Nine Hours in Shanghai

Recently, I came across some interesting information, announcing that China had decided to allow international travels up to 72 hours within Shanghai and/or Beijing absolutely cost and Visa-free.  Thrilled at the prospect of saving $200 on the Visa, I jumped on the bandwagon, booking myself, as I so often do, a long layover in Shanghai.  My anticipation of my time behind the Silk Curtain alternated between excitement and trepidation, as all I had in my head was this very Americanized idea of iron-fisted communism, very wealthy upper classes, very poor lower classes, and a superiority complex.  Despite my efforts to have no opinions on things I've never actually experienced, China and all the stories I've heard about it has grown some ideas for me.  I knew this was just a stereotype, so I tried to put it aside, and succeeded to for the most part.  However, a few things still managed to surprise me.  My friend warned me that Shanghai is rather Westernized, so I'm a bit reluctant to form any opinions (or even completely toss out my stereotypes) about China, but this is what I saw.

The Big Three of the Far East are conveniently now
stamped on adjoining pages in my passport.

Getting through customs was surprisingly easy.  I expected people to know less English than they did and to know less about the 72-hour Visa than they did.  There was a moment when I was pulled off to the side and I worried that I was going to be detailed for questioning of some sort, but it didn't happen.  They just apparently needed a little more time for processing, since the 72-hour Visa isn't approved in advance or anything.  I was incredibly impressed that they had no problem with inspecting my itinerary off of my iPhone (Somehow, my printouts had gotten lost).  Everyone who worked at the airport, from the desk attendants to the security guards were incredibly helpful.  Way to win, Shanghai.

I was amused, I may note that the first thing I saw in China (not counting the airport, of course) was a McDonald's.  My word, they're everywhere.  I technically wasn't even off airport property, yet.  In fact, I was following a very "Secret Garden"-esque path to find the subway (note the green arrows on the road directing me to the line I needed).  I didn't stop because, anymore, even the thought of McDonald's turns my stomach (though I do partake in it occasionally if the right friend asks me to go).  I did notice that their menu seemed incredibly different from the rest of the McDonald'ses that I've seen in other places in the world, but I expected that after doing a case study on the franchise for international marketing.  (Just a tidbit worth noting if you actually do like McDonald's: Every region in the world has a unique McDonald's menu, catering to the specific preferences of the people there.)

I opted to take the subway (line 2) through Shanghai, as both airports are on it, and I needed to make an airport change.  I had read that you could pay a shuttle to take you across in about an hour, but I found the subway first, it was cheaper, and I figured I'd get a feel for the culture better on the subway than in a van.  So I put my Shanghai Subway Map app to work.  Not that I really needed it... like I said, both stops were on the same line.  In fact, everything I wanted to do was on that line.  But it was comforting to have nonetheless.

Things worth knowing if you ever decide to do this on your own: You cannot change from the 10 line to the 2 line at Hongqiao Airport T2 without paying again.  You must go one stop past T2 to do this.  Somewhere in the middle of the Line 2 (I don't remember exactly which stop), I had to change trains.  It wasn't hard at all.  I just got out and hopped on the next one going the same direction.  Everyone has to do it at that point, so just go with the flow.

While I was spending time on the subway (maybe about an hour and a half, give or take 15 minutes), I was surprised to run into a goodly number of German people.  Well... I guess that's relative.  I think I saw maybe 5 non-Asian people the whole day.  I struck up a conversation with one man that was pretty interesting.  He gave me some good tips on what to see.  I kept wanting to use my Korean to talk to people, though I knew it would do me no good, and I only know two words in Mandarin, though I doubt my tonality is correct.  Nevertheless, I used my two words.  For everything else, I smiled and bowed a lot.  This, however, seemed to go over well, and an older couple on the subway adopted me, praising my ability to get a seat in spite of being foreign and lugging some pretty serious luggage with me.  When we switched trains, they took up extra space on the bench to save me a seat.  It blew my mind that they would do that for me.  In my experience, that kind of kindness to a stranger is nearly unheard of in the East.  Let me emphasize nearly unheard of.  It's not that people are being mean or anything... it's just a cultural thing.  The two were so sweet.  We spent a lot of time smiling at each other, and the grandmother (I want to call her 아줌마, or 할머니, though neither of those are really appropriate as, once again, she was not Korean) made sure I saw that there were white people on the TV at one point (They were German, but it's the thought that counts).  Seriously, they just melted my heart and made my day.

Skipping forward, as this is already getting long, and I haven't even begun to talk about my sightseeing yet, I decided to go ahead and check in for my flight as soon as I got to the other airport.  It seemed like the easiest way to ditch most of my luggage, and, since the line was gigantic, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

Asia never leaves you room to doubt where you are.  My word, there are PEOPLE in Asia. 

It actually moved faster than I feared it would, so I was able to grab a locker for my carry-on stuff and hit the Mag Lev train within an hour of my arrival.  In case you don't know what the Mag Lev train is, it does this:

Me, super excited about how fast we were traveling.

As a result, I was able to chop about half an hour from my travel time.  Maybe more.  I didn't pay enough attention on the way in.

I had thought about going to see the infamous Bund at E. Nanjing Road, but I wasn't really feeling it by the time Lujiazui Street came up, so I hopped off on a whim and figured I'd look around.  It turned out to be a good choice, because the Oriental Pearl Tower was right outside the exit.  It is my opinion that the Pearl is on of the coolest looking pieces of architecture out there, and it's certainly one of the most distinctive buildings in Shanghai, so I was thrilled with my choice.  I was so thrilled, in fact, that I dropped most of my spending money on a ticket to the very top of the thing.  That turned out to be okay, though, because it was incredibly time-consuming.  I didn't have a chance to go anywhere else, and I somewhat wish I'd had more time to spend within the Pearl.  Nevertheless, I'm very glad that was where I chose to spend my time in Shanghai, mostly because it felt like I could see the whole city from the top, but also because of all the cool things that I kept finding on each level.  I do wish I had realized they were there so I could have paced myself better.  I ended up getting so frustrated as I was having to bypass things on the way out to make it back to the airport on time to catch my flight.  I did make time for a quick peek at the various observation decks, though.  Each one had a different view worth seeing.

I still got to see The Bund... just from a different angle than people had suggested.

The downward-facing observation deck was somewhat panic-inducing, to the point that I saw several people flat out lay down on the glass once they looked down, but I am proud to announce that I stayed upright (though I did walk incredibly slowly and lightly to get my way back to opaque ground).  I'm not sure why people don't really think about how high up they are until you put glass under them, but that seems to be the norm.  I suppose that's why we're always advised to "don't look down"... not that that ever stops anyone, but it at least makes a little more sense now.

I had thought ahead enough to make sure I grabbed a dumpling (For those who know what it is, this was definitely a 왕만두 and not anything remotely resembling what I imagined a Chinese dumpling to be.) and my customary new country Coke (another company that changes its recipe from region to region) to eat as I waited to get into the Pearl.  This turned out to be excellent planning, as I ended up needed to be one of those obnoxious people who asked if they could cut in front of everyone to make it back to the airport.  There was definitely some self-loathing that happened then, but I sucked it up and did what I had to.

Outside the Pearl, there were taxis waiting, just as I'd read there would be.  Even though I was positive (and I'm still pretty sure I was right) that the subway would be faster, my anxiety about the potential to miss my flight had me jump into the nearest mode of transportation I could find.  I was proud of myself for the ease with which I haggled with the driver over the price.  I didn't even stop to think about it.  It's not like I haggle all that much in Korea, but I guess living there has just made me more confident with the idea of doing it.  Once in the cab, I managed to convince myself to relax, and the driver and I had a nice chat about how awesome he thinks President Obama and Americans in general are.  I smiled and thanked him, then spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what America could have possibly done for China to make this man think our country is all that cool, but gave up on it when I realized that I could be taking advantage of the fact that I was now above ground for a part of the city that I'd only seen below ground and film my cab ride.  One incredibly close call between my hand and the front end of a bus later, we got this:

Welcome to China friends.

Getting back on the Mag Lev was amazingly easy, especially since my driver literally pulled up to the station stairs for me, proclaiming his love for Americans the whole time.  Getting through security at the airport was only marginally more difficult.  My customs security man was very chatty and curious about what I was doing in Korea and Thailand, but I just kept on smiling and answering.  I didn't even check my watch once (which, after estimating the time wrong in London and missing out on the London Eye during my first ever long layover, I had set for China time before I ever left Seoul).  Be proud of me.  I ended up having enough time to shop for a couple little people who are in my life before feeling the need to go wait by my gate.  Sadly, you have to have access to texting in China to get the airports free WiFi, but I can survive unplugged (usually), so it wasn't that bad of a wait.

Incidentally, I noticed  a family with what looked like twin young girls on the Mag Lev the second time.  I actually noticed several families throughout the day that were clearly Chinese and clearly had multiple children.  I had been under the impression that Chinese families were only allowed one child, but now I'm starting to wonder if that also was a misconception.

I will say, however, my experience with my airline, China Eastern, was not one that I ever intend on repeating.  A weight debacle that ended up costing me $200 and a lovely reinterpretation of the definition of "special vegetarian meal that you ordered" (confiscation of the main meat dish without replacing it with anything else) was enough to make me add them to my airline blacklist.  (Also on that list are Delta and Virgin, in case you were wondering.  Airports that made the list are Bangor, ME; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Jakarta, Indonesia... not that you can completely vow off an airport, but I'd like to avoid them as much as possible.  Incidentally, Turkish Air and American Airlines have made what I'd call a graylist for various reasons... Just proceed in booking with them with caution.)

All in all, for the traveler with the short attention span like me, I think this 72-hour Visa is definitely worth while.  I fully intend on taking advantage of it to see Beijing when I get the chance, especially now that I know how to anticipate things (though, let me tell you, it may take the full 72-hours just to navigate the Beijing airport, from what I hear...) and feel more confident that I'm not going to get arrested for simply thinking Western thoughts in China.  Hopefully this new Visa policy is going to be around for a good while, because I'm really liking it. 

And we're back!

School is back on... for two weeks.  And then I'm done teaching (at least in Korea... for now).   Crazy.

The child standing on the chair was the sweet baby who
had to spend the rest of the day with plastic in his ear.
We weren't allowed to send the poor kid home, but that's
how it falls sometimes.

Vacation was pretty straight-forward.  I stayed in Cheonan after the unfortunate need to cancel Italy, and taught a week of extra classes at my old Saturday School.  The kids were cute, but - oh man - I'm so glad I normally teach middle school.  I had one first grader (American kindergartner) shove a straw wrapper so far down his ear that I couldn't see it anymore by the time I got to him to try and stop him.  Those little babies cannot and should not sit still for two hours.  Good grief, planning team.  I promptly disregarded my instructions to give them lots of worksheets and planned a lot of games and songs.  We also read some books, which I borrowed from my first school, and made some great projects, like our very own Big, Green Monsters.  (I really like this book for teaching.  It's good with the littles for

The kids bigger than her were allowed to
use scissors to cut out their body parts.

body parts and colors, and it's made even better, because you revive it when they get older to teach other adjectives.  Every page follows this form: He has [adjective], [color] body part.  Each series is stated twice in the book; the reinforcement is really nice.)

Hanging around Cheonan turned out to be a better break than I expected.  It was nice to not have to deal with the stress of planning everything and getting to the airport on time.  I also got to sleep in without worrying about wasting my time in the country... Since this is the country I live in (Wow... I just started typing this is my country) and all.  I do have a couple more places I think I should see before I leave, but I won't be too fussed if I don't.

One of the perks of greatly preferring running with her over running alone.  She makes me wish I had a dog of my own, though I know that's not feasible right now, what will all the moving around I'm getting ready to do.  (Also, I feel really irresponsible saying this, but it's awfully nice being able to sleep in on my non-running mornings, and I couldn't really do that if I had a dog... So I'll just borrow them for now.  Hehe)

Uma

staying home is that I could pet sit for my friend.  I've felt bad having people pet sit for Bunny, but never being able to return the favor for them, but now I've at least been able to pay it forward.  Not to mention, I loved getting to spend time with sweet Uma.  Uma has proved very helpful in my recent endeavor into running.  She only has three legs, but she has managed to keep up with me pretty decently.  I'm not sure if that's more of a testament to her running ability or my lack thereof, but I do know that I

As for the running commitment, I know that many of you are probably checking outside for other signs of the apocalypse, but I promise you I'm serious.  I chased down a bus a couple of weeks ago and liked it so much that I thought I'd give it a serious go, using the 0-5K app my friend showed me for my iPhone.  Another friend recently turned me on to a site that helps people get serious about the goals they set for themselves.  I'm not sure this is actually the site she was meaning, but I ended up making a contract on stickK.com.  Basically, I and a sponsor report my progress each week, and if I miss my goal, I pay money to an anti-charity of my choosing.  Sadly, Westboro Baptist wasn't an option on that list.  I really wish it was, because I'm pretty sure every person I know would get on me to make sure I don't give them any money.  If you want to keep tabs on my progress and offer me encouragement along the way, please join my commitment as a Supporter by clicking here.  I'm already feeling so much better and confident because of this, and it's only been a week.  The program suggests taking break days from working out, but I hate the thought of that... partially because I have a hard time with gray zones and partially because I really like how I feel after the work-outs.  Sooooo I do what I want. Haha.

Finally, the heat wave through Korea has been so bad that my school is started 30 minutes earlier each day and classes are 5 minutes shorter.  People have been using so much air conditioning that the government is warning about impending national blackouts.  Now, personally, I think that turning the AC on at school, where a bunch of people are all in one room would use less electricity than sending everyone home and having them turn it on in their private homes, but perhaps I'm wrong.  Nevertheless, it's a very welcome change for me from the frigid winters here.  I'll take heatwave over ice storm any day of the year.

For now, I think that constitutes an adequate update.  I'll see you (America friends) in 72 days. :)

If you never read anything else I write, read this.

I may have had the biggest revelation of my life today - just now, in fact - and I'm verbalizing it here for the first time, because I wish I had come to realize this sooner.  So I want to share it with everyone as soon as I possibly can in the hopes that it will click with them and help them not to dismiss things as antiquated rules simply because we don't understand them.

In fact, everything in the Bible just took on new, deeper meaning in light of this.  As soon as I finish here, I'm going back to reread as much of it as I can before I fall asleep.  The more I think about it all, the more excited I get.

It really all makes perfect, simple sense.

Once you can fully (well, as close to fully as possible) wrap your mind around this one fact:

G-d is not a linear being.

Don't get intimidated by the science/math speak and click away.  This is important to understand.

To reach a bigger audience, I want to also reference Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.  In the book, the characters utilize something called a Tesseract.  L'Engle's explanation of this (below) has helped me to understand G-d a bit more.

We, like all things on this planet, exist in a linear fashion, with a definite beginning and a definite end (at least while we're on Earth).  We currently exist in the same state as the insect was originally.  We have never known anything outside of that state and cannot fathom anything outside of that state, much like a fetus cannot fathom anything so otherworldly as breathing air.  The latter state, the simplest explanation of a Tesseract, is so far outside of a line, that linear beings cannot really comprehend it.

Now, I'm not so audacious as to claim that G-d exists in a state of Tesseract.  Personally, I believe He exists in a plane beyond that somewhere.  My point is that, G-d exists in a state that encompasses our own so completely that we cannot comprehend it; it could never fit into our understanding.  This also means that He encompasses our entire state of being at all times.

Let me break down what this means a little bit.

G-d is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  Yes.  Of course.  Because all of those times exist simultaneously for Him.  It's not so much that He's unchanging as He's omnipresent.  Those are all the same thing.  A=A.  It's like thinking, "Wow, this bite of doughnut that I'm chewing still happens to taste good!" - It's ridiculous to think anything else.  All of those are subpar explanations, but I hope you were expecting that, because, as I said, we're dealing with something outside of our scope of experience.

Everything the Bible says about sex and marriage that we don't really like... Yeah, G-d knew what He was talking about.  Of course.  Of course it's cheating on your future spouse to sleep with anyone else (Hebrews 13:4, among many others).  In fact, the much debated (even taboo) verse in the Bible that says not to divorce and not to remarry if you do (1 Corinthians 7:10-11) makes sense in light of this.  G-d is in all of our moments at the same time, so, to Him, we are too.  To us it feels like it's all unfolding slowly: things end; other things start.  But not to G-d.  To Him, I was just as married to my (hopefully existent) husband the day I was born as I will be on our 50th wedding anniversary.  Anything I do "before" or "after" I meet him is just the same to G-d.

Sin really does irrevocably separate us from G-d.  And nothing, NOTHING we ever do can change that.  It's not that He wants that.  It's devastating for Him.  But that's simply the plain, honest truth.  Think about the magnitude of this thing: If all moments are actually one moment, then we are constantly committing each and every sin in our lives.  There is nothing we can do.  Nothing.

The magnitude of what Christ did on the cross is heart-stopping.  Every moment for all of eternity in every direction and every plane of existence, Christ is being tortured to death to atone for those sins that also exist on that spectrum.  Every sin we could possible commit is erased the moment we do it, because Christ takes it on in that moment.  We are constantly clean.  We are constantly made new.

All praise to G-d, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Eph. 1:3 NLT)

17 Thank-Yous to my Amazing Mom

I saw a version of this on Carlos Whittaker's blog, Ragamuffin Soul.  I think it's the perfect answer to my Mother's Day post.  (It's still Mother's Day in its country of origin, so leave me alone.)

1. I was so excited to go to Kindergarten, so excited to formally learn.  I ran into that classroom, and I don't think I even looked back to see if you'd left; if I did, it was to make sure you had.  You never let me see that bother you (I'm still not sure that it did).  Thank you for fostering a love of learning in me.

2. In first grade, I was tired of being the only kid who read with expression.  All the other kids stuttered their monotone ways through our readers; I thought that must have been the cool way to read, so I started doing it, too.  I brought the style home, and you immediately scheduled a meeting with my teacher to discuss my declining reading level.  She subscribed to an older version of teaching that encouraged all students to learn at the same level and would not budge to give me more challenging work.  You took me to the public library and assigned me weekly chapter books to go through.  Thank you for protecting my skills.

3. In second grade, I began to lose my first "best" friend.  We had moved across town, and I was still clinging to the friendship, even though it was pretty much gone already.  Thank you for patiently arranging play-dates and making the drives to and from her house.

4. In third grade, I got accepted into an alternative school and that friend did not.  I was devastated and didn't want to go without her.  You made me go anyway.  Thank you.

5. In fourth grade, you got up almost every school morning to drive me to said alternative school instead of making me take the hour-and-a-half bus ride.  We used that time to attempt to cram my spelling words into my head.  None of them stuck, but the methodology you used to teach them to me did.  Thanks for teaching me how to study.

6. In fifth grade, I began to experiment with everything, including how to do laundry.  I attempted to wash my costume for the school play on my own.  It was white, and I wanted it to look amazing, because I felt fat, dumpy, and ugly.  I wanted people to see me and think I was pretty.  So I added bluing to the wash, but I didn't realize it needed to be diluted.  You stayed up making me a new costume for the play.  Or maybe you bought it... but I think you made it.  I know you made the jacket, but either way, it was your time and money that you lovingly gave to prevent the ridicule and reprimand for my actions.  I'm grateful.

7. In sixth grade, I was asked to join with the high school orchestra for their Spring trip to New York City.  You said I could go, but only if you went, too.  I was horrified that you wanted to chaperon, but no amount of begging or attitude would change your mind.  After having been on those trips as a high-schooler on those trips, all I have to say is that you made the right choice.  Thanks for sticking to your guns.

8.  In seventh grade, I went out of my way to hurt you.  We'd moved again, and I didn't want to.  You knew I was planning to run away.  You called my likely refuges and warned them.  You told them not to send me back if I left; you knew I'd do it again and in a more dangerous way.  You told me later that you had been planning to sign over custody if I left.  For the sake of my safety, you were willing to give up your rights to me.  I'm astounded.

9.  In eighth grade, I had the opportunity to tour the country with a singing group.  You didn't feel comfortable with me being away for so long with a group you didn't know well, but still you drove me the day and a half out to training.  When my phone calls started sounding fishy, you showed up at every one of our shows.  You let me finish the tour, but you still looked out for me.  I felt safer because I knew you'd be there.

10.  In ninth grade, we were dealing with my on-going night-terrors.  They were so intense.  They still scare me to this day, and I know they scared you then.  Thank you for not making me feel like a freak for having them.

11. In tenth grade, you made better costumes for ALL the madrigals.  You stayed up later than I did a lot of the time.  That couldn't have been easy for you, but I really appreciate it.  It helped me stop being so much of a social outcast, which was (is) important to me.

12. In eleventh grade, you were working again.  I knew you wanted to be working, but I didn't realize all your reasons.  There's so much you did for me with the money you made from that job that I'm only realizing now.  You give and give and give.

13. In twelfth grade, you gave me my space.  I did a lot of things that I needed; those things probably hurt you, but you could also see why I needed to do them.  You stood up for me, and fought the big battles WITH me (not for me).  Words cannot express how truly grateful I am and always will be.

14.  In college, you helped me move in, you giggled with me about boys, you talked to me when I called, and let me go without talking when I didn't.  You sent me care packages (more than most kids got).  You made the 14-hour drive whenever I had an important concert.  You fought the urge to fly down every time I ended up in the ER and let me find my own two feet.  You cheered for me as I flew around the world, and you didn't panic when I told you I'd be leaving again in a matter of  weeks.  You fished me out of the waters when I got in too deep, but never coddled me.  AND helped me pay for toiletries.  You win.

15. You were nothing but nice to my boyfriends, even when you told them to get lost.  I really appreciate that.

16. I'm sure you cried when I told you I'd be moving to start my adult life out of the country, but you never let me see it.  I needed that more than you can know.  You came to visit me, I came to visit you, and we began to iron out our relationship as adults.  It's not an easy process, but I'm sure we'll get it.  Thank you for respecting me.

17. Recently, we've really begun to talk about faith - REAL faith.  Sure, we talked about "faith" as a kid, but not like this.  I appreciate that I can talk to you about things that are deep, and I'm floored by the extent of the faith you have.  When we lost Pop-pop, I felt like I lost my rock, my anchor - the thing that would helm me back in if I floated too far away.  I'm beginning to realize that I only lost one of a number of anchors, the exact number of which I can never be fully sure.  Thank you for standing firm and for opening up to me.

Birthday Week (plus)

The past week has been a whirlwind to say the least.  I've finally (almost) gotten over a cold-turned-burgeoning-sinus-infection this week; I'll finish my antibiotics tonight.  I've still got a bit of a sore throat, but I think that's allergies taking over at this point.  I've been keeping my window open, because the weather's finally nice enough for that (meaning that my apartment is starting to take on over-like qualities), but the cool breeze brings pollen with it.  What's a girl to do?  I cracked open the Claritin D that Mom sent this morning, and that seems to be helping.

In spite of being sick and voiceless (even literally for a day), I still went about life as usual, because it hit hardest during BIRTHDAY WEEK.  What is it with me and getting sick on my birthday??? (Last year, although I didn't blog about it, I ended up in the ER, unable to breathe on my birthday night.  They ended up giving me some medicine to which I'm allergic... so the whole thing was a pretty big ordeal.)  This year, I planned a bunch of birthday week activities, and had an absolute BLAST.  Even though there are still some ongoing festivities (things I didn't plan, but people wanting to do more for me - I love my birthday and apparently others do, too!!), I'm going to post about what all's been happening!

Monday, April 22, 2013

For sure during Birthday Week, I wanted to go to Mt. Fishtail, my favorite restaurant here in Cheonan.  It's a bit of a trek for me, involving planning my schedule around that of the subway.  Many people go there for birthdays, so it's become a bit cliché to do that.  I don't really like doing the same things as everyone, and people have been starting to complain about that, so I asked two of my friends, Ashley and Heidi, if they'd go with me after our Korean class (which ended up involving a surprise TWO cakes and drinks!).  They happily agreed, making everyone winners.  The two ladies were super nice and even treated me!  

The picture you are seeing actually has nothing to do with Birthday Week, but I wanted to point out that the first time I hung out with Heidi was also the first time I went to Mt. Fishtail.  I conveniently had this photo, therefore, to show me, Heidi, and the restaurant, so I could have just let you think that it was from Birthday Week.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - Birthday!

On Tuesdays, I normally spend time with a young lady I'm tutoring/mentoring.  If you follow my Facebook,
you'll often see me writing about "my student;" that's her - Kristin.  Kristin's family wanted to take me out for my birthday and offered to do it any night, but I thought it was be sweet to see her on my birthday itself.  That afternoon, she and her mom actually met me at my school to walk me over to the restaurant.  Sadly, it was raining that day, and I had worn the wrong shoes, so I got soaked (probably contributing to how sick I got), but it was sweet nonetheless.  Kristin's mom decided just to let the two of us eat, so she paid and left us there.  This restaurant was also a first for me: My first teacher dinner had been there.

The place is rather expensive, but they give you enough food to feed an army.  Just when you think, "Okay, I'm stuffed; I can't eat anymore," they bring another course.  Then, you think, "Surely, that's it," but then, they bring another course.  And I'm not meaning, just a main dish and maybe a side... We actually had to move things off the table to fit all the food on it.

My co-teacher Sam (The CT, again, for Facebook followers), had given me a small cake in the morning to eat at the restaurant.  Often, cakes here come complete with a knife, candles, matches, and poppers for the the occasion, so we had a good time making a lot of noise in the restaurant.

Kristin was pretty nervous about the poppers at first.  I think maybe she doesn't like the noise... Or perhaps she thought she was going to burn her hand?  I'm not really sure, but once the confetti and streamers came out, she was one happy camper.

We both left too stuffed to move properly.  I waddled her home and vowed not to eat another large meal that week... until I realized I'd already planned a couple more.  Oops.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Wednesday was pretty low-key.  I went out for coffee with Kris and Cora, which was so fitting, considering Kris' new coffee website that he's about to launch.  We tried a coffee shop that just opened behind Korea Nazarene University called La Noche.  The Spanish in the name caught my eye, and, as it turns out, the owner spent some time in Spain and speaks Spanish.  That's not something to run into every day here.  (I'm not even sure they have a word for Spanish... every time I hear people talking about it in Korean, I'm pretty  sure they're saying "Spain's speaking.")  The place was cute, and the coffee was good (although too sugary for my liking... it tasted sweeter than I'm used to having), but by 8 it was HOPPING, and we, being all of the introversion persuasion, opted to leave.  It was awesome to get some time to talk with them, though, and hear about Kris' new business venture.  We even got a chance to chat a little about copyright law!  (It's begun to cross my mind to do a bit of online copyright law consulting once I'm done in Korea...)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

I had intended Thursday to be a pseudo-rest-day to prep for the insanity of the weekend to come, but I ended up scheduling a non-birthday-related meeting instead.  Sitting still is apparently not my forte.

Friday, April 26, 2013

I planned my big dinner for Friday night at a buffet called Applebee (no relation at all to Applebee's in America).  I hadn't been there in a while, so I did realize they'd removed all the reasons that had made it worth the price of eating there, which was a bit of a bummer, but we still had fun.  I'd seen an interesting game on a Korean reality TV show, and I wanted to give it a try.  For lack of a better name, I dubbed it "Food Bingo."  Basically, you fill a 5x5 Bingo card with different foods.  Each player takes a turn choosing a food.  If you eat the whole of that food that you placed on your card, you get the space cleared.  If you don't eat all of it, or you didn't select that food, you can't clear the space.  You must have 3 Bingos to win.

My filled BINGO card

To make things more interesting, we required players to include a lychee (Although, at the time, we didn't realize that's what they were... we just saw the spiky fruit.), something dipped in the chocolate fountain, some wasabi, and one of the whole shrimp (gross).

We confused a lot of people while we were playing, and ended up scaring the employees to death: They saw Ashley and me walking around with a notebook, writing down foods, and they assumed we were conducting an inspection of some kind.  Luckily, our Korean friend had come and he explained what was happening to them.  BUT it was a blast, and I'd highly recommend playing it, although, perhaps you should play it at home...

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Saturday morning, all of the KNU program teachers went to Seoul for a culture trip (temple and a show).  IT was pretty fun, but I was mostly jazzed about what was waiting for me afterward.  Seoul has this cool trend that's, sadly, on its way out of fashion, but I'm going to take advantage of it until it dies entirely.  Popular these days are board game cafes.  You go in, buy a drink, pay hourly after the first hour, and have access to basically every board game every created.  Here's a smattering of them from my first trip to Board School:

Situated directly over one of the two Taco Bells in Korea, Board School was Heaven for my inner geeky child.  We stayed for three hours and played our way through Ticket to Ride (I won), some odd pirate game (see the video below) (I think Ashley won), Hulli Gulli (a Korean favorite that is basically Egyptian Ratskcew, plus math) (Ashley also won), Apples to Apples (Nick), and Uno (I don't remember who won this, but Nick introduced us to Killer Uno, which has about 20 extra rules, but is so much fun).  It was definitely the highlight of my week, and I'm already anxious to go back for more!

Plus

More birthday activities keep popping up.  This weekend, Kershea took me to my now undisputed favorite buffet, All That BBQ.  I should be going out with Jolie for coffee tonight.  Maybe I'll also hang out with Joshua on a similar adventure.  This weekend I'll be staying with Samuel and Ashley... it just keeps going, and I love it all!  I don't know how I'm going to top all this next year for the big 2-5, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. :)

Indonesia: Taman Safari

Taman Safari was the main place I wanted to see in Jakarta.  A couple things had caught my eye in my research, but this seemed the most interesting to me.  I knew I had only a couple of days in Jakarta, and I wanted to make the most of them, but I also was exhausted from my adventure trying to find a hotel.  I tried to justify a couple days in the luxurious hotel to myself, but, in the end, I couldn't.  I walked to the travel agents' offices (because yes, the hotel was so nice that it had two different travel offices in it) and asked for information on things to do that would be open in spite of the flood.

Sea World, which was right on the water, was clearly not going to be an option, but then, a brochure advertising the Taman Safari park caught my eye.  I was sold.  The travel agents, however, were not.  They told me it was about 45 minutes away, and, if the water hadn't receded, I'd be unable to get there.  I asked them if they minded calling the park and asking for me.  Grudgingly, the agreed.  In the end, it sounded like, everything was going to be a go.  But I wasn't out of the woods, yet.  Next, they tried to convince me I needed to rent a car to drive through the safari myself.  I knew that normally people drove their own vehicles there, but, "Surely," I told myself, "a tourist attraction of this magnitude has options for people who have not yet mastered the mystery of driving on the left side of the road."  I scoured the brochure and found that you could arrange to rent a car there.  While driving myself around the park wasn't my favorite idea, it was at least better than driving myself through the giant, congested city, a feat I was sure would kill me if I attempted it.

So, the next morning, I ate an enormous breakfast at the hotel buffet (my plan was to survive on the two complimentary meals, provided by the hotel, a trick I learned at family Thanksgivings when we stayed at a similarly-styled hotel), and headed out to the taxi stand, where I found another one of my trusted BlueBird taxis.  I told the driver where I wanted to go, and, after he checked to make sure I was serious about the 45-minute ride, we were on our way.When we got there, I assumed that there would be some check point where the driver would let me out, and I'd piddle around until I found the rental area. So I was very surprised when I realized that there were animals surrounding the car.  As it turned out, the driver had opted to take me through the park himself, a considerably cheaper option for me (since the taxi fares in Jakarta are mostly based on distance traveled, rather than time - as they are in Korea) and, I'm assuming, a considerably more enjoyable option for him than his normal fares.  He even drove me around the theme park part of the area, driving me up to different rides and attractions and waiting for me to finish.  After the park, we made a couple stops for souvenirs, and returned to the hotel in time for me to have some dinner and do some serious work on my story (Yes, I'm still working on it.  If I'd been more faithful to it, I'd probably be further along by now, but I haven't been.  I can also justify it a bit by saying that I've been very anal about my edits, too, so it's changed massively since I started, which has contributed to the amount of time I've spent on it).  I made the choice to stay with this taxi driver, based on one observation: It was crazy cheap to do so!  I had a private driver the whole day for a grad total of $60.  That, my friends, is winning.

Now, we all know it wouldn't be a vacation post if there weren't some pictures.  I will tell you this, though, I forgot to charge my Canon PowerShot SX50 HS 12.1 Megapixel Black Digital Camera - 6352B001 (Google Affiliate Ad) the night before, meaning that a few minutes into the tour, it died.  At first, I was very frustrated, assuming I wasn't going to get any pictures, but then I remember that I had my Penguin (Aka.. my iPhone) on me, so I used that to take most of the pictures in the park.  I must say, I was very impressed with how they turned out.  See if you can tell where I switched cameras (to be honest, I can't remember exactly where it happened):

A lot of people brought carrots with them to feed the animals. As a result, many of them would stick their faces right into the cars, searching for food. I shook hands/trunks with this elephant.

My brother thinks this was a bull, but I'm not convinced. All I know is that I wouldn't want to be the one to make it mad.

This tiger looked like it was pretty settled to take an afternoon nap like many of the other tigers were doing, so I leaned out the window to take a picture of it (not at all uncommon for people to do in the park). At that moment, it decided it didn't like the spot it was in, got up, and started walking seemingly toward the car. The taxi driver started yelling, "Window! Window! Close the window!" It was a hand-crank window, so I was turning it as fast as I could, yelling also: "I know I know I know I know I know!" It turned out that the tiger only wanted to pass in front of our car to cross to the other side. (Apparently that's not just a chicken pass-time.) We both giggled rather sheepishly for a bit after that.

Llama face!

In the baby zoo, people could buy tickets to play with/take photos with various baby animals. The only two that were awake while I was there was the white tiger and the lion cubs. The tiger had just woken up from a nap, so he was happy to play. He licked my leg and sniffed at my arm, yawning widely in a couple of pictures. All in all, he seemed rather curious. The lion, on the other hand, was very sleepy, about to end his shift. He did sniff my face, something that made both the handler and myself nervous, but, mostly, he just laid there like a doll. But I can assure you, he most definitely was real.

Day 1

I finished my fourth first day of middle school today.  I hated middle school the first time.  I went to three of them (thus this is my fourth first day), and you'd think I would have found one that I liked, but no.  None.  Zero.  Today, was different.

I love my classroom.  It's beautiful.  It's just eclectic enough for me to like it, but subdued enough to be a good learning environment.  I didn't get any photos today, because I was holding on for dear life.  When I settle into a routine, I'll be sure to take some pictures.

My students seem to be the same level of rowdy as my fifth and sixth graders were (thus far), but today I was much more willing to roll with it.  I feel like that may have been because I was definitely the head of my classroom.  The other teachers barely said anything, but it was beautiful and it flowed.  If discipline needed to happen, it did.  If stuff needed to be translated, it was.  If I needed to joke with someone beforehand, it happened.

And that's another thing.  So far, all of my co-teachers speak flowing, beautiful English.  I even explained my pajama dream to the woman who has the desk next to me, and she laughed!  She laughed hard!  She went so far as to say, "I guess you were very nervous!"  I didn't have to explain it any more than I would to a native speaker.  Furthermore, Sam, who sits across from me, is SO helpful.  He explains everything I have a question about (even when he ran into me on the way home and I was having a bit of trouble ordering dinner).  He doesn't know it, but he also made such a HUGE difference between this school and the last one: he closed today by saying, "You did a great job today."  Yes, my other co-teachers gave me positive feedback, but I had to ask for it.  This was out of the blue, and it was wonderful to hear.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for constructive criticism, but the balance goes a long way.  He also told me what I most wanted to hear: "The most important thing you can do is be friends with [the students]."  He took the pressure off and told me that I'm doing well.  What more could you ask for in an office mate?

My students even seem excited to see me!  I ran into a couple of them on my way home, and they gave the very classic "Oh!" that means "I recognize you and I wasn't expecting to see you!", and quite eagerly spoke English to me.  What strange, parallel universe am I in?

I'm not foolish enough to believe that this isn't tainted by the first day, rose-colored glasses, but I'm very happy with my decision to change schools, so far. :)

And the winner is...

So, this was a really hard choice for me, because y'all did a far better job than I had been doing and strayed far away from J.K. Rowling's choice of character names.  (Although, apparently I forgot to rule out Madeleine L'engle's character names?)  Thank you.  You accomplished my goal.  But then, you all did well.  Seriously, everyone left me pondering the correct answer.  Which means that some of the other names may show up... Maybe even in reference to Charity... as in, I may or may not already have some ideas for how to use all of my favorites.  (Don't worry, if that happens, I'll be sure to send you some love.)

That being said, I'm doubting you want to read my babble today, so... on with the show.

The winning name was, I think, entered as a joke. However, it turned out to work on many levels for everything that I want Charity to be. It includes foreshadowing and symbolism... so, if it really was a joke, that's pretty awesome. Now, I will leave you to ponder who and what Charity could possibly be, as I announce that her name will be:

The actually entry was Charity Steward, submitted by Greg Steward (see why I think it was a joke?), but subtle differences in meaning, based on spelling, led me to change the "d" to a "t."

Greg, go ahead and contact me, and we'll talk about what you want and how to get it to you.

Where you go to subscribe

Meanwhile, everyone else can check out his blog here.

Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any further possibilities to be a winner!

Blimey Cow photo of the day 26.  Big Head Kid impression

Big Head Kid shows up in a lot of the Blimey Cow videos.  He's pretty awesome, in that he vocalizes what my brain often thinks.  This is my 5-minute impression of him.  Luckily, we have the same hair color... ish.

Just a little life update... for once.

I don't think I've given you an actual life update since I got to Korea... maybe some snarky pretend life updates, but I'm going to buckle down and give you an actual one.  Why?  Because my other option is lesson planning.

My trip to Thailand really opened my eyes to
how mixed  Buddhism and Hinduism have become.

We kicked off this week with Buddha's birthday.  Now, a lot of my Christian friends have been pretty fired up about this, justifying celebrations as not being about Buddha and so forth.  Here's the thing, though.  Plenty of people who couldn't care less about Christ have no problem celebrating Christmas and Easter.  Not to mention, Buddhism had absolutely nothing to do with religion until it mixed with Hinduism.  Before then, it was just a lifestyle about peace and unity with the world and yourself.  This does not in any way, shape, or form negate Christianity.  Buddhism now?  Yes, it does.  What Buddhism was meant to be? No it doesn't.  And if you really want me to ruffle your feathers, I can take that a step further and say that Christianity now negates what Christianity was meant to be, too, so there's a whole lot of negation going on here.  Like I mentioned before, I didn't spend the holiday doing much of anything special.  I took the bunny to the animal hospital, then laid around on Monday, working on some editing for my story.  Pre-bunny adventures, the bun and I attended a cookout on the roof of our apartment building, which ended with a not-so-happy manager kicking us off the roof.  The general consensus is that, yes, fireworks are legal in Korea, but perhaps we should have taken them to a beach or something.

Writing writing, writing...
Also... I'd like to paint my nails that color again.

Tuesday was the usual post-long-weekend duldrum of wanting more vacation.  I need to hurry and get this "being a writer" thing moving... I think I'd really like that, to be honest.  It wouldn't matter where I lived or what else I did, so long as I met my deadlines.  How can you help me? (Because I KNOW you all want to help me... haha.)  Tell people about the blog, and watch for my name on a fiction series a couple years from now.  When you see it, buy it.  :) hahah.

Tuesday was also a flurry of preparations for the series of Skype calls that my 6th graders are doing.  Right now, they're studying how to hold phone calls in English, so I figured that this was a wonderful way to let them practice.  I had to make sure Skype was installed on all the computers, cameras and mics were working, and my callers were up-to-date and ready to go on info.  Even though I knew things would still glitch, I wanted it to be as glitch-free as possible.  What I didn't bank on were thunderstorms on the East Coast AND in Korea (no-thunderstorm central).  I guess that's how these things work, right?

The project that started it all: my fourth graders Skyping
with Jaimi and Sam.  (No, you didn't miss it.  I've just been bad
about keeping you updated.)

Today was the big kick off of the Skype calls.  It was definitely interesting.  The 6th grade girls couldn't get over having an American young man on the screen, so I'm a little tentative about how tomorrow is going to turn out on that front.  Of course, the men tomorrow won't have blonde hair, so it'll probably be a bit easier to handle.  Either way, I'm seriously considering a women-only policy for my higher grades.  I don't think that'll cause any stirs, since the boys aren't hormonally mature enough for that issue.  All-in-all, I think the kids did okay.  They certainly had some room for improvement, but my Thursday classes tend to be better than my Wednesday classes, so we'll see how that goes.  (Hopefully, I'll remember to snag some pictures on the sly tomorrow, too.  Maybe I'll ask someone to do some screen shots on their end for me?  We'll see.)

Today, lunch was incredibly good (and even came with cheese sticks!), except for this rice ball that made me nervous.

I ate this with my lunch today.  Look carefully.  Those little black dots are eyes...
apparently of fish that look exactly like worms.   I had to close my eyes to do it,
which one of my co-teachers noticed and may or may not be offended?
I don't know.  Either way, the fish/worms show up enough at school
that I should probably learn to eat them wide-eyed.

Today, I also got done at work early.  Apparently, on any month that has a fifth Wednesday, the teachers take off early to go hiking.  I was all set to go, but it was drizzling, so they opted against it, and everyone just went home.  Wouldn't you know it?  As soon as I got dropped off, the rain stopped.  Personally, I would have enjoyed either one, but they probably made the better call.  I'm too used to non-acidic rain.  But, I'll count it as a win for the home team.  You know what else I found out?  We don't have school on Friday; it's my school's "birthday."  I'll take it.

Day 01. Selfie.  No mirrors... just a fancy iPhone4.

Finally, I have opted to start the Summer of Blimey Cow Photo Challenge.  I'll be posting my shots on here, but I would love to see yours, too if you opt to do it, so find me on Twitter, where I will also be posting my shots.  (Or you can ALWAYS post links and things in my comments!)  We'll see how long I stay dedicated to this... and/or I'll just have some days that I'm posting a bunch of catch-up pictures. It is my blog, after all, so I can really just do whatever I want.

Have a lovely week, enjoy working on Friday, and pretend like I'm not actually mean enough to have just rubbed that in your face. ;)

Wear better clothes.

I'm going to start this post with the conclusion, just so there's no confusion on it: I am absolutely a non-fan of confrontation.  Yes, I like being able to yell my head off and voice my opinions, provided that there are minimal repercussions (i.e. I won't see them again, or they'll yell back, but that'll be the end of it... etc.), but, when that is not an option, I entirely shy away from it.  Just the thought of confronting such a situation gets my heart rate up.  Especially when I realize that my shirt is see-through.

Earlier this evening, I tried my hand shopping at a bigger store than the one I went to when I still lived on KNU's campus.  The mission was a success - I got both my pantry and fridge stocked - but it took three times longer than usual, and I still didn't end up with the fancy trash bags I'm supposed to use.  I may just haul my trash back to KNU and let them handle it... or take my garbage out in the middle of the night.  But, the point of this paragraph is not to debate the morality of ignoring cultural norms when the culture makes it impossible to find the supplies to participate in said norms.  The point of this paragraph is to express how exhausted I was when I finally made it home after my errands.  It was quite a day - TESOL, then a trip to City Hall to turn in my Change of Address, then an attempt at finding a new bus route to school using the 1 Bus (which is a great deal closer to my apartment than the faithful 14) - no dice, btw - , then the E-Mart trip, putting me home around 8:30.  I took care of the rabbit, started some chores, and finally sat down to dinner at (prepare to be horrified) 11:30.  Somewhere in the middle of this, I changed into a pair of pajama shorts and an undershirt that my friend who used to live here, Tori, left me.

It was around the time that I peeked out my front door to investigate the sounds of English coming from the hallway that I realized my shirt was very much see-through.  Great.  Glad I chose to wear a cute bra today.  So, I talked to what turned out to be some other friends of mine for a bit, and then went back to bustling about the apartment, promptly forgetting the encounter.

That is, until I had to run upstairs to Kris' apartment to fix something with our shared internet.  He's not there right now, so I knew that wouldn't be an issue.  What I wasn't expecting was to find Kris' neighbor, sulking in the stairwell, smoking his cigarette.

So, I came flying up the stairs, two at a time, until I saw him.  I stopped, teetering on the edge of the top step.  He stopped, one arm folded across his chest, the cigarette perched against his lip, as if he had been about to take a long drag.  We made eye contact, and, in that second, I thought about the amount of time Kris has spent trying to catch this guy in the act of smoking in the hallway (right underneath the no smoking sign, mind you).  I thought of Kris' determination to drive him out, bleaching the hallway, convinced that the smell would be too intense for him to stay.  I thought of the mad dashes outside in the middle of conversations at just a wiff of smoke.  I thought of all these things, then broke eye contact and ran away, slamming Kris' door behind me.  It would have put some of Carrie Bradshaw's antics to shame.

And, true to form, I left Kris a note, explaining what had happened and apologizing for my lack of filling his shoes.

Confrontational situations: 2
Confrontations: 0

I don't know whether to label this as a win or a fail.  So, I'm also not going to confront that, and label this one a wail... or a fin... or a whale fin.  Yeah, that's it.  A whale fin.

May your day consist of whole creatures and not just their appendages.

<3,
Anne

Vacation: Surat Thani (Khao Sok National Park)

A long time ago, while flying through the air, I picked up one of those airplane magazines, which showed all the expensive luxurious places I would never get to go in my life.  One of those places was a treehouse hotel in the middle of some jungle somewhere.  Well, when I realized that I was planning my vacation to a place filled with jungles, I looked into it, and sure enough, there were plenty of treehouse hotels!  Thrilled, I booked my stay at Our Jungle House (click the title), mostly because of their awesome activities list.  I'm so glad that's the one I picked.  This is why:

The view from my first room.

Some of the staff

I went on a "Night Safari."  The key phrase was: "Don't touch that!  Full of poison!!"  This snake will kill you in 30 minutes if it bites you.

Little tarantula.  Although, when my guide said it, it sounded like, "little Dracula."

The lowli moves slowly!  I'm pretty sure he's a type of sloth.

I went on a an intense hike to find the Rafflesia flower, which I'm told is the largest flower in the world.  It only blooms for a couple of days, so most of them were dead when we got there.

This one would be open within the next couple of days (so right about now).

The view from the top of the mountain.

Our Jungle House was GREAT, and I'd definitely recommend staying there.  The place was incredibly family-friendly.  In fact, when I left, I felt like I was leaving home.  Bodhi, his family, and his staff made the stay wonderful, offering activities and food to tempt any traveller.  I meant to write so much about this part of my trip, but it's hard to find words to accurately describe the warm place in my heart I have for Thailand, specifically because of my stay at this hotel (If you can really call it that).  So, I hope my pictures do it justice, and I hope you take the leap and just go ahead and stay there - you won't regret it.

So, yes, all in all, I'd definitely say vacation was a win (and a much needed break from the cold).  Hope y'all are doing well!  I'm off to get coffee with a friend, so I'll upload the rest of my pictures to Facebook later. :)