic in Korea is hell. Don't drive if you can help it.
The taxi driver helped us get the crate up to the elevator (under protest cause he just wanted to drop us flat) and Ben and I lugged the thing into my living room. It is now what you call a feature there. I should get some boards and cover the top with them. It could easily be used as a table.
Mycroft hasn't exactly been the easiest dog. He gets into EVERYTHING and even though he'll mind when you say no or to leave it you'll catch him back doing what he isn't supposed to do two minutes later. So like a man! But, at least he doesn't bark inside his crate even though he pulls like a son of a gun. That makes taking walks hard. He sees me as the dogsitter and not as Mistress and therefore willfully does what he knows he should not. He's a border collie. He's smart enough to know what he can and can not do after all this time.
Part of the problem is the full schedule. It's proving a bit difficult to exercise him as much as he needs since the walk to school is longer than I expected. But both of those problems will be fixed once I get a bike. He loves running by the bike, I've been told, and that should make him happy and my commutes much shorter.
Another problem is Korea's view of dogs in general. Yes, it's true, they still do eat dog over here. I won't eat it and not all Koreans will but their idea of a pet dog is a toy poodle, maltese, pomeranian, and other toy breeds. Mycroft in Western culture would be considered a medium size dog. They consider him a monster sized dog. A third of the people who see him ignore him, a third point and make kissy faces, and a third back away and are scared. I haven't had anyone run screaming yet but I've heard it happens. I never know what'll happen when the elevator door opens though the rule of thirds seems to apply there. I'm teaching him to sit and be quiet but he is a VERY enthusiastic jumper when people are interested in him so it makes things a bit problematic. I don't let him jump up on people but he can get so excited that it can scare people who were already scared. If they ignore him though he'll ignore them which is nice.
There also are no stores like Petco where you can buy everything you need for your dog. There is dog food sold at grocery stores or at the tiny one room pet stores but anything else from leashes to bowls to dog toys is of a size to suit a toy poodle. So, finding toys and other things for him to play with has been quite difficult. Most of it is too soft and too bloody expensive. I only just found him a could tennis balls at Home Plus (Korean version of WalMart) last night on the way home from the music concert (they have a MALL in their bloody soccer stadium) and it was surprising the difference it made. He's carried that ball around with him ever since, happy as a clam, and my corrections have drastically reduced. True, he gets it stuck under the bed about a dozen times a day for me to fish out but it still was worth the 5000 won. There is an online pet store that has a ton of stuff but it is all in Korean. I have a Korean bank account now so I might try it sometime if I can figure it out. I really do need a full set of doggie gear. All I got right now is two tennis balls, poop bags, bowl, food, leash, and a monster sized crate. Oh and the dog clicker I brought from home.
Still, no regrets at all. Every transitioning period has its rough spots and it's only been two weeks. I'm teaching him tricks. I've already taught him to spin in a circle and jump on his hind legs. I'm working on bowing now. It's fun when little kids and others are interested in him to put on a quick little trick show. I want to do doggie freestyle dancing with him someday but that is a LONG way away. I'd settle for him telling me when he needs to go out, stopping eating my furniture, and not pulling my arms out of joint. But, nobody's perfect! He's my boyo and I love him and together we're going to take on the world together. He just needs some manners first!
The National Museum of Korea
My first weekend in Korea at the end of September had Hannah and I going to the National Museum of Korea. It's a gorgeous museum. There are three floors and it has very high ceilings. Everything is done in marble. It's not a museum like the Smithsonian that handles all science and history around the world. The National Museum just deals with Korea specifically and thus Hannah and I thought it would be a good intro into Korean culture. It certainly was.
The first floor dealt with Archaeology and History. It went from Paleolithic times with stone tools up to the early 1900s and the end of Korea's rule by a King. There were beautiful artifacts all over - most labeled in English as well as Korean. There were few informational panels that were written in English but English tours are available as well as MP3 tours you can rent (They were all out the day we visited). There were plenty of video rooms too that showed short movies that were well done in both Korean and English. Unfortunately, the Korean movies did not have English subtitles but all the movies were well done. My favorite artifacts on the first floor were the golden ones. They had some absolutely exquisite golden artifacts and jewelry from various archaeological investigations. Including a golden crown that was all intricate lacework. I have pictures of it in my Facebook page.
The second floor held a lot of furniture, calligraphy, and pottery from various times. It was almost more art gallery than anything else. I wasn't able to spend too much time going through this floor because I spent most of my time on the first and I didn't even make it to the third floor or tour the very extensive grounds around the museum. But, what I did see was beautiful and impressive and well warrants a return visit. A must see on my list of things people should go to when they visit Korea.
The first floor dealt with Archaeology and History. It went from Paleolithic times with stone tools up to the early 1900s and the end of Korea's rule by a King. There were beautiful artifacts all over - most labeled in English as well as Korean. There were few informational panels that were written in English but English tours are available as well as MP3 tours you can rent (They were all out the day we visited). There were plenty of video rooms too that showed short movies that were well done in both Korean and English. Unfortunately, the Korean movies did not have English subtitles but all the movies were well done. My favorite artifacts on the first floor were the golden ones. They had some absolutely exquisite golden artifacts and jewelry from various archaeological investigations. Including a golden crown that was all intricate lacework. I have pictures of it in my Facebook page.
The second floor held a lot of furniture, calligraphy, and pottery from various times. It was almost more art gallery than anything else. I wasn't able to spend too much time going through this floor because I spent most of my time on the first and I didn't even make it to the third floor or tour the very extensive grounds around the museum. But, what I did see was beautiful and impressive and well warrants a return visit. A must see on my list of things people should go to when they visit Korea.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
September 23rd - Tuesday
This morning I took my first walk through Nowon-gu. I woke up early for me (around 7am) since I was beat last night and crashed around 11pm. I didn’t want to laze about in bed on a beautiful day and I was hungry so I got dressed and headed out to find some breakfast. The first thing I came across was this little alley with a sign saying Sanggye (pronounce sAHN- gEE) Market. I figured I might find some food there and decided to explore it even though in the US in major cities you don’t go down side alleyways unless you want to get mugged. Anyway, I turn into this opening in this building and there I am in this really nice supermarket with pretty much everything you could imagine. All of it in Korean, obviously, but still everything. All you would need for Oriental cooking plus some others that are more Western. Someday I’ll have to go on a photo tour of a Korean supermarket to show just what is there. I ended up getting myself a packet of soft baked squid – literally a whole squid – and some Korean beef jerky along with a Coke. The squid I ate for breakfast while walking down the streets and taking a good look around.
Everything is very compact in Korea. The shops are all stacked vertically on top of one another. You might have a 4-6 story building. On the bottom floor at street level you’ll find lots of little one room shops selling anything under the sun. Then each floor above that is filled with different shops. And each shop uses the outside wall as signage. It ends up making everything very colorful – especially at night when neon signs are lit. There are little side streets everywhere and these are all very pedestrian friendly though cars still drive through. They’re filled with shops and eateries. And then you have all the street vendors. I’ve never seen so many street vendors in my life as I have in Korea so far. They sell everything from shoes, to toys, foods to camping gear. And they are all over – especially near any major intersections.
Eventually, I turned around and walked back to the hotel where I met Hannah just coming out looking for her breakfast and coffee. We walked the other direction til we found a coffee shop. We both got coffees and she got a choco pastry. We sat and chatted for awhile til my feet stopped hurting and then we headed out to finish our walk. After the walk we headed back to the hotel for the first meeting with Hannah our supervisor who Mr. J brought by at about 11:45am. They were supposed to be here by 11am but they ran late. They both are very nice. We went over a few things and I start training Thursday at 3pm.
After lunch, we headed for Nowon Station and Lotte (pronounced Low-tay) Department Store. That place is amazing! It is 10 floors tall, I think, including the two basement levels. The basement floor we started out on had a door in from the subway (we saw it and decided to investigate). It was all a supermarket with everything you could think of at expensive prices. It was well lit and floored in marble. The entire department store was! The rest of the floors except for the top were all designer clothes and way too expensive jeans. I liked a red leather wallet I saw but it was way over 100 bucks. We saw a fur coat that was over a thousand. The top floor is a movie theater. But all the signs for the movies are in Korean and I don’t know if the American movies have Korean subtitles or if they are actually in Korean. Heh. It’ll be fun when I finally go to a movie!
Everything is very compact in Korea. The shops are all stacked vertically on top of one another. You might have a 4-6 story building. On the bottom floor at street level you’ll find lots of little one room shops selling anything under the sun. Then each floor above that is filled with different shops. And each shop uses the outside wall as signage. It ends up making everything very colorful – especially at night when neon signs are lit. There are little side streets everywhere and these are all very pedestrian friendly though cars still drive through. They’re filled with shops and eateries. And then you have all the street vendors. I’ve never seen so many street vendors in my life as I have in Korea so far. They sell everything from shoes, to toys, foods to camping gear. And they are all over – especially near any major intersections.
Eventually, I turned around and walked back to the hotel where I met Hannah just coming out looking for her breakfast and coffee. We walked the other direction til we found a coffee shop. We both got coffees and she got a choco pastry. We sat and chatted for awhile til my feet stopped hurting and then we headed out to finish our walk. After the walk we headed back to the hotel for the first meeting with Hannah our supervisor who Mr. J brought by at about 11:45am. They were supposed to be here by 11am but they ran late. They both are very nice. We went over a few things and I start training Thursday at 3pm.
After lunch, we headed for Nowon Station and Lotte (pronounced Low-tay) Department Store. That place is amazing! It is 10 floors tall, I think, including the two basement levels. The basement floor we started out on had a door in from the subway (we saw it and decided to investigate). It was all a supermarket with everything you could think of at expensive prices. It was well lit and floored in marble. The entire department store was! The rest of the floors except for the top were all designer clothes and way too expensive jeans. I liked a red leather wallet I saw but it was way over 100 bucks. We saw a fur coat that was over a thousand. The top floor is a movie theater. But all the signs for the movies are in Korean and I don’t know if the American movies have Korean subtitles or if they are actually in Korean. Heh. It’ll be fun when I finally go to a movie!
September 21-22nd – Written Sept 23rd 7:40AM
Yesterday morning – but it isn’t yesterday it was… hmmm… Monday morning 4AM EST or… about 38 hours ago though it just feels like yesterday cause my time traveling really was one REALLY long day considering I flew into the future and had a day which literally didn’t have a night. And I didn’t even need a Tardis! Anyway, I woke up my parents after staying up the whole night packing, eating Krispy Kremes, and playing WoW. We got ready and went off to the airport.
My plane at Cleveland was delayed so instead of getting off the ground at 7:40AM we got off the ground at 9:20AM. It worked out okay though cause I got to Chicago in plenty of time to get through security and even get on the internet to skype call Mom and get on the net to chat and email the audiodrama crew a bit. I also found me a Jamba Juice store and grabbed myself a Strawberry Energizer! A most welcome treat considering I didn’t even know there were any outside of California and I love those drinks.
The plane to Incheon arrived right on time. I was in seat 48A – about midway between the wings and tail. It was a bit noisy (I couldn’t hear any of the announcements) but I had a great view from my window seat. Yes, I got a window seat. YAY! Another really cool thing was that each person had a touch screen terminal in the seat in front of them with movies, maps, games, etc. I was going to listen to Leviathan (and I did while waiting for the plane in Cleveland) but watching movies that weren’t out on DVD yet that I hadn’t seen won me over. In between sleeping (very little) and eating (even less cause the food stank) I watched Night at the Museum 2, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Star Trek. The plane ride took about 13 hours total. I did get some really neat video – especially over Russia and landing in Incheon. I’ll post all the video clips on YouTube when I actually have the net again.
We landed in Incheon no problem (4:10pm Korean time) and there was no problem getting through Customs and my luggage. I used my one 100 Won coin to call my school and then I tried using my AT&T International calling card to call home. No go. I tried several machines but finally bought one of their 10,000 Won (10 buck) calling cards made to go with the machine and it worked fine. I let the parents know I was alive and then I spent another 1000 Won to get on the internet to send out messages to Gaia, DP, and BSAP that I was alive and also to update Facebook.
By this time I was absolutely starving. There was a French place selling bread that I planned on grabbing something at but, while updating Facebook I forgot all about it and wheeled the trolley with my luggage out to the bus to Nowon-gu without it. Lucky I did though cause a minute or two after buying my ticket (14000 Won) the bus came (at about 6pmish Korean time). It had REALLY nice cushy seats! I sat right behind the driver. A Korean woman sat next to me but we didn’t talk cause she didn’t speak English and I have no Korean (yet).
The TV in the bus was playing some sort of Korean news or talk show or maybe it was a cooking show. These Korean folk were going through little segments about dishes – from catching the Octopus to cooking it or picking the fruit to finished product. I must say, the dishes all looked REALLY good. Even the Octopus!
I sat in my seat looking out the window and very jazzed. I was tired but there was no way I was going to sleep on this drive! We went past the seat and through Incheon. Let me tell you, the dirt there is ORANGE! I’m serious. There were excavations and the dirt was the color of rust. Rather pretty, really.
Koreans drive on the same side of the road and car as we do in the States. Even the trees and grass looked really similar. If it weren’t for the Korean writing on all the buses and cars as well as signs (paired with English translations!) it could have been a highway back in the States with towns on either side. There were a LOT of apartment buildings, though. Lots of them and they have numbers on the side that you can see for miles so you know which one it is.
The land got more and more hilly the further you got to Seoul til you got to the outskirts of Seoul and there were actual MOUNTAINS! Squeee moment! Ever since that summer in Alaska I have loved mountains and Seoul is surrounded by them. But these mountains are almost a cross between the Alaska mountains and the Alleghany Mts. The Alleghany Mts are old and low and little more than rounded hills. The Alaska’s are tall and rugged and really wild. Well, the Korean mountains around Seoul are lower like the Alleghany Mts but they are more rugged though covered with trees like the Alaskas. They have a wild feel to them too. The whole area has that feel to it so far – wild, ancient, artistic, civilized but still untamed. I love it considering the feel of the US is tired.
We got to Seoul itself and the city is fantastic. You know how when you are at the boardwalk of a beach and the shops are all neon and bright colors with tables and such set up in the street? All the business areas of Seoul are like that (that I have seen). There are several stories in each building and each story might have a different business. And they use the outside wall of their story for advertising so buildings are covered in brightly colored and neon signs all in Korean and there are people walking underneath looking at the street vendors. Very cool. There are also lots of trees. And, boy are there a lot of bicycles! Bike racks and stores are all over the place!
We got to Nowon and I was dropped off the bus. My manager Mr. J was there to pick me up. He brought along his car and drove me to my hotel (this little place – see my videoblog for a tour) while pointing out things around me in the city. It has a bedroom with TV, mni-fridge, condom vendor (I’m not kidding), and a full bath with tub. The bed just has one pillow and a comforter over a cover sheet but I slept well enough.
I watched TV a bit (CSI Miami of all things!) on a Korean/English station until he brought the other new girl. Her name is Hannah and she’s from Seattle. She knew even less than I did because I think she thought our hotel rooms were actually our apartments. I guess all the research I did and getting ahold of the current tenant in my apartment was unusual. But, she’s very nice. We were both starving and so Mr. J walked with us through Nowon in search for food. We ended up in a little place that sells fried chicken and beer. It was in a complex of shops that cater to those living in the apartment building above. 9,000 Won for a big plate of fried chicken and a few side dishes. The chicken was very good but hot both in temperature and spice. It hit the spot! We ate and chat. Mr. J treated us (unexpected and very nice of him). I like him a lot. His English isn’t the best but he is very good natured and obviously wants to make sure that Hannah and I are happy and settle in nice. He walked us back to the Hotel and reminded us that he and Hannah (the Korean one) will be coming by at 11AM Wednesday (today). I lay in bed a bit and watched CSI New York (The one where Horatio shows up to try and catch Darius) before passing out.
I slept the whole night through and woke up bright eared and bushy tailed. I’m not worried about jet lag. Go me! There is no internet in this room so I dunno when I’ll be able to update Facebook and check my email or skype my parents. Aside from the meeting at 11AM I have today off. I’m going to clean up a bit and go find myself some breakfast. Perhaps I’ll find an internet café that I can go to later. Oh! Now that it is light out I can see through my window and there is a MOUNTAIN not far from me! Look out, Seoul, I have arrived!
My plane at Cleveland was delayed so instead of getting off the ground at 7:40AM we got off the ground at 9:20AM. It worked out okay though cause I got to Chicago in plenty of time to get through security and even get on the internet to skype call Mom and get on the net to chat and email the audiodrama crew a bit. I also found me a Jamba Juice store and grabbed myself a Strawberry Energizer! A most welcome treat considering I didn’t even know there were any outside of California and I love those drinks.
The plane to Incheon arrived right on time. I was in seat 48A – about midway between the wings and tail. It was a bit noisy (I couldn’t hear any of the announcements) but I had a great view from my window seat. Yes, I got a window seat. YAY! Another really cool thing was that each person had a touch screen terminal in the seat in front of them with movies, maps, games, etc. I was going to listen to Leviathan (and I did while waiting for the plane in Cleveland) but watching movies that weren’t out on DVD yet that I hadn’t seen won me over. In between sleeping (very little) and eating (even less cause the food stank) I watched Night at the Museum 2, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Star Trek. The plane ride took about 13 hours total. I did get some really neat video – especially over Russia and landing in Incheon. I’ll post all the video clips on YouTube when I actually have the net again.
We landed in Incheon no problem (4:10pm Korean time) and there was no problem getting through Customs and my luggage. I used my one 100 Won coin to call my school and then I tried using my AT&T International calling card to call home. No go. I tried several machines but finally bought one of their 10,000 Won (10 buck) calling cards made to go with the machine and it worked fine. I let the parents know I was alive and then I spent another 1000 Won to get on the internet to send out messages to Gaia, DP, and BSAP that I was alive and also to update Facebook.
By this time I was absolutely starving. There was a French place selling bread that I planned on grabbing something at but, while updating Facebook I forgot all about it and wheeled the trolley with my luggage out to the bus to Nowon-gu without it. Lucky I did though cause a minute or two after buying my ticket (14000 Won) the bus came (at about 6pmish Korean time). It had REALLY nice cushy seats! I sat right behind the driver. A Korean woman sat next to me but we didn’t talk cause she didn’t speak English and I have no Korean (yet).
The TV in the bus was playing some sort of Korean news or talk show or maybe it was a cooking show. These Korean folk were going through little segments about dishes – from catching the Octopus to cooking it or picking the fruit to finished product. I must say, the dishes all looked REALLY good. Even the Octopus!
I sat in my seat looking out the window and very jazzed. I was tired but there was no way I was going to sleep on this drive! We went past the seat and through Incheon. Let me tell you, the dirt there is ORANGE! I’m serious. There were excavations and the dirt was the color of rust. Rather pretty, really.
Koreans drive on the same side of the road and car as we do in the States. Even the trees and grass looked really similar. If it weren’t for the Korean writing on all the buses and cars as well as signs (paired with English translations!) it could have been a highway back in the States with towns on either side. There were a LOT of apartment buildings, though. Lots of them and they have numbers on the side that you can see for miles so you know which one it is.
The land got more and more hilly the further you got to Seoul til you got to the outskirts of Seoul and there were actual MOUNTAINS! Squeee moment! Ever since that summer in Alaska I have loved mountains and Seoul is surrounded by them. But these mountains are almost a cross between the Alaska mountains and the Alleghany Mts. The Alleghany Mts are old and low and little more than rounded hills. The Alaska’s are tall and rugged and really wild. Well, the Korean mountains around Seoul are lower like the Alleghany Mts but they are more rugged though covered with trees like the Alaskas. They have a wild feel to them too. The whole area has that feel to it so far – wild, ancient, artistic, civilized but still untamed. I love it considering the feel of the US is tired.
We got to Seoul itself and the city is fantastic. You know how when you are at the boardwalk of a beach and the shops are all neon and bright colors with tables and such set up in the street? All the business areas of Seoul are like that (that I have seen). There are several stories in each building and each story might have a different business. And they use the outside wall of their story for advertising so buildings are covered in brightly colored and neon signs all in Korean and there are people walking underneath looking at the street vendors. Very cool. There are also lots of trees. And, boy are there a lot of bicycles! Bike racks and stores are all over the place!
We got to Nowon and I was dropped off the bus. My manager Mr. J was there to pick me up. He brought along his car and drove me to my hotel (this little place – see my videoblog for a tour) while pointing out things around me in the city. It has a bedroom with TV, mni-fridge, condom vendor (I’m not kidding), and a full bath with tub. The bed just has one pillow and a comforter over a cover sheet but I slept well enough.
I watched TV a bit (CSI Miami of all things!) on a Korean/English station until he brought the other new girl. Her name is Hannah and she’s from Seattle. She knew even less than I did because I think she thought our hotel rooms were actually our apartments. I guess all the research I did and getting ahold of the current tenant in my apartment was unusual. But, she’s very nice. We were both starving and so Mr. J walked with us through Nowon in search for food. We ended up in a little place that sells fried chicken and beer. It was in a complex of shops that cater to those living in the apartment building above. 9,000 Won for a big plate of fried chicken and a few side dishes. The chicken was very good but hot both in temperature and spice. It hit the spot! We ate and chat. Mr. J treated us (unexpected and very nice of him). I like him a lot. His English isn’t the best but he is very good natured and obviously wants to make sure that Hannah and I are happy and settle in nice. He walked us back to the Hotel and reminded us that he and Hannah (the Korean one) will be coming by at 11AM Wednesday (today). I lay in bed a bit and watched CSI New York (The one where Horatio shows up to try and catch Darius) before passing out.
I slept the whole night through and woke up bright eared and bushy tailed. I’m not worried about jet lag. Go me! There is no internet in this room so I dunno when I’ll be able to update Facebook and check my email or skype my parents. Aside from the meeting at 11AM I have today off. I’m going to clean up a bit and go find myself some breakfast. Perhaps I’ll find an internet café that I can go to later. Oh! Now that it is light out I can see through my window and there is a MOUNTAIN not far from me! Look out, Seoul, I have arrived!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sept 21st - 8 Hours til Liftoff!
Well, it's midnight and I take off in about 8 hours now. The parents are in bed, the bags are packed, I'm all ready to go. Two bags at 50lbs apiece, a carryon at 40lbs, and a shoulder bag at about 10-15lbs. There is no way I could fit in ANYTHING else. It's actually gone down. We were going to buy the extra bag. I have all my electronics ready (including the backup HD with all my audiodrama and Who stuff on it - major freakout if I had forgotten it). Now it's just a matter of staying away for the next 4 hours and then getting ready to go to the airport. Then I get on a plane that's going to take me to Chicago. And then, at 12:35 pm Chicago time I board a plane to a completely different life for an entire year.
I did it. I actually pulled off getting everything organized to move to Korea in a bit under three months. It's just flown by - especially the past two months. It seems just yesterday that August was turning into September and it's now officially Sept 21st, the day I fly across half of the continental US and the entire Pacific Ocean. How does it make me feel? Excited and tired at the same time. Excited cause it's going to be one huge adventure and, even though I've done my research, it's impossible to know what to expect. I like it that way. I like jumping off the cliff without knowing if my parachute will work or not. Call me crazy but it's true. Don't worry, Mom. If I do go skydiving I will make sure the parachute works. Tired, because it has been a lot of stress and work to get everything pulled together in about half the time it normally takes. The marathon for the Visa is something I will NOT be forgetting. But it is done. Bags packed, computer communication station set up for the parents, Visa procured, Dr Who mixed and released, Gaia mixed and released, all lines recorded and turned in, contacts made in Seoul via CouchSurfing (I still owe you a really nice dinner for referring me there, David), dog bathed, dollars exchanged to Won. There really isn't anything else for me to do.
That Leaving on a Jet Plane song keeps going through my head. Though the sadder parts about not wanting to go and already homesick don't apply here. I'm not twitchy cause I"m afraid. I'm twitchy and starting to freak a bit because I can't wait to go!
You know how in Gaia Mycroft tends to get really neurotic and stress out and eventually blow up? One bit from Gaia Episode 4 comes to mind:
254. ELIZABETH: I know, he taught me to fly (beat) Now, do go easy on Mike, Ace. He’s a bit frazzled lately.
255. MYCROFT: (sarcastic) Oh? I can’t imagine why! Stars blowing up before they’re supposed to, wormholes dumping us in the middle of nowhere, pesky little brothers not staying put, an assassin on board, and an infuriating Captain who won’t follow the rules!
256. SHERLOCK: I see you haven’t lost your touch, Liz.
257. ELIZABETH: Hey, it’s a gift.
258. MYCROFT: Gah! (mutters various insults about his brother and Elizabeth under his breath)
Hehe. That's going to be me when it comes close to the time to get bags checked and get on the airplane. I shall be having a Mycroft moment, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
"I'm leaving on a jet plane! Don't know when I'll be back again"
I did it. I actually pulled off getting everything organized to move to Korea in a bit under three months. It's just flown by - especially the past two months. It seems just yesterday that August was turning into September and it's now officially Sept 21st, the day I fly across half of the continental US and the entire Pacific Ocean. How does it make me feel? Excited and tired at the same time. Excited cause it's going to be one huge adventure and, even though I've done my research, it's impossible to know what to expect. I like it that way. I like jumping off the cliff without knowing if my parachute will work or not. Call me crazy but it's true. Don't worry, Mom. If I do go skydiving I will make sure the parachute works. Tired, because it has been a lot of stress and work to get everything pulled together in about half the time it normally takes. The marathon for the Visa is something I will NOT be forgetting. But it is done. Bags packed, computer communication station set up for the parents, Visa procured, Dr Who mixed and released, Gaia mixed and released, all lines recorded and turned in, contacts made in Seoul via CouchSurfing (I still owe you a really nice dinner for referring me there, David), dog bathed, dollars exchanged to Won. There really isn't anything else for me to do.
That Leaving on a Jet Plane song keeps going through my head. Though the sadder parts about not wanting to go and already homesick don't apply here. I'm not twitchy cause I"m afraid. I'm twitchy and starting to freak a bit because I can't wait to go!
You know how in Gaia Mycroft tends to get really neurotic and stress out and eventually blow up? One bit from Gaia Episode 4 comes to mind:
254. ELIZABETH: I know, he taught me to fly (beat) Now, do go easy on Mike, Ace. He’s a bit frazzled lately.
255. MYCROFT: (sarcastic) Oh? I can’t imagine why! Stars blowing up before they’re supposed to, wormholes dumping us in the middle of nowhere, pesky little brothers not staying put, an assassin on board, and an infuriating Captain who won’t follow the rules!
256. SHERLOCK: I see you haven’t lost your touch, Liz.
257. ELIZABETH: Hey, it’s a gift.
258. MYCROFT: Gah! (mutters various insults about his brother and Elizabeth under his breath)
Hehe. That's going to be me when it comes close to the time to get bags checked and get on the airplane. I shall be having a Mycroft moment, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
"I'm leaving on a jet plane! Don't know when I'll be back again"
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Geese and Groban
I was driving through Mentor a few hours ago on the way to the grocery store and dry cleaner. I had already sent off my passport and Visa app to the Korean Consulate in Chicago. Now all I have to do is wait for them to get ahold of me for the interview (HOPEFULLY phone or webcam) and pack. Anyway, as I was driving I looked up and saw a flock of Canada geese flying in a V shape. Fall's here already - early this year. The leaves are already turning colors.
But it was the geese that struck me for a moment. Canada geese have been flying north and south over the town for untold thousands of years. The leaves always change color. The seasons pass one into a next - birth, maturing, harvest, and back to sleep/death. There I was in the middle of this big town and there were geese flying overhead like they always have done. It's enough to make you feel a bit small. Mankind can build stunning achievements. They can construct skyscrapers, send people to the Moon, communicate instantaneously across the internet... Yet, we are a passing thing. Rather inconsequential in the scheme of things. The geese still fly overhead. The seasons stil change. Nature moves on.
A line from Jurrasic Park as said by Ian Malcolm comes to mind. It went something like this: "We cannot destroy the Earth. We can only destroy ourselves. Say there is a nuclear war and we destroy pretty much everything. Life will still survive somewhere even if it's only as bacteria. And life will evolve again into more complex forms. Maybe not as we would recognize it but life all the same. Life finds a way. We cannot save the world but maybe, just maybe, we can save ourselves." I always really liked that passage and I've remembered it even though I haven't read that book in years.
We Humans think we are masters of this planet. We think we have everything under control and are so incredibly powerful. But, it's all the greatest illusion. We're fooling ourselves. Mankind's greatest delusion. We think we are in control and then we are all shocked when a Katrina hits or there's a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Our technology fails us and all our great achievements and skills are all but useless in the face of nature. And, yet, we all too often fail to learn from the mistakes of the past. Money, politics, major coporations, and complacency - "It couldn't happen to me" - all contribute to needed changes not getting made. Look at Global Warming! All the scientific evidence is there. The climate is changing. It's plain to see. And yet, change to perhaps correct the problem is very very slow to happen and many people are still in denial.
Is it Human nature to destroy? Somewhat. It's also human nature to love, show friendship, hate, make war, show courage, be afraid, and so many things besides. We are complex creatures and I think we are often far too busy shouting loudly trying to get our own views across and make it in the rat race to just listen. Listen to the world around us - the geese flying overhead, the wind in the leaves, the birds, the ocean... all the beautiful sounds of nature that make up the greatest symphony in creation. We try to drown it out with our engines, our own versions of music, our voices and yet, even in the heart of the largest cities in the world the wildsong can still be heard. Aren't there pigeons on Wall Street? There are Palm Trees on Hollywood Blvd. The Han River flows through Seoul. And the wind blows no matter where we build. The rain falls and the sun, moon, and stars shine up above.
We try to drown out the song and say we are so superior but who is to say we are any better or happier than the geese? We have language, yes, but so do they of a sort. They have their own form of love as well. A goose mates for life. They search for food, they travel countless miles. They grieve. The grief of a goose who loses their mate is a truly tragic thing. They fight to defend their families and nests just as we fight to defend our own. And, long after our cities fall, our bones and books turn to dust, and there is nothing left of us - not even a memory - the geese or others like them will be flying over what was once Mentor Ohio. The geese certainly won't notice when I am not there in the spring to see them fly back. "And the band played on..." Or, in this case, the wildsong.
I must be in a philosophical mood today. Maybe it's the fact that I'm moving halfway around the world in a few weeks. I was listening to Josh Groban in the car. He's one of my favorite singers. I LOVE his baritone. I was playing the song "Believe" from "The Polar Express." Yes, I know, it's a Christmas song and September just started but it is gorgeous. I like the last line of the refrain "You have everything you need if you just believe." Belief in something seems rather essential to us Humans. Be it a belief in some sort of higher power, in magic, our friends, or ourselves. If we believe we can do truly great things. Many of mankind's greatest achievements have happened because people truly believed. Just look at the space race of the 1960s and how we put a man on the moon. The entire country believed in that even though it should seem impossible. They believed, they got behind NASA and all those involved, and we achieved.
I think belief in oneself is very important. You have to believe in yourself. Decide what you want most, believe you can do it, and just go about doing what you need to do to get it done. Sometimes, that means taking a REALLY huge leap without knowing for sure where you're going to end up or if there'll be anyone to catch you if you miss your landing.
For instance, me and Korea. I decided I wanted to have an adventure - especially after reading all David's travel blogs and looking at his pictures. I asked him where he got a lot of his jobs and he pointed me at google. From there I found websites on teaching in Korea. Right then and there I decided that was what I was going to do and nothing was going to stop me. I didn't stop to seriously think that "WOW! That's a long LONG way away and I don't know anyone. How will I handle the homesickness? I don't even know any Korean. How am I going to find my way around and even do basic shopping?" Well, I thought about it some but instead of being impediments in my mind they actually were pluses.
I wanted an adventure. I wanted to get out of my basement bedroom, out of Cleveland, out of the US, and out of living my life vicariously through others and my audiodramas. Gaia is fantastic and I'm not giving it up but making Gaia in my little bedroom isn't living. I want to live life large with no regrets, never say die, never give up, and make every moment count. I wanted that and once I saw a way to do it I got the Visa documents together, got myself the job, and now, in about three weeks I'm off to move to Korea for a year. And, after that year.... Well, I'm certainly NOT going to be moving back to my basement. There's a whole beautiful world out there full of adventure and I'm going to teach and couchsurf my way across all of it! I believe I can do it. I KNOW I can do it, and, damn it, I'm GOING to do it. The years of living at home are over and I've a life to lead.
I think everyone needs to take that sort of leap at least once in their life. If you stop and think too hard on things you can talk yourself out of everything. And, then, so many years down the road, you'll be sitting somewhere and wondering, what if... What if I had taken that leap? What if I had asked that guy/girl out on that date? What if I had taken that job? What if I had left home? What if... What if... What if... How much happier would we be if we tried for lives that held fewer what ifs? It doesn't have to be moving to Korea - nothing that large at first. How about what if everyone just did a baby what if. What if I decided to talk a walk in the park with my best friend instead of watching that TV show? What if I called up so and so who I haven't talked to in a very long time and asked them to have dinner? What if I brought my Mom flowers on a Tuesday just to tell her I love her?
There are so many small what ifs we pass by in life every day because, we as a society, are taught to pass them by. We are taught to conform - birth, school (get good grades), college (major in something to make good money), grad school (to make even more money), marry, settle down, find a good paying job, be successful, get older, get sick, retire, and eventually die. I'm not saying that's a bad life. Many people want just that in life and if that's what makes them happy then all the power to them. But, we are taught to focus on money, power, politics, and success - the bigger picture. We're all working so damn hard to get ahead that we forget to stop and smell the roses, pay attention to the little things, and to actually LIVE.
So, what are your what ifs? What are things that you would like to do in your life that you think you can't? What are some things you could do to enrich your life and those of others around you? Big, small, somewhere in between... Really think about your what ifs and see if you can turn them from what ifs into realities.
What if I got out of my house and had an adventure across the face of this world?
Well, I tell you, folks. I've already taken the first step to find out. It is far away from home. I've never lived in another country before. I'm not rich. I don't speak Korean. I've never had a classroom of my own before. I've never had an apartment of my own before. I do have a laptop, a camera, a videocamera, and I know I will succeed. I know I will because I believe I will and I will make it happen. I will see the world and live life to the fullest. In that I believe and, really, in the end, that's what matters the most.
So, thank you geese and Josh Groban. I'll see you in Seoul!
But it was the geese that struck me for a moment. Canada geese have been flying north and south over the town for untold thousands of years. The leaves always change color. The seasons pass one into a next - birth, maturing, harvest, and back to sleep/death. There I was in the middle of this big town and there were geese flying overhead like they always have done. It's enough to make you feel a bit small. Mankind can build stunning achievements. They can construct skyscrapers, send people to the Moon, communicate instantaneously across the internet... Yet, we are a passing thing. Rather inconsequential in the scheme of things. The geese still fly overhead. The seasons stil change. Nature moves on.
A line from Jurrasic Park as said by Ian Malcolm comes to mind. It went something like this: "We cannot destroy the Earth. We can only destroy ourselves. Say there is a nuclear war and we destroy pretty much everything. Life will still survive somewhere even if it's only as bacteria. And life will evolve again into more complex forms. Maybe not as we would recognize it but life all the same. Life finds a way. We cannot save the world but maybe, just maybe, we can save ourselves." I always really liked that passage and I've remembered it even though I haven't read that book in years.
We Humans think we are masters of this planet. We think we have everything under control and are so incredibly powerful. But, it's all the greatest illusion. We're fooling ourselves. Mankind's greatest delusion. We think we are in control and then we are all shocked when a Katrina hits or there's a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Our technology fails us and all our great achievements and skills are all but useless in the face of nature. And, yet, we all too often fail to learn from the mistakes of the past. Money, politics, major coporations, and complacency - "It couldn't happen to me" - all contribute to needed changes not getting made. Look at Global Warming! All the scientific evidence is there. The climate is changing. It's plain to see. And yet, change to perhaps correct the problem is very very slow to happen and many people are still in denial.
Is it Human nature to destroy? Somewhat. It's also human nature to love, show friendship, hate, make war, show courage, be afraid, and so many things besides. We are complex creatures and I think we are often far too busy shouting loudly trying to get our own views across and make it in the rat race to just listen. Listen to the world around us - the geese flying overhead, the wind in the leaves, the birds, the ocean... all the beautiful sounds of nature that make up the greatest symphony in creation. We try to drown it out with our engines, our own versions of music, our voices and yet, even in the heart of the largest cities in the world the wildsong can still be heard. Aren't there pigeons on Wall Street? There are Palm Trees on Hollywood Blvd. The Han River flows through Seoul. And the wind blows no matter where we build. The rain falls and the sun, moon, and stars shine up above.
We try to drown out the song and say we are so superior but who is to say we are any better or happier than the geese? We have language, yes, but so do they of a sort. They have their own form of love as well. A goose mates for life. They search for food, they travel countless miles. They grieve. The grief of a goose who loses their mate is a truly tragic thing. They fight to defend their families and nests just as we fight to defend our own. And, long after our cities fall, our bones and books turn to dust, and there is nothing left of us - not even a memory - the geese or others like them will be flying over what was once Mentor Ohio. The geese certainly won't notice when I am not there in the spring to see them fly back. "And the band played on..." Or, in this case, the wildsong.
I must be in a philosophical mood today. Maybe it's the fact that I'm moving halfway around the world in a few weeks. I was listening to Josh Groban in the car. He's one of my favorite singers. I LOVE his baritone. I was playing the song "Believe" from "The Polar Express." Yes, I know, it's a Christmas song and September just started but it is gorgeous. I like the last line of the refrain "You have everything you need if you just believe." Belief in something seems rather essential to us Humans. Be it a belief in some sort of higher power, in magic, our friends, or ourselves. If we believe we can do truly great things. Many of mankind's greatest achievements have happened because people truly believed. Just look at the space race of the 1960s and how we put a man on the moon. The entire country believed in that even though it should seem impossible. They believed, they got behind NASA and all those involved, and we achieved.
I think belief in oneself is very important. You have to believe in yourself. Decide what you want most, believe you can do it, and just go about doing what you need to do to get it done. Sometimes, that means taking a REALLY huge leap without knowing for sure where you're going to end up or if there'll be anyone to catch you if you miss your landing.
For instance, me and Korea. I decided I wanted to have an adventure - especially after reading all David's travel blogs and looking at his pictures. I asked him where he got a lot of his jobs and he pointed me at google. From there I found websites on teaching in Korea. Right then and there I decided that was what I was going to do and nothing was going to stop me. I didn't stop to seriously think that "WOW! That's a long LONG way away and I don't know anyone. How will I handle the homesickness? I don't even know any Korean. How am I going to find my way around and even do basic shopping?" Well, I thought about it some but instead of being impediments in my mind they actually were pluses.
I wanted an adventure. I wanted to get out of my basement bedroom, out of Cleveland, out of the US, and out of living my life vicariously through others and my audiodramas. Gaia is fantastic and I'm not giving it up but making Gaia in my little bedroom isn't living. I want to live life large with no regrets, never say die, never give up, and make every moment count. I wanted that and once I saw a way to do it I got the Visa documents together, got myself the job, and now, in about three weeks I'm off to move to Korea for a year. And, after that year.... Well, I'm certainly NOT going to be moving back to my basement. There's a whole beautiful world out there full of adventure and I'm going to teach and couchsurf my way across all of it! I believe I can do it. I KNOW I can do it, and, damn it, I'm GOING to do it. The years of living at home are over and I've a life to lead.
I think everyone needs to take that sort of leap at least once in their life. If you stop and think too hard on things you can talk yourself out of everything. And, then, so many years down the road, you'll be sitting somewhere and wondering, what if... What if I had taken that leap? What if I had asked that guy/girl out on that date? What if I had taken that job? What if I had left home? What if... What if... What if... How much happier would we be if we tried for lives that held fewer what ifs? It doesn't have to be moving to Korea - nothing that large at first. How about what if everyone just did a baby what if. What if I decided to talk a walk in the park with my best friend instead of watching that TV show? What if I called up so and so who I haven't talked to in a very long time and asked them to have dinner? What if I brought my Mom flowers on a Tuesday just to tell her I love her?
There are so many small what ifs we pass by in life every day because, we as a society, are taught to pass them by. We are taught to conform - birth, school (get good grades), college (major in something to make good money), grad school (to make even more money), marry, settle down, find a good paying job, be successful, get older, get sick, retire, and eventually die. I'm not saying that's a bad life. Many people want just that in life and if that's what makes them happy then all the power to them. But, we are taught to focus on money, power, politics, and success - the bigger picture. We're all working so damn hard to get ahead that we forget to stop and smell the roses, pay attention to the little things, and to actually LIVE.
So, what are your what ifs? What are things that you would like to do in your life that you think you can't? What are some things you could do to enrich your life and those of others around you? Big, small, somewhere in between... Really think about your what ifs and see if you can turn them from what ifs into realities.
What if I got out of my house and had an adventure across the face of this world?
Well, I tell you, folks. I've already taken the first step to find out. It is far away from home. I've never lived in another country before. I'm not rich. I don't speak Korean. I've never had a classroom of my own before. I've never had an apartment of my own before. I do have a laptop, a camera, a videocamera, and I know I will succeed. I know I will because I believe I will and I will make it happen. I will see the world and live life to the fullest. In that I believe and, really, in the end, that's what matters the most.
So, thank you geese and Josh Groban. I'll see you in Seoul!
Friday, August 14, 2009
What a difference a month makes
Well, it's out and all finalized. I have a job teaching English to Elementary school students at Sanggye ECC in Nowon-gu Seoul, Korea. My first day of classes as a professional teacher is on Sept 29th. It's been exactly a month now since I first started chatting with David about possibly going away on my own adventure and bumped into Dave's ESL Cafe and then submitted my resume on a whim. It's been a whirlwind ever since. Monday I got all my visa documents together (FINALLY) and last night I had a phone interview and then got my contract with Sanggye ECC.
Today has been another adventure. You'd think taking everything to the FedEx place and mailing it off would be easy, eh? But NOOOOOOOOOOO! Because it's me everything is thrown into a flat spin and my head is put in serious danger of implosion! So, here's how it all played out. I took Mom to work so I'd have the car. I was exhausted so after spending an hour or so trying to get my printer installed on the desktop I took a nap. I woke up at noon when Dad got home for lunch and got the printer installed after an hour of trying. I printed out copies of my contract, scanned and printed out pics of my passport, printed out my resume, and printed out the dinky health survey. Then I took the contract up to Dad for him to read over. Both the parents are starting to be parents and get nervous and stress and get mushy cause I'm moving away. It's too be expected and is kind of cute.
Anyway, after making sure I had everything I head to find the FedEx store at about 3. Of course, I forgot to write down the address and end up driving way past it and ended up in the next town. I bump into the post office there and decide to UPS it. I get in there and fill everything out and am putting the needed documents in the little cute envelope when I realize... CRAP! I didn't have either copy of my transcript. I start freaking out cause I NEVER take them out of the envelope and they are not there. I drive home and ransack my room, knowing that I am running out of time before the post office closes. I can't find it in my room or my Mom's room. So I think. I figure maybe I left it at the Court of Clerks office and so I drive there. It's not there either. I freak more. Then on the drive home I remember I had taken them out of the envelope during the phone interview in the downstairs office. I go down there and find them. Then I go on the Fedex website and check the business hours of the local FedEx place. It was open til 11PM. YAY! I would be able to get my stuff out afterall! I triple check that I have everything, write down the address, and start the drive. Halfway there I look down and the gas light was blinking at me. I had NO idea how long it had been blinking. I'd just passed a BP station so I turned around and put 10 bucks worth in cause I don't have a BP card. I went and mailed out my Visa documents. They'll be there by 6pm Monday. Then I went to a Sunoco station and filled up the tank before going to go pick up my Mom.
So, yes. A simple errand turned into an adventure. Now I only have to wait to hear the visa number stuff from YBM and then buy a webcam and schedule the webcam interview with the Korean Consulate in Chicago. Packing also needs to be done. We've already got most of the clothes shopping done. I am going to look so damn GOOD. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I want to get a small present for my boss as a greeting and stickers and other little prize stuff for my kids. Visiting friends is called for as well and a skype going away chat session with my audiodrama friends some Sunday afternoon is also on my list of to dos. Oh, and of course, mix as much as I can so I have a cushion. Though since I am taking my laptop with me I don't forsee too much of a disruption in my mixing schedule. If I just mix an hour or two a night or every other night I should be able to get done all that I need to. But, for now, I'm going to relax and eat a good dinner.
Today has been another adventure. You'd think taking everything to the FedEx place and mailing it off would be easy, eh? But NOOOOOOOOOOO! Because it's me everything is thrown into a flat spin and my head is put in serious danger of implosion! So, here's how it all played out. I took Mom to work so I'd have the car. I was exhausted so after spending an hour or so trying to get my printer installed on the desktop I took a nap. I woke up at noon when Dad got home for lunch and got the printer installed after an hour of trying. I printed out copies of my contract, scanned and printed out pics of my passport, printed out my resume, and printed out the dinky health survey. Then I took the contract up to Dad for him to read over. Both the parents are starting to be parents and get nervous and stress and get mushy cause I'm moving away. It's too be expected and is kind of cute.
Anyway, after making sure I had everything I head to find the FedEx store at about 3. Of course, I forgot to write down the address and end up driving way past it and ended up in the next town. I bump into the post office there and decide to UPS it. I get in there and fill everything out and am putting the needed documents in the little cute envelope when I realize... CRAP! I didn't have either copy of my transcript. I start freaking out cause I NEVER take them out of the envelope and they are not there. I drive home and ransack my room, knowing that I am running out of time before the post office closes. I can't find it in my room or my Mom's room. So I think. I figure maybe I left it at the Court of Clerks office and so I drive there. It's not there either. I freak more. Then on the drive home I remember I had taken them out of the envelope during the phone interview in the downstairs office. I go down there and find them. Then I go on the Fedex website and check the business hours of the local FedEx place. It was open til 11PM. YAY! I would be able to get my stuff out afterall! I triple check that I have everything, write down the address, and start the drive. Halfway there I look down and the gas light was blinking at me. I had NO idea how long it had been blinking. I'd just passed a BP station so I turned around and put 10 bucks worth in cause I don't have a BP card. I went and mailed out my Visa documents. They'll be there by 6pm Monday. Then I went to a Sunoco station and filled up the tank before going to go pick up my Mom.
So, yes. A simple errand turned into an adventure. Now I only have to wait to hear the visa number stuff from YBM and then buy a webcam and schedule the webcam interview with the Korean Consulate in Chicago. Packing also needs to be done. We've already got most of the clothes shopping done. I am going to look so damn GOOD. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I want to get a small present for my boss as a greeting and stickers and other little prize stuff for my kids. Visiting friends is called for as well and a skype going away chat session with my audiodrama friends some Sunday afternoon is also on my list of to dos. Oh, and of course, mix as much as I can so I have a cushion. Though since I am taking my laptop with me I don't forsee too much of a disruption in my mixing schedule. If I just mix an hour or two a night or every other night I should be able to get done all that I need to. But, for now, I'm going to relax and eat a good dinner.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Korea and Chaos
Let's just say things have been incredibly chaotic lately. The whole process of getting my documents in order and trying to get the Visa and all is stressful. This has been an incredibly good past 10 days or so and happy ones, but they are still stressful because there's a big time crunch. If everything goes well I just might have everything done in time to get to Korea the end of August. That would be IDEAL for me but, worst case, I leave two weeks later. I tell you, I wish I had thought of teaching in Korea back in May after I first graduated. I would have applied for my passport to get renewed, would have had plenty of time to make sure all my documents got in, and there wouldn't be such a crunch. On the other hand I can be a rather bad procrastinator and sometimes work best under pressure. This is taken from Reach-To-Teach's website:
Korean Visa Process
Part One
All below items will need to be completed/collated.
When you have all the below items in hand, you will need to FEDEX them to your school in Korea.
The Items
1. Criminal Background Check - *Mine is in the mail and should arrive any day now*
2. A signed copy of the employment contract - *interview Wednesday night and i HOPE to have one end of this week or latest end of next week*
3. Sector Background Check - *This one is for Canadians instead of me. At least ONE thing I don't have to do*
4. Apostille or Appropriate Notarization - *Will get my background check notarized soon as it arrives and then I have to make a 2 hour drive down to Columbus, Ohio to get it Apostiled next week*
5. A copy of the first page of your passport - *Passport is on expedited renewal and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope to get it by end of next week*
6. Two Official Sealed Transcripts - *in the mail and should arrive any day now*
7. Four Passport Photos - *I have 8 taken. This was the easiest part*
8. Bachelor’s Degree - *Finally got in the mail. One less headache*
9. Health Statement - *Haven't gotten this yet. I imagine it'll be included in the email with my contract*
ONE. Criminal background check OR a Vulnerable Sector Background Check
1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please apply for this right away!**
2. How to get your Background Check: please apply for your Criminal Background Check at your local police station. Request a statewide check if possible (in the United States), if not then a local or county check is fine.
5. The background check must have a contact number for the police station, a signature from the issuing officer, the issuing station’s police stamp and the search result.
6. Please don’t delay in applying for this, as it is valid for 180 days and not having it in time can prevent you from landing the job you want!
TWO. Apostille or Appropriate Notarization
1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please apply for this as soon as you receive your Background Check!**
2. What is an apostille? Simply put- an international notarization. Right now your criminal background check is only legal in the United States. By getting an apostille, your background check will be legal in any country that recognizes the apostille, in particular South Korea.
3. America: Your Criminal Background Check must receive an apostille from your state’s Secretary of State Office. Sometimes you may have to get a public notarization before receiving your apostille. Please call your Secretary of State to see if this is necessary or if they will notarize the document for you.
THREE. Official Sealed Transcript
1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please request these from your University right away!**
2. The envelope must not be opened!
3. A stamp from the university must be placed along the seal line of the envelope. Some Universities will do this automatically, but most will not. Please request this from your university just to be safe.
4. One transcript will be sent to Korea in Part 2 listed below. The other transcript will be taken with you to the Korean Consulate described in Part 3 listed below.
5. 2 Official Sealed Transcripts are the minority requirements. For some positions you will need a total of 3 transcripts. We suggest getting a total of 4 transcripts as security.
FOUR. Bachelor’s degree
1. This must be the original copy of your Bachelor’s Degree!
2. If you wish not to send your original degree, then you must have a copy notarized by a public notary and by the Korean Consulate.
3. Please check the name on the degree. It must match the name on your passport.
4. To avoid any problems with your degree, we HIGHLY suggest you send you original degree to Korea. You will receive a tracking number from FED-EX and your school will keep the diploma safe until you arrive, where you will get it back.
FIVE. A signed copy of the employment contract
1. Make sure you have completely filled out each part of the contract.
2. Make sure you have signed or initialed each page of the contract.
SIX. A copy of the first page of your passport
1. This is the page with your photograph and personal information.
2. If you are worried about identity theft, you may cover up your passport number.
3. Your passport must be valid for the next 12 months.
SEVEN. 4 passport-sized photos
1. Please take a total of six. You will mail four to Korea and keep two for later.
2. They must all be the same picture.
EIGHT. Health Statement
1. This form is also attached to the Visa Information E-Mail.
2. Please be as honest as possible when filing out this form.
3. Please see below for further details.
PART TWO
When you have all the above items in hand, you will mail them to your school in Korea. We will give you this address, of course! The school will then submit these documents to the Korean Ministry of Immigration.
Private School: After approximately 10 business days immigration provides the school with a Visa Issuance Number in your name (it typically looks like this: HSBO000070). This number will be given to us, and then we will pass it along to you.
Public School: Often times, it takes much long for private schools to process your documents. When it is complete, the public school will mail to YOU a visa issuance letter, not a number. Essentially, this will be a letter of acceptance into the program.
PART THREE
At this point, you will take your Visa Issuance Number or Letter, visa application which was also attached to this e-mail, passport, 2 passport photos and fee money (about $45) and schedule an interview at the nearest Korean Embassy/Consulate (*Chicago in my case - a 7 HOUR drive away!). Subsequent to your interview, the Korean government will take approximately three (3) days to process your application. You can then pick up your passport, with visa inside. At that point, congratulations, you are officially ready to come to Korea!
Sometimes, consulates will grant phone interviews or you may submit a video of you if the consulate is too far away from you. Please note that that is very rarely granted, but some applicants have been allowed to do this in the past. Unfortunately, schools cannot reimburse you for travel to and from the Korean Consulate to apply for or pick up your visa.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Health Statement: Applicants will be required to submit a health statement form to Korean Immigration when they apply for their working visa (mentioned in part one of the visa process). You must answer this form as honestly as possible. Shortly after your arrival to Korea, you will be required to visit one of the local hospitals or health clinics to undergo a health screening. You will be tested for HIV, other contagious diseases and illicit drug use (including marijuana use). If the responses on your health statement form are inconsistent with your health screening results, your visa could be revoked and your contract terminated. Ultimately you could be deported and blacklisted, making it almost impossible to work in Korea again. SEE YOUR DOCTOR!
***************************************************************************************************
So, yes, lots and lots of stress and chaos and a strict timetable where everything just MIGHT fall into place and fit but with no real margin of error. It's hurry up and get everything you can and wait for things to arrive in the mail. Then hurry up and send stuff to Korea and then just sit around and wait two weeks to get the number. And after they send you the number there's the BIG HORRIBLE headache of dealing with having to go to Chicago.
Here's scenarios for that whole debacle from best to worst case:
1. If I go with YBM ECC which are public schools I call the Consulate and they tell me I don't need the interview. I imagine I would just mail them the application and documents and they would mail me the stamped passport. Save me a 7 hour drive and hotel fees. YAY!
2. I overnight mail everything to the Consulate in Chicago and they go through my documents and are nice enough to give me a phone or webcam interview (I'd need to buy a webcam for that but I was planning on it anyway so I could videochat with my family while away) and then express mail the passport with the Visa stamp back to me. An unlikely scenario but possible.
3. I drive down to Chicago with everything I need, conduct the interview, they stamp my passport, and I can drive back the next day - or even they stamp it the day after the interview and I pick it up before going home. Chicago's a 7 hour drive one way so I'd need to stay one night anyway. Very improbably scenario.
4. I overnight them the documents so they arrive 3 days before my interview. I drive down, conduct the interview and get my passport stamped before I leave the next day. Again, very improbable.
5. I drive down with everything I need, conduct the interview, provide them with an a pre-paid addressed express mail envelope, go home the next day, and they mail my passport to me 2-3 days later. Rather iikely.
6. I drive down with everythig, conduct the interview, pay for a hotel, stay around 3 days waiting for them to process everything and stamp my passport, pick up my passport and drive back. This is the most likely, unfortunately, and expensive option considering we'd have to pay for a hotel and my Mom would have to miss work for several days. It's not like there's really anyone close to the main city that we can crash with for the time. But, if this is what happens then at least I wouldn't have to wait the few extra days for the passport to arrive in the mail.
Like I said, MAJOR headache. Plus, I've already gone through my entire wardrobe and chosen the clothes I want to take. I am going to look GOOD! Mainly dressy/semi-formal business/teaching attire that I can also wear around the city and going out on the town stuff that I rarely ever get to wear plus more casual stuff and rugged stuff I can wear while hiking. At least with international flights I get two bags of 50 lbs each, plus a 45 inch 40lb carryon bag and a shoulder bag/purse. LOL. That might be enough to carry everything.
I've also been doing some research on the computer note. I have the one I want all picked out - one of Alienware's laptops with all the fixings. I have the config I want and once I have more money saved up around XMas time I'm going to email the config to Dell Korea and see if they can make it for me. For some reason the Korea Alienware website doesn't have all the options that the American version does. If the Korea branch can't make me a model with all the US options I picked for a comparable amount of money then I'll just order it from the American website, have it shipped to my parents, and then they can ship it courier to me. Might cost a bit more but it'll be worth it. Until I can save up the $5000 US (yes, that much. Damn it for ONCE in my life I am getting myself my dream laptop and nothing's going to stop me. At least I know the sucker'll pretty much last forever). Oh, and on the engraved nameplate I'm going to get Capt. Elizabeth Monroe. I just can't resist.
I'll be looking into buying a cheap desktop over in Korea. Some folks on Dave's ESL Cafe http://www.eslcafe.com/ forums say there's a place called Yongsun where you can get one for 300,000-600,000 won including monitor. That's comparable to $300-600 US. I'll probably get one of those as soon as I get my first paycheck end of September and use that for mixing and everything instead of my poor little laptop. I'll still take it with me though, and make do til then. But, the end of the year of laptop HELL is in sight. Thank whatever Gods there are out there for that!
All the stress is going to be worth it though to get out of my basement room. out of my house, out of Cleveland, out of the States in general and off to Korea to have an adventure and an apartment of my own for the first time. I won't be coming back to the States for at least a year and even then probably only for a visit before I'm off on another adventure. I'll probably end up renewing my contract or moving on to teach in Japan, China, or Taiwan. We'll see, though. That's at least a year away. I'm still just trying to get through the next month without spontaneously combusting. Though, in my case since my town has a nuclear power plant in it I'd probably turn Lake County and maybe Cleveland into a US version of Hiroshima.
Korean Visa Process
Part One
All below items will need to be completed/collated.
When you have all the below items in hand, you will need to FEDEX them to your school in Korea.
The Items
1. Criminal Background Check - *Mine is in the mail and should arrive any day now*
2. A signed copy of the employment contract - *interview Wednesday night and i HOPE to have one end of this week or latest end of next week*
3. Sector Background Check - *This one is for Canadians instead of me. At least ONE thing I don't have to do*
4. Apostille or Appropriate Notarization - *Will get my background check notarized soon as it arrives and then I have to make a 2 hour drive down to Columbus, Ohio to get it Apostiled next week*
5. A copy of the first page of your passport - *Passport is on expedited renewal and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope to get it by end of next week*
6. Two Official Sealed Transcripts - *in the mail and should arrive any day now*
7. Four Passport Photos - *I have 8 taken. This was the easiest part*
8. Bachelor’s Degree - *Finally got in the mail. One less headache*
9. Health Statement - *Haven't gotten this yet. I imagine it'll be included in the email with my contract*
ONE. Criminal background check OR a Vulnerable Sector Background Check
1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please apply for this right away!**
2. How to get your Background Check: please apply for your Criminal Background Check at your local police station. Request a statewide check if possible (in the United States), if not then a local or county check is fine.
5. The background check must have a contact number for the police station, a signature from the issuing officer, the issuing station’s police stamp and the search result.
6. Please don’t delay in applying for this, as it is valid for 180 days and not having it in time can prevent you from landing the job you want!
TWO. Apostille or Appropriate Notarization
1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please apply for this as soon as you receive your Background Check!**
2. What is an apostille? Simply put- an international notarization. Right now your criminal background check is only legal in the United States. By getting an apostille, your background check will be legal in any country that recognizes the apostille, in particular South Korea.
3. America: Your Criminal Background Check must receive an apostille from your state’s Secretary of State Office. Sometimes you may have to get a public notarization before receiving your apostille. Please call your Secretary of State to see if this is necessary or if they will notarize the document for you.
THREE. Official Sealed Transcript
1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please request these from your University right away!**
2. The envelope must not be opened!
3. A stamp from the university must be placed along the seal line of the envelope. Some Universities will do this automatically, but most will not. Please request this from your university just to be safe.
4. One transcript will be sent to Korea in Part 2 listed below. The other transcript will be taken with you to the Korean Consulate described in Part 3 listed below.
5. 2 Official Sealed Transcripts are the minority requirements. For some positions you will need a total of 3 transcripts. We suggest getting a total of 4 transcripts as security.
FOUR. Bachelor’s degree
1. This must be the original copy of your Bachelor’s Degree!
2. If you wish not to send your original degree, then you must have a copy notarized by a public notary and by the Korean Consulate.
3. Please check the name on the degree. It must match the name on your passport.
4. To avoid any problems with your degree, we HIGHLY suggest you send you original degree to Korea. You will receive a tracking number from FED-EX and your school will keep the diploma safe until you arrive, where you will get it back.
FIVE. A signed copy of the employment contract
1. Make sure you have completely filled out each part of the contract.
2. Make sure you have signed or initialed each page of the contract.
SIX. A copy of the first page of your passport
1. This is the page with your photograph and personal information.
2. If you are worried about identity theft, you may cover up your passport number.
3. Your passport must be valid for the next 12 months.
SEVEN. 4 passport-sized photos
1. Please take a total of six. You will mail four to Korea and keep two for later.
2. They must all be the same picture.
EIGHT. Health Statement
1. This form is also attached to the Visa Information E-Mail.
2. Please be as honest as possible when filing out this form.
3. Please see below for further details.
PART TWO
When you have all the above items in hand, you will mail them to your school in Korea. We will give you this address, of course! The school will then submit these documents to the Korean Ministry of Immigration.
Private School: After approximately 10 business days immigration provides the school with a Visa Issuance Number in your name (it typically looks like this: HSBO000070). This number will be given to us, and then we will pass it along to you.
Public School: Often times, it takes much long for private schools to process your documents. When it is complete, the public school will mail to YOU a visa issuance letter, not a number. Essentially, this will be a letter of acceptance into the program.
PART THREE
At this point, you will take your Visa Issuance Number or Letter, visa application which was also attached to this e-mail, passport, 2 passport photos and fee money (about $45) and schedule an interview at the nearest Korean Embassy/Consulate (*Chicago in my case - a 7 HOUR drive away!). Subsequent to your interview, the Korean government will take approximately three (3) days to process your application. You can then pick up your passport, with visa inside. At that point, congratulations, you are officially ready to come to Korea!
Sometimes, consulates will grant phone interviews or you may submit a video of you if the consulate is too far away from you. Please note that that is very rarely granted, but some applicants have been allowed to do this in the past. Unfortunately, schools cannot reimburse you for travel to and from the Korean Consulate to apply for or pick up your visa.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Health Statement: Applicants will be required to submit a health statement form to Korean Immigration when they apply for their working visa (mentioned in part one of the visa process). You must answer this form as honestly as possible. Shortly after your arrival to Korea, you will be required to visit one of the local hospitals or health clinics to undergo a health screening. You will be tested for HIV, other contagious diseases and illicit drug use (including marijuana use). If the responses on your health statement form are inconsistent with your health screening results, your visa could be revoked and your contract terminated. Ultimately you could be deported and blacklisted, making it almost impossible to work in Korea again. SEE YOUR DOCTOR!
***************************************************************************************************
So, yes, lots and lots of stress and chaos and a strict timetable where everything just MIGHT fall into place and fit but with no real margin of error. It's hurry up and get everything you can and wait for things to arrive in the mail. Then hurry up and send stuff to Korea and then just sit around and wait two weeks to get the number. And after they send you the number there's the BIG HORRIBLE headache of dealing with having to go to Chicago.
Here's scenarios for that whole debacle from best to worst case:
1. If I go with YBM ECC which are public schools I call the Consulate and they tell me I don't need the interview. I imagine I would just mail them the application and documents and they would mail me the stamped passport. Save me a 7 hour drive and hotel fees. YAY!
2. I overnight mail everything to the Consulate in Chicago and they go through my documents and are nice enough to give me a phone or webcam interview (I'd need to buy a webcam for that but I was planning on it anyway so I could videochat with my family while away) and then express mail the passport with the Visa stamp back to me. An unlikely scenario but possible.
3. I drive down to Chicago with everything I need, conduct the interview, they stamp my passport, and I can drive back the next day - or even they stamp it the day after the interview and I pick it up before going home. Chicago's a 7 hour drive one way so I'd need to stay one night anyway. Very improbably scenario.
4. I overnight them the documents so they arrive 3 days before my interview. I drive down, conduct the interview and get my passport stamped before I leave the next day. Again, very improbable.
5. I drive down with everything I need, conduct the interview, provide them with an a pre-paid addressed express mail envelope, go home the next day, and they mail my passport to me 2-3 days later. Rather iikely.
6. I drive down with everythig, conduct the interview, pay for a hotel, stay around 3 days waiting for them to process everything and stamp my passport, pick up my passport and drive back. This is the most likely, unfortunately, and expensive option considering we'd have to pay for a hotel and my Mom would have to miss work for several days. It's not like there's really anyone close to the main city that we can crash with for the time. But, if this is what happens then at least I wouldn't have to wait the few extra days for the passport to arrive in the mail.
Like I said, MAJOR headache. Plus, I've already gone through my entire wardrobe and chosen the clothes I want to take. I am going to look GOOD! Mainly dressy/semi-formal business/teaching attire that I can also wear around the city and going out on the town stuff that I rarely ever get to wear plus more casual stuff and rugged stuff I can wear while hiking. At least with international flights I get two bags of 50 lbs each, plus a 45 inch 40lb carryon bag and a shoulder bag/purse. LOL. That might be enough to carry everything.
I've also been doing some research on the computer note. I have the one I want all picked out - one of Alienware's laptops with all the fixings. I have the config I want and once I have more money saved up around XMas time I'm going to email the config to Dell Korea and see if they can make it for me. For some reason the Korea Alienware website doesn't have all the options that the American version does. If the Korea branch can't make me a model with all the US options I picked for a comparable amount of money then I'll just order it from the American website, have it shipped to my parents, and then they can ship it courier to me. Might cost a bit more but it'll be worth it. Until I can save up the $5000 US (yes, that much. Damn it for ONCE in my life I am getting myself my dream laptop and nothing's going to stop me. At least I know the sucker'll pretty much last forever). Oh, and on the engraved nameplate I'm going to get Capt. Elizabeth Monroe. I just can't resist.
I'll be looking into buying a cheap desktop over in Korea. Some folks on Dave's ESL Cafe http://www.eslcafe.com/ forums say there's a place called Yongsun where you can get one for 300,000-600,000 won including monitor. That's comparable to $300-600 US. I'll probably get one of those as soon as I get my first paycheck end of September and use that for mixing and everything instead of my poor little laptop. I'll still take it with me though, and make do til then. But, the end of the year of laptop HELL is in sight. Thank whatever Gods there are out there for that!
All the stress is going to be worth it though to get out of my basement room. out of my house, out of Cleveland, out of the States in general and off to Korea to have an adventure and an apartment of my own for the first time. I won't be coming back to the States for at least a year and even then probably only for a visit before I'm off on another adventure. I'll probably end up renewing my contract or moving on to teach in Japan, China, or Taiwan. We'll see, though. That's at least a year away. I'm still just trying to get through the next month without spontaneously combusting. Though, in my case since my town has a nuclear power plant in it I'd probably turn Lake County and maybe Cleveland into a US version of Hiroshima.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Korea is a real possibility
A few days ago I put out my resume on a few job boards and emailed my resume to YBM in Korea saying that I would be interested in teaching over there. Tonight I got this:
Hi Elaine,
Thank you for applying to Korea's largest chain of ESL schools and Korea's largest employer of ESL teachers, YBM Education Inc, ECC division. At your earliest convenience, please stop by our website at www.ybmecc.co.kr for more information about our teaching program which includes detailed school listings as well as pictures of our ECC schools and locations.
After reviewing your resume and photo, we are interested in considering you for one of our 31 company-owned and operated ECC schools and have made note of your preference for our August and September preferences. We would like to talk to you a bit more in detail about the ECC program and determine if it is the right position for you. As such, if you are interested please be sure to update us with convenient times in your evening hours that you are able to receive a phone call and someone from the head office will be in contact with you as early as the end of the week or by early next week.
Before we have a chance to speak with you, we would ask that you please take time to look-over the attached E-2 visa requirements which contain all the information you need to obtain the necessary documents, including your criminal background check. In your reply, please update us with the status of the E-2 visa requirements including which of them you are in possession of and which you still need to obtain.
Thank you again for you interest in a teaching position and we look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Kind regards,
Jonathan DeBlois
Personnel Coordinator
YBM Education HR Division
They seem far more legit than many of the companies out there which was why I sent in my resume. The benefits also seem to be rather nice. According to their web page these include:
1. A competitive salary based on 26.25 hours per week or 105 teaching hours a month plus preparations
2. Rent free Furnished Housing (Most of our housing will be a private single studio apartment near the school)
3. Prepaid airfare from most major cities (Usually E-tickets)
4. Severance Pay (One extra month’s salary upon completion of one year contract).
5. Compliance with the Korean Pension Fund and National Medical Insurance.
6. At least ten pre-selected vacation days + all Korean national holidays.
7. Relocation allowance - 200,000 Won relocation allowance to help defray the cost of settling in Korea.
8. Visa application fee subsidy - 50,000 Won to help defray the cost of the work visa application fee.
9. Paid orientation and training - 30,000 Won per each full day of orientation.
10. Sick days - 10 paid sick classes with a medical note from a physician or approval by the employer.
11. Medical check paid for and arranged by YBM
12. Attendance Bonus: Under the 12-session contract employer will pay employee an attendance bonus for the following levels of attendance
.... * 300,000 Won bonus for missing no classes (Medical or non-medical reasons)
.... * 200,000 Won bonus for missing 5 or less classes (Medical or non-medical reasons)
.... * 100,000 Won bonus for missing 10 or less classes (Medical or non-medical reasons)
The rent-free apartments according to their pictures are actually very nice and larger and better furnished than lots of the pictures of the ones I saw in my research on Japan. The pre-paid air fare is also a very nice thing considering plane tickets are expensive. I also like the start-up bonus. The average pay for new teachers starting out in Korea is 2.2-2.7 million won a month. About $1700-2000 US. The company in Japan I was looking at paid about a thousand more a month but half of that it taken up by rent, utilities, etc and I'd have to pay my way over so it rather evens out. The other company does have more paid vacation days but that's not too big a deal with me. Considering full time in the US is 40+ hours a week and I'd be only working a bit over half that in Korea or Japan I'll have plenty of off time to explore no matter where I go.
So, I'm going to see about prying my diploma out of CSU's grasping fingers, save up some start-up money (starving to death before the first paycheck would be a baaad thing), see if my passport needs renewing (probably), and see about getting the other things the company needs. A year in Korea wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I've emailed them in response and hopefully sometime this week I'll be getting a call from Korea and talk with them more. Perhaps, in a few months time, I'll be off on an adventure. Perhaps even this fall instead of this January. Wouldn't be too soon for me! I want the hell out of Cleveland. Just want to make sure it's to the right place so that I'm not way in over my head on the other side of the world. I might be adventurous but I'm not suicidal=)
Hi Elaine,
Thank you for applying to Korea's largest chain of ESL schools and Korea's largest employer of ESL teachers, YBM Education Inc, ECC division. At your earliest convenience, please stop by our website at www.ybmecc.co.kr for more information about our teaching program which includes detailed school listings as well as pictures of our ECC schools and locations.
After reviewing your resume and photo, we are interested in considering you for one of our 31 company-owned and operated ECC schools and have made note of your preference for our August and September preferences. We would like to talk to you a bit more in detail about the ECC program and determine if it is the right position for you. As such, if you are interested please be sure to update us with convenient times in your evening hours that you are able to receive a phone call and someone from the head office will be in contact with you as early as the end of the week or by early next week.
Before we have a chance to speak with you, we would ask that you please take time to look-over the attached E-2 visa requirements which contain all the information you need to obtain the necessary documents, including your criminal background check. In your reply, please update us with the status of the E-2 visa requirements including which of them you are in possession of and which you still need to obtain.
Thank you again for you interest in a teaching position and we look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Kind regards,
Jonathan DeBlois
Personnel Coordinator
YBM Education HR Division
They seem far more legit than many of the companies out there which was why I sent in my resume. The benefits also seem to be rather nice. According to their web page these include:
1. A competitive salary based on 26.25 hours per week or 105 teaching hours a month plus preparations
2. Rent free Furnished Housing (Most of our housing will be a private single studio apartment near the school)
3. Prepaid airfare from most major cities (Usually E-tickets)
4. Severance Pay (One extra month’s salary upon completion of one year contract).
5. Compliance with the Korean Pension Fund and National Medical Insurance.
6. At least ten pre-selected vacation days + all Korean national holidays.
7. Relocation allowance - 200,000 Won relocation allowance to help defray the cost of settling in Korea.
8. Visa application fee subsidy - 50,000 Won to help defray the cost of the work visa application fee.
9. Paid orientation and training - 30,000 Won per each full day of orientation.
10. Sick days - 10 paid sick classes with a medical note from a physician or approval by the employer.
11. Medical check paid for and arranged by YBM
12. Attendance Bonus: Under the 12-session contract employer will pay employee an attendance bonus for the following levels of attendance
.... * 300,000 Won bonus for missing no classes (Medical or non-medical reasons)
.... * 200,000 Won bonus for missing 5 or less classes (Medical or non-medical reasons)
.... * 100,000 Won bonus for missing 10 or less classes (Medical or non-medical reasons)
The rent-free apartments according to their pictures are actually very nice and larger and better furnished than lots of the pictures of the ones I saw in my research on Japan. The pre-paid air fare is also a very nice thing considering plane tickets are expensive. I also like the start-up bonus. The average pay for new teachers starting out in Korea is 2.2-2.7 million won a month. About $1700-2000 US. The company in Japan I was looking at paid about a thousand more a month but half of that it taken up by rent, utilities, etc and I'd have to pay my way over so it rather evens out. The other company does have more paid vacation days but that's not too big a deal with me. Considering full time in the US is 40+ hours a week and I'd be only working a bit over half that in Korea or Japan I'll have plenty of off time to explore no matter where I go.
So, I'm going to see about prying my diploma out of CSU's grasping fingers, save up some start-up money (starving to death before the first paycheck would be a baaad thing), see if my passport needs renewing (probably), and see about getting the other things the company needs. A year in Korea wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I've emailed them in response and hopefully sometime this week I'll be getting a call from Korea and talk with them more. Perhaps, in a few months time, I'll be off on an adventure. Perhaps even this fall instead of this January. Wouldn't be too soon for me! I want the hell out of Cleveland. Just want to make sure it's to the right place so that I'm not way in over my head on the other side of the world. I might be adventurous but I'm not suicidal=)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
More than ready for a new adventure
Well, I just got a journal for a grad present. It’s a rather nice one, too. It’s cover image is The Spirit of Flight by Josephine Wall. You know the one – the rainbow lady flying through the sky surrounded with feathers and butterflies. It really is a gorgeous picture and I actually have a poster of it on my wall. Just happy chance that it’s on the cover of the journal. I’ll be taking it with me to Japan or whatever country I end up teaching English in. But the journal also reminded me that I haven’t blogged in ages. Mainly that was because I had nothing really to blog about. Life right now at home is rather tedious and I don’t intend to go on about it. I can only write so much about Gaia because my own spoiler gerbils will come and eat me alive. So, I’ve been rather quiet.
Now, at the moment I am unemployed and living at home with my parents. No hubby, no kids, no car. Hell, even the dog and cats are family pets. At my age that all could be more than a bit depressing. It is at times and for awhile I was getting a bit down in the dumps about it. My family is great and all but I REALLY need to get out of Cleveland. But, I’ve recently come to see it differently – as a good thing instead of bad. I don’t have any of those things that tend to plant people in one place. I am completely free to move where I please when I please and do what I please as long as I have the money to pay for it and enough leftover to pay the school debt. I don’t have to worry about anyone else. I don’t have a dedicated career or home and kiddies to tie me down. If I want to find a job in Japan, Italy, Brazil, Africa… wherever… I can as long as it pays enough to cover living expenses and school debt with a bit left over in the bank to pay for the next adventure. Quite a liberating way to look at it and it’s gotten me quite excited, really.
Recently, though, some exciting possibilities have come to light. Over the last month I’ve been chattering away with David Ault – well, I chatter and he nods in the right places, really. Anyway, he pointed me at Google for some of the places he finds his overseas jobs and I started searching just for the hell of it. It turns out that there are a lot of jobs out there all over the world to be found on the internet teaching English in foreign countries. All you need is a Bachelor’s degree and a taste for adventure. I have the Bachelor’s as of this May. As for the taste for adventure… well… I have that in excess. I also have another nice ace up the sleeve in the fact that I have about 95% of a dual major in Elementary Education and Special Education. That’s just icing on the cake and makes me even more qualified.
Why isn’t it 100%? Let’s just say that Edinboro’s program and I didn’t work out and I went back to Ohio. Ohio’s education programs didn’t over the Ele Ed/Sped dual major lined up like Edinboro did and I was rather burnt out on education so I switched to Anthropology/Archaeology instead. I was planning on going to grad school for Archaeology but I am REALLY burnt out on school in general.
Now, why would someone who was burnt out on school want to teach school in a foreign country? Simple, it’s in a foreign country! I wouldn’t want to teach school in the US even if I were qualified – which I’m not. Well, I would substitute teach but not the big thing with my own classroom. Mainly, because bloody Bush completely screwed the US education system over with No Child Left Behind. Really, don’t get me started on THAT fiasco. Anyway, it’s a foreign country and I’ve been living quite the boring life for far too long now. Last time I had a real adventure was my last time in Alaska back in summer of 2005.
Teaching’ll be a good way to get away and have an adventure in a time when the economy and job market pretty much stinks. I couldn’t find anything good around here except perhaps substitute teach and I REALLY don’t want to stay here any longer than I absolutely have to. So, the plan is to put together a good resume and then fill out apps online in a bunch of different countries and see what comes up. So far my favorite one I’d like to get is http://www.amityteachers.com/ over in Japan. There I could make $3000 a month US and after rent (my own little apartment instead of dorm or basement living) and other expenses I’d still have about $1500 a month to use to pay off school debt and buy my dream laptop and travel through Japan. Plus, any of you who know me know I am absolutely ADDICTED to sushi.
The Japan job would be a really nice starting off point. They are year contracts with decent money and living expenses are reasonable. If it works out well they’ll probably give me a chance to renew my contract. Maybe I’ll do that but most likely I’ll get that TEFL certification (can get it online for a few hundred bucks for the class) and it’ll mean I’ll be more employable with better money in other countries. I can country hop all over the world teaching English for as many years as I please. All I need is my laptop and internet access (for calling home via skype as well as keeping up with Gaia and mixing Doctor Who and blogging), perhaps a bike, and a few bags to hold my gear and I’m good. Oh and a very nice digital camera and hopefully someday a video camera. I go rather photohappy on adventures.
I’m hoping that after this first job away I can line up another job perhaps somewhere else that would start a few months after the first one ends. I’d take those few months to make my way all over Europe as cheaply as I can and visit all my friends over there. That could be a lot of fun.
Of course it’s all dreams and ideas at this point but my parents are both agreeing that it’s a very good idea that I go. I plan on typing up my resume and showing it to a family friend who is a VERY good judge of resumes for her to go over. I’ll apply to Amity and perhaps a half dozen other places and see which comes up trumps. Then I want to get a temporary job to start saving up some money til school starts and I can hopefully do some subbing and make $100 a day to save up money to pay for my plane ticket to wherever I end up teaching. Hopefully, by the start of 2010 I shall be on the other side of the world from Cleveland, Ohio, and not likely to go back for a VERY long time. I know this feeling. Last I felt like this it was when I was bound and determined to spend a summer in Alaska and I made it happen. I’ll make this happen too.
Now, at the moment I am unemployed and living at home with my parents. No hubby, no kids, no car. Hell, even the dog and cats are family pets. At my age that all could be more than a bit depressing. It is at times and for awhile I was getting a bit down in the dumps about it. My family is great and all but I REALLY need to get out of Cleveland. But, I’ve recently come to see it differently – as a good thing instead of bad. I don’t have any of those things that tend to plant people in one place. I am completely free to move where I please when I please and do what I please as long as I have the money to pay for it and enough leftover to pay the school debt. I don’t have to worry about anyone else. I don’t have a dedicated career or home and kiddies to tie me down. If I want to find a job in Japan, Italy, Brazil, Africa… wherever… I can as long as it pays enough to cover living expenses and school debt with a bit left over in the bank to pay for the next adventure. Quite a liberating way to look at it and it’s gotten me quite excited, really.
Recently, though, some exciting possibilities have come to light. Over the last month I’ve been chattering away with David Ault – well, I chatter and he nods in the right places, really. Anyway, he pointed me at Google for some of the places he finds his overseas jobs and I started searching just for the hell of it. It turns out that there are a lot of jobs out there all over the world to be found on the internet teaching English in foreign countries. All you need is a Bachelor’s degree and a taste for adventure. I have the Bachelor’s as of this May. As for the taste for adventure… well… I have that in excess. I also have another nice ace up the sleeve in the fact that I have about 95% of a dual major in Elementary Education and Special Education. That’s just icing on the cake and makes me even more qualified.
Why isn’t it 100%? Let’s just say that Edinboro’s program and I didn’t work out and I went back to Ohio. Ohio’s education programs didn’t over the Ele Ed/Sped dual major lined up like Edinboro did and I was rather burnt out on education so I switched to Anthropology/Archaeology instead. I was planning on going to grad school for Archaeology but I am REALLY burnt out on school in general.
Now, why would someone who was burnt out on school want to teach school in a foreign country? Simple, it’s in a foreign country! I wouldn’t want to teach school in the US even if I were qualified – which I’m not. Well, I would substitute teach but not the big thing with my own classroom. Mainly, because bloody Bush completely screwed the US education system over with No Child Left Behind. Really, don’t get me started on THAT fiasco. Anyway, it’s a foreign country and I’ve been living quite the boring life for far too long now. Last time I had a real adventure was my last time in Alaska back in summer of 2005.
Teaching’ll be a good way to get away and have an adventure in a time when the economy and job market pretty much stinks. I couldn’t find anything good around here except perhaps substitute teach and I REALLY don’t want to stay here any longer than I absolutely have to. So, the plan is to put together a good resume and then fill out apps online in a bunch of different countries and see what comes up. So far my favorite one I’d like to get is http://www.amityteachers.com/ over in Japan. There I could make $3000 a month US and after rent (my own little apartment instead of dorm or basement living) and other expenses I’d still have about $1500 a month to use to pay off school debt and buy my dream laptop and travel through Japan. Plus, any of you who know me know I am absolutely ADDICTED to sushi.
The Japan job would be a really nice starting off point. They are year contracts with decent money and living expenses are reasonable. If it works out well they’ll probably give me a chance to renew my contract. Maybe I’ll do that but most likely I’ll get that TEFL certification (can get it online for a few hundred bucks for the class) and it’ll mean I’ll be more employable with better money in other countries. I can country hop all over the world teaching English for as many years as I please. All I need is my laptop and internet access (for calling home via skype as well as keeping up with Gaia and mixing Doctor Who and blogging), perhaps a bike, and a few bags to hold my gear and I’m good. Oh and a very nice digital camera and hopefully someday a video camera. I go rather photohappy on adventures.
I’m hoping that after this first job away I can line up another job perhaps somewhere else that would start a few months after the first one ends. I’d take those few months to make my way all over Europe as cheaply as I can and visit all my friends over there. That could be a lot of fun.
Of course it’s all dreams and ideas at this point but my parents are both agreeing that it’s a very good idea that I go. I plan on typing up my resume and showing it to a family friend who is a VERY good judge of resumes for her to go over. I’ll apply to Amity and perhaps a half dozen other places and see which comes up trumps. Then I want to get a temporary job to start saving up some money til school starts and I can hopefully do some subbing and make $100 a day to save up money to pay for my plane ticket to wherever I end up teaching. Hopefully, by the start of 2010 I shall be on the other side of the world from Cleveland, Ohio, and not likely to go back for a VERY long time. I know this feeling. Last I felt like this it was when I was bound and determined to spend a summer in Alaska and I made it happen. I’ll make this happen too.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Disney, Hollywood, and Wicked OH MY!
Today was an amazing day! Ashley works for Disney and they had a thing where cast members and their kids get their pictures taken to be part of the redo of Star Tours or something and so we ended up going to the cast store where you can get Disney stuff for real cheap and then to Disney Studios for lunch and to look at the archives and such. I saw the Julie Andrews sound stage where both Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries were filmed and we had lunch. Oh and also the sound stage (outside of it) where all the music is recorded. The main administration building had a whole front with huge statues of the Seven Dwarves and across from that was a garden with some statues and handprint plaques of the different creative people involved. We had lunch which was really good at the cafeteria and then headed to Imagineering. There was just the photo shoot there and Aaron (Rene and Ashley's friend who drove us about) and I did a bit of shopping where I got an XMas tree ornament. After that we headed to Hollywood.
Hollywood was where things got REALLY fantastic! It was so cool. I admit I went very touristy but I couldn't help it! Hollywood BLvd is nothing like what we have back home and it is so WARM it doesn't seem like winter at all! Anyway, I was taking pictures of everything including stars with the stars' names on them. The Pantages was nearby and Wicked's last week is going on there and we decided to all four of us - Rene, Ashley, Natasha, and I (Aaron dropped us off in Hollywood cause he had to go back to his wife) - on the off chance one of us would win two front row seats for $25 apiece. If one of us won I would get one ticket and we would sell the other to someone who wanted it for the purchase price. Five HUNDRED people signed up for the lottery and the amazing thing was ASHLEY WON!
Wicked is one of my top three musicals right up there with Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis and to have FRONT ROW SEATS just pretty much had me about ready to blast off into outer space. The odds of winning a ticket were just so low and it actually happened! We got my ticket and sold the other one and then took the Metro to the famous Chinese theater with all the handprints and footprints of the stars. I pretty much took pictures of each and every one and then we went to the mall nearby with the Kodak Theater - where the Academy Awards are held.
All this time I was pretty much on cloud 9 and REALLY hyper and jazzed! I parted ways with Rene, Ashley, and Tasha there and took the Metro back to Hollywood and Vine right across the street from the Pantages. I pretty much was about ready to just dance my way across Hollywood! FRONT ROW SEAT AT WICKED! I will be calling all my best friends tomorrow who are also Wicked nuts and they will go green as Elphaba with envy!
Inside the Pantages is gorgeous. The lobby is neat but the actual theater is mind blowing. I SO wish that I could have taken a picture but it was not allowed. It's really hard to describe. Gold with cutouts that showed an ocean blue ceiling above... You really have to see it for yourself. But my seat was A 105 right to the right of the conducter. He was less than 6 feet away from me and the actors were not much farther away!
Eden Espinosa was Elphaba and Megan Hilty was Glinda - both those ladies had FANASTIC voices and were hilarious. The immortal Carol Kane was Madame Morrible which freaked me out to be in the same ROOM as someone that famous let alone less than 30 ft away! She was great in the role and I had been wondering what she was up to. Nessarose was Brianna Yacavone and she was really good too. Derrick Williams was Fiyero and he was good though not as good as the rest of the cast. David Garrison - Steve from Married With Children - was The Wizard and he was actually very funny with a good singing voice! Eddy Rioseco was Boq and he had some really hilarious moments.
There is nothing like being front row center in a musical the magnitude of Wicked. The details you can see are so much clearer! I could see the expressions on every face and the details on all the costumes which were as gorgeous as I remembered. I got bubbles on me from Glinda's bubble in the opening number and had smoke all over me in Defying Gravity (which was even more mind-blowing close up than far away!). Eden sat on her suitcase RIGHT in front of me in The Wizard and I and most of Popular was done right in front of me too! I could see EVERYTHING! My jaw dropped in the first number and pretty much it never closed! Standing O? Oh yes! If you haven't seen this musical it is a MUST SEE! I'm still flying!
Another cool thing is the people I was sitting with. They were so nice and we all just started chatting away and geeking out over the fact that we actually won tickets. I thought I wouldn't win cause the odds were... Welll 500 people and 26 seats and people could get 2 tickets... so... 13 draws.... and I got a seat... Maybe there is a God afterall! Or maybe there is still some magic left in Hollywood afterall!
The musical got out a bit before 11pm and I spent the next 2 hours getting home via the Metro to a station where Rene, Ashley, and their friend Jeff picked me up. It was a bit intimidating riding the Metro alone at midnight but I didn't get mugged and got home safe and sound! What a day! And it's not even my birthday yet!
I am really liking this city. Mountains, ocean, ethnic foods, Broadway musicals, and all the fun stuff with movies you can imagine! I want to move here more than ever. I just need to find a job so I can make the move and all. LA vs Cleveland? Cleveland is very much a dead zone. There IS no comparison!
Hollywood was where things got REALLY fantastic! It was so cool. I admit I went very touristy but I couldn't help it! Hollywood BLvd is nothing like what we have back home and it is so WARM it doesn't seem like winter at all! Anyway, I was taking pictures of everything including stars with the stars' names on them. The Pantages was nearby and Wicked's last week is going on there and we decided to all four of us - Rene, Ashley, Natasha, and I (Aaron dropped us off in Hollywood cause he had to go back to his wife) - on the off chance one of us would win two front row seats for $25 apiece. If one of us won I would get one ticket and we would sell the other to someone who wanted it for the purchase price. Five HUNDRED people signed up for the lottery and the amazing thing was ASHLEY WON!
Wicked is one of my top three musicals right up there with Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis and to have FRONT ROW SEATS just pretty much had me about ready to blast off into outer space. The odds of winning a ticket were just so low and it actually happened! We got my ticket and sold the other one and then took the Metro to the famous Chinese theater with all the handprints and footprints of the stars. I pretty much took pictures of each and every one and then we went to the mall nearby with the Kodak Theater - where the Academy Awards are held.
All this time I was pretty much on cloud 9 and REALLY hyper and jazzed! I parted ways with Rene, Ashley, and Tasha there and took the Metro back to Hollywood and Vine right across the street from the Pantages. I pretty much was about ready to just dance my way across Hollywood! FRONT ROW SEAT AT WICKED! I will be calling all my best friends tomorrow who are also Wicked nuts and they will go green as Elphaba with envy!
Inside the Pantages is gorgeous. The lobby is neat but the actual theater is mind blowing. I SO wish that I could have taken a picture but it was not allowed. It's really hard to describe. Gold with cutouts that showed an ocean blue ceiling above... You really have to see it for yourself. But my seat was A 105 right to the right of the conducter. He was less than 6 feet away from me and the actors were not much farther away!
Eden Espinosa was Elphaba and Megan Hilty was Glinda - both those ladies had FANASTIC voices and were hilarious. The immortal Carol Kane was Madame Morrible which freaked me out to be in the same ROOM as someone that famous let alone less than 30 ft away! She was great in the role and I had been wondering what she was up to. Nessarose was Brianna Yacavone and she was really good too. Derrick Williams was Fiyero and he was good though not as good as the rest of the cast. David Garrison - Steve from Married With Children - was The Wizard and he was actually very funny with a good singing voice! Eddy Rioseco was Boq and he had some really hilarious moments.
There is nothing like being front row center in a musical the magnitude of Wicked. The details you can see are so much clearer! I could see the expressions on every face and the details on all the costumes which were as gorgeous as I remembered. I got bubbles on me from Glinda's bubble in the opening number and had smoke all over me in Defying Gravity (which was even more mind-blowing close up than far away!). Eden sat on her suitcase RIGHT in front of me in The Wizard and I and most of Popular was done right in front of me too! I could see EVERYTHING! My jaw dropped in the first number and pretty much it never closed! Standing O? Oh yes! If you haven't seen this musical it is a MUST SEE! I'm still flying!
Another cool thing is the people I was sitting with. They were so nice and we all just started chatting away and geeking out over the fact that we actually won tickets. I thought I wouldn't win cause the odds were... Welll 500 people and 26 seats and people could get 2 tickets... so... 13 draws.... and I got a seat... Maybe there is a God afterall! Or maybe there is still some magic left in Hollywood afterall!
The musical got out a bit before 11pm and I spent the next 2 hours getting home via the Metro to a station where Rene, Ashley, and their friend Jeff picked me up. It was a bit intimidating riding the Metro alone at midnight but I didn't get mugged and got home safe and sound! What a day! And it's not even my birthday yet!
I am really liking this city. Mountains, ocean, ethnic foods, Broadway musicals, and all the fun stuff with movies you can imagine! I want to move here more than ever. I just need to find a job so I can make the move and all. LA vs Cleveland? Cleveland is very much a dead zone. There IS no comparison!
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