Some cute pictures

Just because :)

 

Ahhh frick frick frick

Just accidentally logged back into my Facebook through one of those stupid linked sites and reactivated my account :( If you get any notifications about stuff from me, it was an accident! Ignore it. Although now that I'm back I can't help but consider caving and just going back to the dark side O_O....

One week couldn't hurt right? It's kind of nice to know what the hell everyone is talking about. It pisses me off too that having no Facebook wouldn't be such a big thing if everyone around me wasn't such a tool for it. I miss having technologically incompetent friends around who barely know what it is :( And yes, I realise the irony of calling the rest of you 'tools' when I just considered going back to it.

That's it. Staying strong and quitting again. Seriously stupid on my part. If I don't - next time you see me I give you permission - actually no, I REQUEST that you smack me on the head and scream "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???" in my face.

Oh and just because it's cute - I found this looking for "dog food". Haha^^

By the way...

These two pictures give me hope for people and made me smile :) If you have a pet, I'm sure you'll doubly appreciate the love!

 

And just because it made me laugh and I had the time to waste ten minutes on 9gag, this one:

... but I like the puppy pictures best ^_^ Happy first Thursday of 2012 everyone!

Farewell Friday

Sorry for the less-than-usual-attempt at a cheery post to end the week on, but I felt like this was an issue in need of awareness. Over the last week or so there have been a lot of posts on the 1000th protest of the women mostly stolen or enticed away with the promise of factory work and all kept against their will as Comfort Women. These women are now grandmothers in their 80's and 90's and slowly dying off, but nevertheless congregate from all over Korea to stage a protest outside the Japanese Embassy once a week, every Wednesday, come rain or shine - not for the money or compensation, but just in the hope that they and what happened to them will be acknowledged and that they will hear an apology before they die. Here are the last two posts that give the best insight into their cause. Sorry about the swearing by the way.


The first is from the Ask A Korean! blog

Ask a Korean! News: 1000th Wednesday Protest, and a Comfort Woman's Story

First, a little bit of background. As many of the readers know, although the Japanese government recognized its responsibility for Imperial Japan's hand in forcibly recruiting Comfort Women, the Japanese government has not yet made any compensation out of government funds.

Some of the surviving Comfort Women in Korea -- there are only 63 of them, who are in their 80s and 90s -- protest in front of the Japanese embassy for the inadequacy of Japan's response every Wednesday. The "Wednesday Protest" to be held on this Wednesday, December 14, 2011 will be the 1000th one, after nearly 20 years of weekly gatherings since January 1992.

Dong-A Ilbo featured a story told by Ms. Kim Bok-Dong, who was recruited as a Comfort Woman at age 14. She is now 87 years old, and is the longest participant of the Wednesday Protests. The translation is below.

*                 *                 *

"Mom, how old am I this year?"

She said it has been eight years. I was 14 when I was taken, so I was 22. All my friends were married and left the town.

As I was being dragged around by the Japanese military and tortured, I completely forgot how many years have passed. One day, there was a commotion about liberation. I was in Bangkok, Thailand at the time, my last stop as a Comfort Woman. I took a boat with other women. We had almost nothing to eat on the boat, and it took us several months for me to come back home [which was Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do.] It must have been around October when I got home -- the rice field was golden and people were harvesting.

I got home, and my mother was cooking in the kitchen. She was shocked, because I turned so dark. For so long, I was raped by hundreds and thousands again and again -- how could a 14-year-old child be right? My mother was in shock also because instead of crying my eyes out, the first thing I asked was: how old was I? I didn't really forget -- I blocked out the time when I had to deal with the Japanese soldiers.

When I was 14, someone from the local government office was in town, saying there was not enough people to make the soldiers' uniform. He told me, "you should go too." I said, "How could I? I never learned to sew." Then he said, "you can learn there. Don't worry, they will send you back by the time you got old enough to get married." I said, "I might go if I go with my mom, but I don't want to go." Then he scared me: "It's what the Japanese government wants to do. If you don't go, your family will be in trouble." I was scared, so I went along.

So I was dragged all over Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand and went through hell. At first, I had hope that I would get back home they promised that they would send me back when I'm older. So I barely hung on, counting days, but they would only take me to different countries. It's not like I could speak with them. I would tell them, "please send me home. I think I'm going to die," but the damn Japanese only laughed. Nobody listened to me, so I was practically a mute. After molesting a young child like that, I thought they would say, "sorry, you can go home now" -- but no one did. Two years passed.

Afterward, I lived without counting days. I gave up trying to figure out what day was today, what year was today. I think the pain would have broken me if I was counting the days. You have no idea when the pain would end, so you just hang on one day at a time. When the sun rises, I would think: "I'm awake." When the sun sets, "I'm still alive. It would be great if I died after I fall asleep." And then I would wake up the next morning again. The pain was unspeakable. I couldn't even imagine that it would take so long.

Ms. Kim Bok-Dong (second from the left) attends a memorial of Ms. Noh Su-Bok,
a former Comfort Women. The memorial was held at the 998th Wednesday Protest,
held in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

I hear the 1000th Wednesday Protest is coming up. I am 87 years old. All my protest buddies died off, and now there are barely 60 some odd people. I was 68 when I first joined the protest. I was a young grandmother at that time -- I could at least stand up straight. Other grandmothers had a lot of energy too, saying "we should fight." I heard that in that January cold, women's groups were getting together to protest every week to help the old Comfort Women grandmothers. I couldn't sit still, so I was took the train up from Busan, where I was living. They already had seven protests or so. I really thought, "Alright, I'm doing this. They wouldn't just sit around if a grandmother comes out like this."

I thought I had a strong resolution, but I just burst into tears in front of the Japanese embassy. I was trembling all over. All I could do was yell. I knew I had to protest, item by item, but all I could do was scream. For the crime of being a Comfort Woman, I lived in hiding outside of my hometown for 40 years, running a tiny restaurant. I have no child who calls me mother. All I could do was yell -- just come out and look at me, look at this old grandmother, after you made me unable to live like any other woman, unable to wear a wedding garb. I had no other way. I thought these bastards would come out and say, "we're sorry grandmother, we are sorry."

But the police came and put the grandmothers' on a bus. We were crying and yelling, but they just carried us out and put us down at the City Hall square. So what? We would come back. I took the train back to Busan. I even thought in the train back, "I should see this one through. If I keep showing up, wouldn't they at least say they were sorry?" I had hope. It's not about the money. If they are human, they had to apologize.

I came up for every protest. At the 50th protest, we went to the Blue House instead. We yelled at the front gate, "Mr. President, please come out, we need to get this resolved." The police took us again to the City Hall square. At first, I really thought it would be resolved soon, as long as I kept it up. I yelled at the protest, rain or snow. Yell, taken away and let go at the City Hall and go back to Busan -- and the time passed like that.

At first, we kept count. I figured around the 100th time they would hear us out -- but no. The Japanese embassy has twenty-some odd windows. When we go, they put the curtain down and block out all the windows. They don't even peek. No matter how much we chant -- "apologies and reparations" -- they put this thief-catching cameras on the gate and hide, just looking at what those grandmothers are doing. Now I am too old to yell, so I just look at the embassy, trying to see if they at least opened up the curtain a little. I can't even stand up straight anymore, but no one would listen. It doesn't matter how much we plead and protest.

Since then, I didn't count the numbers. I couldn't live like that. Now, I just let the week pass. I would realize it's Wednesday, then I attend the protest. I get home, and think another Wednesday passed. I hang on, one week at a time.

As I was dragged around for eight years, I began drinking at age 16. I would drink whiskey and gaoliangjiou when I had to deal with the Japanese, because I could not stand being clear headed. I would smoke after dealing with a Japanese soldier, because there was no other way to take care of the anger and sorrow in my young heart. Now, after each protest I sit in my room and chain-smoke. Every Wednesday, because they won't even draw their curtains no matter how much this grandmother yells.

After I came back, my mother said I should get married, since I was 22. She thought I was at a uniform factory. I had to tell her the truth. She could only say: "How would I meet my ancestors after I die? What would I say after turning my child this way?" She said that every day, then died only six years later. The doctor said her heart was full of anger.

There is a big commotion around this 1000th protest. I am just frustrated. My cataract surgery went wrong, so I can't see out of my left eye and the image is distorted out of my right eye too. I wonder if I could see at least those embassy bastards coming out and saying, "grandmother, please don't be angry any more. We're sorry," while I can still see. I couldn't even imagine that it would take so long. Being dragged around, not being able to say anything and not being able to receive any apology -- it's the same as before. I feel so helpless. I wonder if my mother felt this helpless also.

I miss my mom all of a sudden. This can't go over the 1000th time. We can't wait much longer. I am too old now.

The second is from the blog of a woman who volunteers at the House of Sharing.

Why I’m lucky to know the Halmonis

First off, I just want to say how happy I am to see the 1,000th protest photos explode on Tumblr.  Thanks to everyone who reblogged to spread the word about this issue.  It warms my heart to know that many people have gotten to hear at least a little about these courageous women.
Next, I want to write about how grateful I am to have been able to know them for the past 2.5 years as a volunteer at the House of Sharing. These women are truly remarkable.
I’ll start with an anecdote to illustrate the attitudes these women face when they go public as survivors of “comfort stations”.  On my own FB wall, an acquaintance of an acquaintance commented (one reason you should not accept just anyone’s friend request) in regards to a post I made about going to the 1,000th protest.  He wrote something along the lines that these women need to stop employing “nationalistic rituals” in order to ask for free handouts from the Japanese government and stop distracting from Korea’s more “pressing issues” (North-South relations, rise of China, etc). Of course, this guy thinks he’s an expert in East Asian diplomacy, all because he lived in Japan for a couple of years. I don’t think I need to explain any further, right?
ㅡㅡ
And then I remembered once again how amazing these women are.  Because they hear this bullshit all the time and they are STILL fighting.  I was ready to put my head through a wall after just that brief discourse on my FB wall and it wasn’t even in reference to anything that I’ve been forced to experience.  These Halmonis have to listen to people casually discuss the THOUSANDS of rapes that they survived as if it’s a nationalistic plot or should be discarded in order to promote diplomatic relations.  This is not a pawn for strategic relations, people. These are real women - over 200,000 - who were systematically raped, beaten, tortured, and killed. And they have to listen to dickheads like this guy flippantly reduce the rapes and torture that they experienced to political maneuvering.
He also made several references to them being similar to prostitutes, that they had volunteered to work in this “comfort stations” or were paid.  Let me just make two things very clear here: First, even IF you “volunteered” to work as a prostitute (how many 11-19 year old girls in 1930’s Korea would really knowingly do that??), once they are unable to voluntarily leave their “volunteering”, once they are physically forced to stay somewhere and have sex with people against their will, it is rape.  Even IF (big if), the initially went there as a volunteer, they ceased being a volunteer and became subjected to rape when they were unable to leave at their own will, unable to refuse sex at their own will, unable to avoid physical abuse and torture at their own will.  Secondly, even though most of these women never saw a dime of the money being paid (in official Japanese military coupons, by the way), being paid by your rapist does not make you a prostitute. BEING PAID BY YOUR RAPIST DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PROSTITUTE. Let me say it again - if someone rapes me and then throws $100 at me, I am not a prostitute and you are still a rapist.
And even though they face these attitudes EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY, they still fight!  That is why I’m lucky to know these women.  They teach me that women’s voices matter.  That no matter how little socio-economic power we have, if we demand to be heard, we will eventually be heard!
When they were abducted and forced into “comfort stations” they were the most vulnerable members - young, poor, uneducated females - of an already vulnerable society - Korea under forced Japanese colonial rule.  And yet they have created the longest-running human rights protest in the world.  These women have been fighting for 20 years to be goddamn heard.  And people have listened.  The US, Canada, EU, Philippines, and over 25 prefectures in Japan have passed official resolutions, urging Japan to resolve this issue.  And that is powerful people.  Old, poor, uneducated women - the most underrepresented members of our international community made people hear their voices.
Then this FB guy demanded that if I was so sure that it wasn’t a nationalistic issue, I’d better be doing everything I could do to stop it “in my own backyard” (Korea), where Korean women are suffering in the same ways, but this time, not by Japanese hands.
And here’s another reason why these women are amazing.  They do exactly that. They stand in solidarity with Korean (and now also Filipina) women who were coerced to work in the 기지촌 (US military camptowns) in Korea. They fight with these women, they understand the connection between their issue and what is happening in Korea today.  One of the 기지촌 survivors actually spoke at the 1,000th protest.  Our House of Sharing International Outreach Team will be holding a workshop today with Duraebang (a shelter for Filipina women trafficked into Korea), translated by yours truly.  More info on that event: http://www.facebook.com/events/181888128565648/
Finally, I want to say of the estimated 200,000 women who were forced to work as sex slaves in “comfort stations” during WWII, approximately 150,000 were Korean women but only 234 South Korean registered officially as survivors.
Of those 234, only 63 are still living. Japan must resolve this issue, but they are literally hoping that the issue will die away with the Halmonis.

As much as I'd love to see it or support a protest (impossible with a public school timetable), I have yet to visit the House of Sharing, but this is their website for any who are interested. It doesn't look like they'll have any English tours until the new year, but they have a calendar of events for those interested in finding out, or of course you can contact them.

On a side note, one of those bizarre conversations I just had that seem to occur quite often in Korea.
Paige (my official co-teacher who I don't actually teach with, having just gotten off the phone from another teacher): Do you have any English word puzzles?
Me: What kind of puzzles?
P: Umm like a word puzzle.
Me: Er.. I don't but I can show you the program I use to make them. (Show her)
P: Oh, I meant like word scrambles.
Me: Uh, well, no I don't have any prepared. There's no program for them because scrambles aren't really complicated enough to need them. Can the teacher not make them himself since presumably he'll know what kinds of words will be needed?
P: Well, you know it's hard because we're not native English speakers... Are you sure you don't have any?
Me: Do you mean you want me to make some?
P: ... Yes.
Me: Ok. What kind? What sort of vocabulary should it use?
P: Any kind.
Me: ... Ok, well is there any special thing this is for?
P: This is for homework for students in the holidays. Mr Jeong is putting the worksheet together.
Me: So.. what kinds of words do the rest of the worksheets use? Should it be basic vocabulary or should it be something specific like feelings, weather, etc?
P: Anything.
Me: *ㅎ-ㅎ* Ok, well is it for first year or second year or what?
P: It's for students coming to our school next year. So you can use any words.

So basically the other teacher had called her and said 'get Amy to make some crud to fill the rest of the worksheets this afternoon'. Just to give you some background, they've been making these worksheets for three weeks (I saw one of my actual co-teachers working on one and discussed it). Why this had to wait until 3.40pm on a Friday I don't know. Paige tried to make it sound vaguely less ridiculous a request than it was, but still. So I ended up making it from vocabulary from the first year textbook. Unfortunately, the other teacher also didn't specify that he needed this stuff in a certain format (a program that only exists in Korea) so it didn't go entirely smoothly. I hope he didn't need it this afternoon as we both left at 4.30 :p

Anyway, that's about it. Happy picture for the weekend though^^ Have a great one people!

One last thing

So I wasn't going to blog today, seeing as I did yesterday and don't really have anything interesting going on my life right now to add to, but I had to change my min after reading this article on "Illicit Sex in North Korea" from the blog Clever Turtles (thanks to James at The Grand Narrative for the referral). I know stuff about gender roles, sex and sexuality comes up occasionally here, so skip to the end for my cheery farewell for the weekend if it bores you or you don't want to be fairly horrified by the second article on sex trafficking in Australia - sorry.

First one:


An article about how North Korea is becoming a pit of sexual decadence.
A few things have to be kept in mind whenever reading stories "from" North Korea. Pretty much all news comes through a few anti-North Korean activists who cultivate communication channels with dissidents inside North Korea and refugees who have recently run the border. Several of them have religious motivations and ties with the South Korean evangelical community, who remain the most actively interested audience for news from North Korea. This is transparently obvious in this article. That said, it is an interesting window into the daily lives of the people of North Korea, and a reminder that they are no more or less than human.
I did find it humorous how the article emphasizes that extramarital sex or vaguely transgressive sexual activity is the fault of Chinese influence. Because pornography, adultery, and prostitution were alien to Korea until recent foreign influence. An ironic case where the North Korean party line matches that of anti-North cultural conservatism.
On a side note, apparently the 109 Group is special group formed under the People's Safety Department of the National Defense Committee. It was apparently formed as a task force specifically to crack down on transgressive social behavior in the northern border regions.
Original posted in the Segye Ilbo.

Prostitution, '8/3 couple' . . . Even in the North decadence spreads
Financial support to lure into adulterous relations often . . . teens prostitute in order to buy cell phones
Porno videos popular in marketplace . . . influence of weakened control over people
Also stripshow bars for the exclusive use of upper echelons
In North Korea's society, that is so closed that even romantic matters between men and women are regulated, decadent sexual culture is spreading. It is reported that prostitution as a livelihood is a matter of course and sexually promiscuous behavior is spreading like toadstools, to such a degree that they have created the neologism '8/3 spouses' for adulterous couples that finish up at the end of the workday.
An anti-North source, who early this year contacted refugees from the North Hamgyong province adjacent to China, said on the 9th, "In North Korea, in order to earn money for living expenses or disposable income, prostitution of women is spreading, and it was reported that the reality is that even young female students are appearing as prostitutes in order to buy cell phones." The source reported that in North Korea's interior '8/3 spouses' with adulterous relations are spreading like they are fashionable and some among them indulge in drugs, porn, and group sex. '8/3' refers to the date August 3rd, 1984, when Chief of the National Defense Council Kim Jong-il, who was named the successor at that time, laid down the pronouncement to "utilize the by-products in the factories and enterprises to make the necessities of daily life." but it has degenerated into a term for fake and shoddy products.
It is reported that recently they haven't stopped avoiding the net of surveillance and secretly steal looks at pornography, and even businessmen have appeared who mobilize North Korean women directly to produce and sell obscene videos. According to the results of one research study of domestically resettled refugees, 'adult products' are so popular that adult video CD-Rs, popularly called 'Sex-Rs', trade for higher prices than general movies and dramas in the North Korean markets.
Experts on North Korea see it that after the 'Hard March' period of the 1990s while economic difficulties were prolonged, they took advantage of the opportunities afforded by the weakening of the government's control over the people, and in the process of the rapid inflow of outside culture into the center from regions adjacent to China such as northern Hamgyong decadent sexual culture also spread.
In this way sexual culture became popular in all parts of society, so in a 2009 revision of the penal code North Korea strengthened the crimes of the transportation, possession, or distribution of decadent culture, strengthening the enforcement and punishment regarding sexual disorder, such as estabilished provisions so that in the case of transporting, possessing or distributing adult videorecordings one would face a 5 to 10 year sentence of labor reeducation.
But there are indications that North Korea's ruling class are an obstacle to the eradication of decadent culture. In several large cities strip show bars are operating that only party and public peace officers may enter, and refugees messages are that there are cases where public safety officers use financial support as bait to form adulterous relationships. In particular, they report that it is often the case that even agents of the 109 group, established to crack down on antisocialist activities, receive sums as bribes to pass over these matters.
Reporter Kim Po-un spice7@segye.com

Anyway, so I thought that was interesting, regardless of bias in the initial reports etc., especially after reading a novel about family and romantic relationships in North Korea (can't remember the name, sorry ㅠㅠ) that I think I got one Christmas as a present or was loaned to me by a friend which was written from the accounts of defectors, one of whom detailed falling in love with a boy in North Korea and then meeting him again when they were both adults and had made it to Seoul and the different dynamics and expectations that were at play each time they met or corresponded. I don't know where the original reference came from, but I also remember reading about someone (either a DPRK official or a visiting RoK politician) who had caused a lot of uproar when he drunkenly praised Kim Jong Il's sexual prowess at some meeting and how the DPRK Government had had problems dealing with it.

Second, a tragic article from the SMH (thanks again James) on sex trafficking in Australia. I have mentioned it here partly because one of my friends mentioned the other day about how Koreans sometimes don't see Korea as a developed country, and the fact that stuff like this happens so easily and that predators can find victims to walk into the trap of their own free will through the lure of 'education' in an English speaking country seems to kind of support that. Not to say that stuff like this doesn't happen in English speaking countries (because let's face it, there are always scam artists around anywhere you go) but I didn't realise that it happened in such a highly developed country as Korea. It's possibly also more evidence of the (somewhat ridiculous) lengths that Asian countries go to in order to pursue this desire for mastering English. Anyway, the article is really long so I haven't reblogged it, but please take some time to read it, even if it it's only to make you reconsider what you think you know about how 'safe' our country is.

Ok well that's my depressing stuff for the weekend. Sorry to bring you down! For those of you who read all the way through (and those of you who skipped to the end), here is some happiness to take you back up again into the sunshine :)

Disabled doggie still loves his walkies! Retired police dog with arthritis still living life to the full :)

cute monkey says what? ... BANANAS! teehee^^

Have a lovely weekend everyone! ^_^

And p.s. yes, I tagged this as 'love' because I don't want the kind of disappointment bound to follow from people looking for blogs about sex.

Just another Thursday

So tired...헐... I think I've got another cold coming on. This is particularly annoying because only yesterday, my office 부장님 (kind of like the head of our office) was commenting that I didn't have a cold, and how unusual that was because I'm always sick with something or other. Bahhh! I guess he jinxed me :( I think it also might be the exhausting effect of 3 hours of bellydancing a week - it's fantastic fun but yesterday she really punished us with some particularly challenging routines to really fast songs by Outkast, Jay-Z and Britney Spears. Anyway, I shouldn't complain about it - I love it too much :) Anyway, I'm going to see if I can find a better doctor than the one I have right now, since he won't admit that he doesn't understand English and also for some reason seems incapable of listening to me in Korean, even for very simple things that I know I'm saying correctly, like "I have a fever" or "I don't have a sore throat", and so persists in prescribing me what I'm sure is the same medication for everything, regardless of what I actually have (he told me he didn't need to do any tests when I went to him with a UTI and just prescribed me stuff that masked the symptoms, the result of which I ended up with crippling cystitis).

So apart from the general bitching, sorry, don't have anything particularly interesting for you today. But I didn't want you guys to feel forgotten, so here's some cute pictures that will hopefully bring a smile to your day :)

P.S. thanks to Lara for the rainbow and Yinnie for the cavvies pic! ^_^

Eeeeee! ^_^

Cool Korean version of Alice falling through the rabbit hole

Ziplining with Christy last weekend

My first real friends in Korea - <3 you guys!

I miss my KBFF :(

Happy Thursday everyone! ^_^

Cockles and clams and all things steamed^^

Spaland, Busan

Including me! Monday was a public holiday, as well as quite cold, so I spent most of it in a jjimjilbang (찜질방) with Edithe. We went to the one in Dreamplus, which was huge! Nothing like the scale of Spaland in Shinsegae Department Store in Busan that you could easily spend the whole day in, but it was pretty good all the same. First we went and had a soak in the baths, and then went to relax in the communal areas. For those of you not familiar with Korean jjimjilbang's,  they are a kind of combined bath and sauna house, which is great for those of us living in tiny one-room apartments with no bathtub (our shower is one of those on a nozzle that hangs on the wall, or in my case hand-held to stop it flooding my apartment). It's a great place to hang out too because it's one of the few places where you see lots of space, exactly for that purpose, which is a commodity on short supply in such a heavily populated country.

A pretty typical 찜질방 bath set-up

So people usually go there for the full bathing experience - first you shower yourself and have a good scrub down to get rid of that nasty top layer of skin (you can buy little glove things for this purpose and rely on a friend or neighbour to do your back for you, or pay an old woman to do it for you, assuming you want EVERYTHING scrubbed down to that last nook and cranny - beware though, your skin CAN get addicted to this so once you start doing it you kind of need to keep doing it again every so often), then go for a nice soak in one of a number of baths. There are always baths of at least three temperatures: cold, tepid and piping hot, just like the Roman bath system, and sometimes there will be extra baths with special water, like salt-water or mineral-enriched water etc. The one at Dreamplus was an odd dark yellow colour and the sign just said it was an "event bath" (i.e. they change the type every so often) so we didn't brave it, and the "massage bath" didn't work, disappointingly, but we gave the other three a good work out, changing between them and the sauna rooms every so often.

And yes, you ARE expected to be completely naked in these places. In fact, you're likely to get roused on if you try and wear anything in. But really, at least you can stare back at people if they stare at you, and nobody really cares - everyone's seen at least one naked person before in their lives (assuming everyone knows how to look down!) and unless you freak out and act weird or have some weird gigantic piercing or a massive tattoo, no-one's likely to even pay you any attention.

Must figure out how to make these ram hat things!

Anyway, after the cleansing, you put on the short and shirt they give you and move into the communal areas. Earlier on, we'd almost walked out there butt naked as we'd been nattering away and not really paying attention to where we were going, but luckily a(nother naked) woman had stopped us and directed us to the baths instead. Here you can do whatever you like - most people just lie around and snooze, chat, read or watch tv, but there is also usually a restaurant, a massage place, a snack shop (unless you're somewhere like Spaland with very high tech keys that also track your bill, don't forget to take money with you if you want to buy anything) and the communal (non-naked) saunas of varying temperatures. At Spaland these are over a whole floor and half a mezzanine level and include things like the Pyramid Room and the Sonic Vibration Room, but at the Dreamplus things were a bit less complicated, so there was just the Ice-Room, the Salt-Stone Room, the Charcoal Room and the Gem Room, which we went into as it was a moderate 40 something degrees, and had crystals embedded in the ceiling. Our sotto-voce chatting was apparently too loud though as the only other occupant there who'd appeared to be asleep started snoring quite ostentatiously after about 15 minutes so we didn't linger, but went back to the communal area to read magazines and gossip with the others.

Michelle considering how much food we'll have to eat

So it was a very relaxing afternoon - so relaxing in fact that we missed our perfect bus that would have gotten us home in 20 minutes and instead had to take the regular 40 minute one and didn't even care. But get home eventually I did and went off to have dinner with Michelle. We decided to try chogae-guii (조개구이), or roasted mussels, which we'd both heard about before but never had the opportunity to try. We went to a place called Chogae Gung ('The Mussel Palace') and after some discussion with the waiters (who were very confused and then intrigued that we weren't fully Korean and thus didn't know what all of the things on the menu were) ordered the basic 조개구이 set menu for 33 000 won. And yes, that IS a lot for a meal in Korea, but it soon became apparent why - we got at least four different types of shellfish cooked for us at our table, as well as coleslaw, gyeran jjim (계란찜 - steamed egg soup), miyokguk (미역국 - seaweed soup) and  pajeon (파전 - savoury shallot pancake). The different shellfish included some gigantic mussels, cockles (called 조개비 or chogaebi), scallops (called 가리비 or caribi), and some others that I didn't recognise but were basically delicious! Most were grilled, some were steamed (in that foil parcel you can see) and some were even chopped up and put into a cheese ddokbokki for us. Here are some photos of our delicious dinner.

So all in all a very steamy and successful public holiday! Oh and then yesterday I got to school to find a 'bribe' of custard filled pastries on my desk from the third year girls who want me to help them with their English study group. How sweet!^^

 

Getting Jiggy!

I love how random Korean variety shows are, especially on MBC, which I like because they often subtitle stuff or add captions which makes it easier (for me) to understand. The morning stuff that I turn on as I get ready for school is usually re-runs and repeated every couple of days, which actually helps since it gives me a few goes at understanding what they're saying. One of my favourite shows is called 'I Love Pet' (of course!). Terrible English I know, but it's cute and easy to watch. Anyway, this morning, one of my favourite episodes came on - it's actually from last year, but being randomly repeated, and supports the idea that you can make anything a TV show. In this episode (or part of it seeing as the first bit was about a fat English bulldog that was in a play), the producers decided to make an idol group look after a raccoon. Sound odd? Yep, it really was. Especially since a) they initially only told the boys in the group (푸커즈 or F-Cuz/Focus) that they were getting a new female 'friend' and they thought that one of them was going to be on 'We Got Married' (a show where they pair two K-stars who have to pretend to be married and act as a couple). Seeing as the boys were only 18 and 19 at the time and they probably don't have enough time to have a girlfriend normally, they were thrilled! Less so when they got to the zoo and the raccoon was brought out - one of them actually pretended to beat up their manager.Oh and b) since they're so young, and Koreans (particularly idols) aren't as close-minded about gender-norm-based behaviour (i.e. they do cute stuff without it being considered gay), the stuff they do to the raccoon is ridiculously adorable! Like dress it up in little outfits, get upset when one of the others steals it away, feed it , make it dance, make it a little sand-bunker at the beach complete with umbrella and milk bowl, etc. Anyway, the one showing this morning was the first show (I think there are four in total but I could be wrong), but my favourite is the second which will hopefully be next week, because one of them, Kan, decides that Jiggy (the raccoon, named after their debut song) needs a wash. So naturally, rather than bathe it, he takes it in the shower with him. I couldn't find the episode online anywhere (I didn't search particularly hard) but I did find a bunch of GIFs from the episode from a blog about Kan (it's actually Lee-U or Ye-Jun in most of the photos though I think). Unfortunately the blog owner seems to be a bit precious about sharing so you'll have to go there to see them yourselves. I particularly like the 9th one - captioned (translation) "No! It's my Jiggy!!" ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ They are such dorks^^ If you want to see an episode of this ridiculous concept, there is a blog with the 3rd episode that I similarly can't repost here. There aren't any subtitles, but you'll get the idea. Oh and the video for the actual song, 'Jiggy', which I find to be hilarious as I've never heard "Getting jiggy" sung in such a sweet and upbeat way before. Unless it means something different in Konglish, this is probably more evidence of the need for native English speakers in the Korean pop industry :)

 

P.S. And yes, they are dancing in a blue shower room in one of the scenes. After all, why not? ^_^

너무 귀엽다! (so cute!) ^_^

And my funny for the day - three cute dog videos (originally from http://cuteoverload.com) ^_^

(I don't know if the third one was staged or not but it still made me do one of those weird silent laughs where you sound like you're suffocating and everyone else in your office looks at you like you're a freak).

Happy thoughts for the day :)

"The world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot read it."

Thankyou Korean stationery. So close to perfect English too. But still a sweet thought :)



I also like that one of the popular notebooks this year which says "English notebook" on it is about travel advice for Italy, one point of which says "Learn some basic but important Italian phrases as English are not widely spoken in Italy." Other inspiring notebook blurbs are "Life is a game that tests our tenacity. Thus failure in your youth is nothing. There are opportunities for us everywhere. And this means you can become successful!" and "True love is when you have to watch a friend leave, with the knowledge that you might never see him again." Also, "English holic: people, even more than things, have to be restored, renewe revived, reclaimed and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one of the end of your arm!"

Less inspiring but funnier (to me anyway) is the graffiti stuff written in my kids' notebooks as I mark their homework. Today's favourite: monkey sorry yo!!! 뭔키써요? 뭔 개소리야!! [did you say monkey? what the hell are you talking about??] balle panty!! 발레 팬티 한국어로 ??? [what is ballet panty in korean??]

It's nice to know that if I ever feel depressed I can just browse a stationery store to make myself feel better ^_^



In other news, the actual content of the writing homework! Last week I asked 2nd grade to write 1/3 of a page (about 4 or 5 lines) about something new or surprising that they learned recently and how it made them feel. They could talk about a new food they tried, a new friend they made, a new teacher they have or something they read in a book or saw on TV. These are my favourites so far. And yes, next lesson we're going to have a talk about not using a computer/internet translation program!

Hae-Su:

This is what it feels like finding these stories while checking HW

Today is Saturday, 26^th of March.

I learned something new.

It feels different depending on who is a full head of hair.

When the severed lot very awkwards bangs.

That seems to be a very embarrassing

Min-Ji:

There are many friends in my class who look similar as other animals. Su-In looks like a bear and Bo-Yeong looks like a squirrel. Ye-Seu looks like a fish and Ji-In looks like a rabbit. Everyone looks cute

진우: Title - About teacher (home class)

(Our) new teacher(‘s) name is 김광영. He is (a) science teacher. His jokes is not funny. But he is very kind and handsome. My teacher very good teacher.

Dong-Hwan:

Today is my younger sibling motion’s birthday. The breakfast ate the seaweed soup and the cake together. I to distinguish the fist with the futures cried like that. Beggar a same tear. Afterwords that tastefully ate the cake and the rice. The shank rim to be many was gre(a)sy too a little. Was and to eat came out and the school went. <<< this one was really hard to correct! I had to give up on parts of it :s

Min-Seok:

Today I know a new animal. Maybe you call it ‘monster’. Its name is ‘Mongolian deathworm’. It’s a very big worm. This terrible worm lives in the Gobi Desert. Usually it hides in the sand but people walk on the sand, it eats them. It is very terrible. I can’t believe that.

And my favourite, by Min-Seong: <About my new friends>

I started new semester. By the way one friend caught my eye’s. His name is Pyohyeon Soo. I liked him. So I try to talk. Well he is answer me. He is very kind and really good friend. So I want to be familiar with him. If he and me are become familiar we will good friends. I really like him because his idea and my idea are almost the same and his sense of humour is good and his character is perfect. His style is my favourite style.

No Mention of Peppero Here Whatsoever...

... actually, I lie. If you want to go outside at ALL in Korea on the 11th of November, you better be prepared to be inundated by people waving peppero at you EVERYWHERE. In fact, really, you should be prepared for this all week, because the advertising starts early (in the tradition of pushy advertising) and if you are dumb enough to go to a supermarket like I was last night, you should be prepared to see grown adults in a near scrum over boxes of these chocolate covered biscuit sticks. Which is quite interesting seeing as this isn't even a real holiday, and in fact is widely acknowledged to have been encouraged, if not actually started (and heavily denied) by the Peppero company about 8 years ago (?) because the number 11 looks like two peppero sticks. Never mind that it also looks like many other things that are sticks or even sticks themselves - where's the profit in that?

Adorable if a little scary.

At any rate, for those of you not in the know, on Peppero Day you usually give peppero to people that you like such as your friends, people you respect (like teachers) or that crush you've been looking for a subtle way to express your feelings to. So I can't be too cynical about this day, as I did quite well out of it. I ended up with about 9 different lots of peppero, and a chocopie in lieu of peppero because one student didn't have any peppero to give (presumably because by the time they remembered to buy some, the shop shelves had been utterly ransacked) but the colours are the same so it was a pretty good substitution! To give you some idea of how crazy this gets, Min-Jae (scroll down for a picture of her) told me that she got more than 20 from her friends! But her brother only got one ㅠ_ㅠ...

Above is a picture of the ones I didn't scoff for recess, as well as a really cute card here on the left from one of my loveliest students to go with the peppero that she gave me. I thought it was awesome, even though she drew herself with a kind of screaming zombie face.

As you can see, in the face of all this peppero, Remembrance Day barely gets a look in. In fact, when I was doing a lesson on special days earlier in the year and we were going through a list of days celebrated in Australia, and I asked "so what is celebrated on the 11th of November?" , even though it was written down in front of them, most students STILL said "Peppero Day!" with what I thought was extreme optimism. Needless to say, wearing a red poppy seemed a little bland. At any rate, I still wore red today (no poppies) and as most peppero packets (or chocopies) are red too, it was quite fitting.

And here we move onto Reason #2 for why I started this blog - the food! (good guess Naomi ^_^)

Because today was not JUST Peppero Day - it was also a great food day! In both amount and quality. So I am quite lucky in that my school lunches are really good and always edible AND recognisable, and also that I'm quite used to Korean food (we all know that means I LOVE it and could easily eat my way out of a vat of it) and, not to put too fine a point on it (because I know that the school lunches are one of the biggest continuing problems that foreign teachers have with their schools), willing to give most things a go, even if I know it's probably going to burn like the bejeezus on the way... through... : s So I never go hungry during the day. BUT I am also incredibly lucky in that I have been somewhat adopted (yes, again) by the lady who runs the supermarket near my house. Which in Korea means that I never have to buy my own kimchi again! This is especially fortuitous this year as following a number of typhoons earlier in the year, the price of vegetables has skyrocketed, and it's possibly the first time that buying ready-made kimchi has actually been cheaper than making your own (which is also a big part of Korean culture and food). The whole family is also super friendly and the kids are absolutely adorable so it's really easy talking to them all in Korean and they don't make me feel like a complete moron when I make mistakes.

Super Onni's "simple dinner" minus the 파전 and 미역국

So today Hee-Jeong (I call her Super Onni because I both love bad puns and she is!) invited me over for some dwenjang-guk (된장국) or bean-paste soup, which is a bit different from dwenjang-jjigae (된장찌개), the bean-paste stew that you usually get (or rather, got, pre-vegetable crisis) with any kind of Korean BBQ'd meat. This mostly just has the bean paste and a kind of Korean silverbeet in it rather than the basic Korean stew vegetables and clams, and is of course delicious! Being very lazy and with the weather going CRAZY outside with wind and rain and all sorts of a hullaballoo storming it up, I skipped the gym and had a nap. In retrospect, I really wish I'd made the effort to go, as "just 된장국" turned out to be 된장국 plus the requisite side-dishes you always get with a good Korean meal, plus beer, plus pajeon (파전) or savoury pancakes, plus MORE beer, PLUS miyok-guk (미역국) or seaweed soup because it's her daughter Min-Jae's birthday tomorrow and it's a Korean tradition to eat 미역국 on your birthday. (This is to commemorate your mother giving birth to you and eating seaweed soup to restore her iron levels.) Needless to say, I ate and drank far more than was good for me (yes, I eat like a man and can never resist just one more bite)!

With Super Onni's kids, Min-Jae and Min-Seong

And just when I thought the food overload was done, Super Onni gives me a 2kg container full of kimchi and about four other containers of other side-dishes to take home with me! ...Seriously, gym next week for sure. And of course, because he is a gentleman and his sister had just given me about 3kgs of food, Super Onni's brother Jin (who is a champ and always makes an effort to speak in both Korean and English with me) walked me home and carried it for me. Granted, it was only about 300m away, but I was grateful nonetheless.

So to summarise, I put absolutely NO effort into feeding myself today. Most appropriate quote for the day: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers..." Except change 'strangers' to Koreans. Great day : D



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