Have Your Kimchi And Eat It Too: Celebrating a quarter Century in South Korea

So it looks like these blogs might turn into a monthly thing, but at least I'm not at a loss for what to write about! A lot has happened this month: we've finished our second term of teaching (meaning we've been here a whole 5 months!), we've had lots of time to explore more of the Island and I turned 25.

I'm now officially a quarter decade old and this might be the first birthday in history where I actually feel like it. So much has changed since I graduated from UF: I got my first 'real' job (which was terrible), I quit my first job (because it was terrible), I got married to the man I love and now I'm living in a country a million miles from home. When we arrived in Seoul we found that Lance and I are actually doing something that's quite popular among people our age. Lots of people with bachelors and graduates degrees simply cannot find jobs in the U.S. and are ending up in South Korea teaching. The hours are great, the work is fun and rewarding and the pay is fantastic. On Jeju Island though I find that many of our peers are a few years older than us, in their late 20s and early 30s. Most of the time Lance and I are the youngest among people we meet. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I finally feel grown up; I'm working, paying my bills and making my own choices without the help from my family. I feel like I'm a million years away from the person I was in college and even more in High School. I'm not a kid anymore. I feel like an adult. However, I also don't feel 'old.' Not in the sense that I need a walker, more in the sense that I feel like there's so much to learn about the world we're in and I've barley seen the tip of the ice burg. It's like being a toddler when you're in a foreign country. Lance and I are learning how to live in this world and we can't communicate with much more than pointing and gestures. We're just now getting a handle on things like grocery shopping and riding the bus, it's no wonder socializing is taking so much time.

Speaking of socializing I can say we've finally FINALLY gotten some friends and acquaintances. It would be a bold faced lie to write to all of you and tell you every moment in Korea has been magical, that I haven't thought of bailing ship and coming home, that I haven't miss my friends, family and cheese. Some of my favorite hobbies are things I can't do here. I didn't anticipate how hard it would be for me not to be able to cook my favorite foods, not to be able to sew and craft and not be able to browse through bookstores on a Sunday afternoon.

There have been times in Korea were Lance and I get gawked at. Me more than him I think, and it does hurt. We walk down the sidewalk and Korean people will literally stare, and they know you know they're staring and they do not care. I've had old ladies stare at me and pass me only to turn their heads to keep staring, almost running into what's ever in front of them.

My students (kids and adults) ask if I'm pregnant/have babies/ going to have babies ALL THE TIME. At first I thought that Korean people (who are a tiny people) just weren't used to seeing women of valkyrie proportions (which is not true, women don't get to my height here, but fat koreans DO exist) but in Korean culture once a woman is married is is expected to have babies. I almost feel like they feel like something is wrong with me because I don't have babies, and when I tell them I'd like to adopt children some day I'm sure they think I must be sterile or insane. Adopting is something that really isn't done in Korea because blood lines are very very important. It's made Lance and I consider adopting a Korean baby in the future. The culture here is very similar to 1950's America with many women choosing to be stay-at-home moms after marriage, doing the cooking and cleaning and child rearing. I think it can be hard to be a feminist and live in this country.

Racism does exist in Korea. Certainly not more nor the same way as it does in the U.S. but it's here and for the first time in my life I've experienced the pain of being judged by the color of my skin. The other day we went to our local E-mart to buy groceries. This was our monthly large shopping trip where we stocked up on things like rice and we had a lot of heavy stuff. We waited for a taxi in an area that's usually full of Taxis and watched as empty taxi after empty taxis drove past us. A couple of Korean women walked up and within a few minutes a taxi stopped for each of them driving past us in doing so. I was in tears. I was so frustrated and angry.

I don't want to give you the wrong impression. The last month has actually been the best here. Lance and I are finally getting over culture shock and we're settling in more. We're finally meeting people are doing things. Life in Korea is hard, but it's also the biggest adventure of my life.

This blog is going to be full of exciting pictures and adventures Lance and I have had during the past few weeks, but first I wanted to start with some daily life stuff. At beginning of the month I got my hair cut. I was recommended to try a Korean guy named Kevin who speaks great English. This is how it turned out:

I'm so happy with what he did! My hair was getting out of control. It was impossible to brush. I was worried It would end up horribly but I'm happy I took the risk.

We've found some pretty good Korean American fusion food. On the left is some frozen yogurt covered in mango and chocolate syrup and on the right is an american sandwich with french fries. Both were delicious.

One of the things I miss the most about American food is the diversity. We can have Thai one night and Indian the next. In Korean the vast majority of food is Korean. It's hard to find places to eat anything but Korean food. Lance and I have been very lucky that we found this Thai restaurant fairly early on. It's a good ways away, but It serves fantastic Thai food.

We also found this great little mexican place called Boss Tacos. The nachos weren't anything to write home about but the tacos were good.

For my birthday Lance and I went to a beautiful little Italian restaurant called "La Vie." It was probably some of the most expensive pasta I've ever eaten, but It was tasty so it was worth it. We got an appetizer of garlic bread and carbonara sauce to dip it in, which would have been fantastic if they hadn't have put sugar on the bread. I'm not really sure why they like to do that in Korea. We also had a yummy prosciutto and fresh fruit salad. Lance got "American pasta" which had a red sauce with a similar taste and constancy to spaghetti o's and I got the carbonara pasta which was very good. The whole dinner came with a bottle of a California rose wine. It was the best part of the whole dinner.

I've also been cooking quite a bit. I originally started cooking because a. I love it and b. it's cheaper than going out. I'd say that cooking here is more expensive than going out -- at least cooking the way I do because I don't know how to cook Korean. I find that many if not most Koreans eat out more than they eat in especially if they're younger. We eat a lot of pork, rice and tomatoes because they're in season.

A couple days ago Lance and I found the mysterious and wonderful Cheese Lady. Foreigners on the Island talk about her like she's a mythical goddess. She has an unmarked store full of foreign imports and you have to walk through a maze of back allies to get to her shop. When you ask for cheese she'll lead you to a back walk in freezer where she has baskets full of different kinds of cheeses and some meats like ham and salami too. We speculate that she's a whole seller to the foreign restaurants in town. We bought many wonderful and tasty goodies including sour cream and this block of parmesan cheese. I did the best thing I knew how; I made pasta.

We've also made good friends with the fruit vendor near our house. We buy all sorts of things from him and his wife including green tomatoes. We fried these up true southern style (but with panko crums instead of corn meal) and made some of the best BLTs we've ever had. We also buy watermelons and plums from this stand.

For lunch the other day we had some kimbap (which is more of less Korean sushi) and a 'convenient store.' The Konglish drew us in "create your most delicious happiness."

Sometimes they put corn flakes on their frozen yogurt. We got this at the movie theater. It was delicious.

To meet people we've been going to Thursday night game night. It's basically a cafe where you pay hourly. The cafe has a large selection of board games to choose from. On Thursday nights a bunch of foreigners gather and bring their own board games. So far it's been a good opportunity to meet people.

I brought a little yarn with me so I was able to make these cuties. Still looking for yarn that I can buy locally. No luck yet.

My grandmother sent me a birthday box!

A couple weeks ago we went Geo Caching (unsuccessfully) to one of Jeju's sacred sites. Behind Lance in the picture on the right are three holes in the ground. The legend goes that three demi-gods came out from these holes and married three Japanese princesses who came across the sea. They became the people of Jeju called the Tamna.

Last weekend we visited Cheonjiyeon waterfall and it was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. The land was lush and green and the waterfall was pristine.

After we visited the waterfall we went to botanical garden. It was huge, there was so many different types of gardens I couldn't count them all. I really loved the French garden though. The hydrangeas here are also amazingly beautiful and they grow on the roadside here, purple and pink and white.

Stairs in the French Garden

Swamp flowers

"Paint me like one of your French ladies" in the French garden

Koi Fish in the Japanese Garden.

This weekend has been one of the best so far. Yesterday we explored some lava tubes which were absolutely amazing and then we went to a maze park. I felt like Laura Croft and Alice in Wonderland both in one day. The Lava Tubes were pretty dark, but if you look closely you can see how cool it was.

The best thing about the maze was that there were cats and kittens living there! I know having a cat colony is a bad thing, but these cats were at least well fed and well loved.