Peppero Day

On November 11th while America was honoring the sacrifice of our soldiers on Veterans' Day, Korea was celebrating Peppero Day. Peppero is a long stick biscuit cookie dipped in chocolate with just a little bit left at the bottom for you to hold onto it without chocolate melting in your hand. Simple yet ingenious. Not to mention delicious. What's even more ingenious is the marketing brain who invented a holiday just to sell their product.

On November 11th one is supposed to give a loved one or friend peppero. Kind of like Valentine's Day with out the mushy gushy love stuff. I get more peppero from my students on on Nov. 11th than I consume in the entire rest of the year. You should see the peppero displays they have in the stores. Balloons, ribbons, stuffed animals. Peppero boxes glued together to form giant hearts. In hindsight I wish I had taken photos of them. There's peppero of every size and flavor- classic chocolate covered or strawberry and vanilla covered. There's peppero sprinkled with almonds (my personal favorite). There's big thick peppero that's a foot long or there's classic peppero which looks like a preztel stick and is only 6 inches long.

Honestly, the next peppero marketing genious will start importing it to the States. I think it would be a hit. As I sit here enjoying my peppero I wonder...what's keeping them?

Change is in the air

I hate fall. At least I used to. Until this year. For me, fall has always represented the end of summer. In September, summer dies a cold, melancholy death as winter begins to establish its chilling foothold across the land, and I HATE the cold. Having grown up under the hot and humid Virginia sun, I've developed an immunity to the heat. I don't sweat any less than anyone else, I'm just used to it and I don't mind it as much. On the other hand, having grown up under the hot and humid Virginia sun, I don't like being cold. I also hate all the layers of clothes I have to lug around to keep myself warm. In winter, getting dressed is a long chore. In summer, I throw on a T-shirt and some shorts and I'm out the door.
This year it has been different however. I've actually embraced fall this year. Even welcomed it. Maybe I'm tired of sweating on the way to work. Maybe I had a great summer and I took advantage of it so I can fondly say adieu to summer for six months. On the other hand, it might also just be that I think I look stocky and horrible in shorts and I really looked forward to wearing my nice fall jackets. Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying the change.

The mountain I gaze longingly at out my office window at work is now in peak fall color. The air is crisp and clean, but not yet cold. I can wear my jackets and actually be pleased with the way I look. And, I can walk to work without needing to take a shower once I arrive. I'm also trying to take advantage of the nice weather instead of lamenting that it's cold now.

I had a fantastic time with my two good friends Melissa and Eun Sang over Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving. Melissa lived (sadly her contract has ended and returned home just this past weekend) in Gangneung, a coastal town in eastern Korea. I had a five day holiday for Chuseok so Eun Sang and I traveled there to visit. We heaved and we panted and we trudged our way up Oseak Mountain to Daebong Peak- the third highest in South Korea. For our three hours of hard labor we were rewarded with a stunning view of the surrounding mountains to the west, and the shimmering sea to the east. Plus the fact that we had completed the hike an hour quicker than Melissa's coworker. We're not competitive though. It took about the same amount of time to climb down the mountain as it did to climb up it, and for that, we relaxed in the spa at the base of the trail head.

We drank some of the carbonic acid that flows naturally from a spring in the mountain. The naturally carbonated water settles the stomach quite nicely. In the sauna there is a carbonic acid pool where one can soak. It smells like rust and has the same orange tint as rust. And, oddly, even though it was physically room temperature, the acid made it feel like it was freezing. After ten minutes in the pool my skin began to itch and once I got out, if felt like my skin was boiling. All this is completely normal, apparently. Good thing I had Eun Sang there to read me the sign in Korean that said that.

This coming weekend I will be hosting my two best friends, Mary & Stacy, to dip some caramel apples. It took me over a year to get them to finally visit me up here in Davegoggae, as they lovingly refer to my neighborhood which lies in the far northern reaches of Seoul. (I'm only a few stops from the end of the subway, which finishes with Dangoggae.)
Maybe I'm maturing. Or maybe it's because I realize that this could very well be my last year in Korea and wistfulness has already set in. But I'm determined that from now on, I'm going to enjoy everyday for what it is. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Beach at Gangneung

Me and Eun Sang...swirling lights of a colorful fountain behind us.

My Little Getaway

"What a fabulous day!" I thought as I laced up my hiking boots and walked out my door and onto the busy city street. "It's warm, not a cloud in the sky, and I got off work at 1:00. Life is good!"

I took off up the road outside my apartment, briskly walking past the sites of a city in motion. The sound of construction work got louder and louder until the noise of pounding jackhammers shook my teeth and vibrated the ground beneath my feet like an earthquake's aftershock. Construction ajushis (older men) yelled angrily at each other. I couldn't understand them so I put my own words in their mouths. "You stupid idiot! You're supposed to hammer the other sidewalk, not this one! How can you be so dense." Other city scenes filled my senses as I sped ever upward toward my mountain sanctuary.

The wonderful smell of toasting waffles filled my nostrils as I passed the waffle ajuma (older woman). This aroma, however, was quickly overpowered by the acrid smell of dead fish as I passed the fish monger next door. The dry cleaner donned nothing but a gray wife beater as he pressed his clothes, puffs of steam billowing up around him. I took note of the young man in a crane basket adjusting the phone wires above the street. Ajumas tending their convenience stores eyed me as I sped up the street and wound my way around the ajushis sitting in plastic chairs in the middle of the sidewalk outside these convenience stores. They loudly discussed matters of apparent great importance as they enjoyed their soju and squid flavored chips. "Prune juice! It does wonders! It's cut my toilet time down to only 15 minutes! I swear by it!" "No, that's for Westerners. Ginseng is still the cure-all magic root."

Children ran free. Taxis honked their horns. The watermelon man sold his melons out of the bed of his truck parked next to the sidewalk. "Watermelons! 10,000 won!" Fellow hikers coming off the mountain raised their eyebrows as they passed by me, sniffing at my lack of equipment. "Sorry, but I don't need gloves, a metal pole, a mesh shirt and a backpack just to hike. Boots, shorts, a T-shirt and maybe a water bottle if I remember, but I prefer to travel light."

All this I passed as I quickly made my way up the gently sloping street. The sights and sounds of the city slowly faded away as I came to the entrance of Bukhan Mountain National Park, against which the city of Seoul rests. The sound of some rather chatty hikers filled my ears but even this quickly died away as I zipped past them. A minute later and I was finally off the pavement on the mountain trail. Onwards and upwards I climbed. And then...not the excitement of babbling humans but the relaxation of a babbling mountain stream. Not thundering jackhammers but singing birds. Not dead fish, but a fresh breeze across my face. Not steel and concrete buildings, but beautiful green trees and mountain flowers.

Then I stopped and glanced at my watch- 15 minutes since I had left home. I stood still and listened. I closed my eyes and absorbed the peaceful quiet around me. Not a trace of Seoul did I perceive. In this city of over 10 million souls, one of the most crowded on Earth, I had found my getaway.

4:15

Friday afternoon, 4:15

Half an hour till I could go home.

Half an hour till I could get out of the school and into the fresh air.

Half an hour till my weekend began.

Half an hour till I had freedom.

Half an hour till…ring!...ring!

“Day-bid, uhh…please go to third grade. Class 3-2.”

Damn! What did I do? “Okay…what do they want?”

“Uhh, uhh. Just go. Not…bad.”

I walked to class 3-2. I hope this is quick. I wanna go home. What could they possibly want? Class 3-3 teacher saw me coming down the hallway. A big smile on her face, she excitedly motioned me to come quickly as she slid the door open for me.

As I walked into the classroom I immediately recognized that I had just stepped into another one of those bizarre, yet unforgettable Korea moments.

“Ahh! Day-bid!!! Come come! Mani tisayo- eat eat!!”

Four female teachers in aprons kneeled on newspapers on the floor in the middle of the classroom, hovering over two portable gas grills, barbequing up some meat. The desks were pushed together and five or six other teachers sat at them. The table was covered with an impromptu Korean Barbeque feast: lettuce for wrapping the meat, red pepper paste for seasoning, rice, sesame leaves, garlic leaves, tangerines & coffee for dessert and, of course, that potent Korean liquor- soju. Liquor? In a school??

“Day-bid! Sit down! Here!” The school manager handed me a tiny paper cup and poured me a shot of soju. I respectfully turned my head and covered my mouth as I downed it in “one shot” and then returned the favor. Liquor in school? Sure, why not? Americans are too uptight anyway.

I then spent the next hour stuffing myself with the delicious samgyeopsal meat (essentially thick bacon meat) wrapped in various leaves- lettuce, sesame, komchi- and washing it down with soju. Not that I like soju. It actually tastes like rubbing alcohol, but, in Korean culture, if someone doesn’t have soju in front of him, you’re supposed to fill up his shot glass. And they always are supposed to return the favor. Seeing as how Korean men love to drink and they were not only my elders, but my bosses, I was filling a lot of shot glasses.

Having spent an hour enjoying the meal with my colleagues, I decided it was okay to excuse myself and go home. Luckily, I was able to cleverly keep my soju consumption to a minimum and I walked home with just the hint of a buzz. Enough to make me smile at the generosity and kindness of Koreans, as well as the bizarre situations we sometimes walk into.

Taipei Part II

For the international relationist in me, Taiwan is fascinating. As I said before, Chiang Kai-Shek and his Nationalist forces fled here after loosing the Chinese civil war to Mao Tse-tung and the Communists. It was here that Chiang set up the Republic of China (ROC). It was Taipei that held China's seat on the UN Security Council until 1971. In that year the United Nations recognized Beijing and the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate government of China and kicked Taiwan out of the UN, awarding the powerful permanent seat on the Security Council to the PRC and designating Taiwan as an autonomous region of the PRC. The United States did not switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing until 1979.

Despite being wholly autonomous from Beijing (Taiwan has its own embassies, government, passport, etc.) it is China's top priority to eventually return Taiwan to PRC sovereignty. Thus, China has threatened invasion of Taiwan should it ever formally declare independence. For its part, the United States has told Taiwan not do anything as foolish as to piss off China. Although Taiwan is protected by America's implicit threat to defend it in the event of a Chinese attack, the US has no desire make good on that threat. America's relations with China are far more important than that of Taiwan. Likewise, China has decided that it will bide its time in regaining Taiwan. It depends far too much on the American economic market than to risk war.

In the meantime Taiwan sits in limbo: neither able to declare its independence and gain official recognition on the international stage, yet unwilling to return itself to Chinese sovereignty. Thus Taiwan has settled for the status quo, which includes vying with Beijing for countries' recognition of their government as the legitimate government of China. Currently 23 countries recognize the ROC over the PRC, including the Vatican.

My friend Grant is a career soldier in the Taiwanese military. I asked him what his position on his country's situation was and he said that as long as China remained undemocratic he hoped Taiwan would maintain its independence. Although, it seems that reunification with China is probably an inevitability. The "One-China" policy is the single issue about which China cares the most. It has used its influence and sway to punish countries that do not hold to that policy. The more powerful China grows, the less willing countries will to raise their voices in Taiwan's defense. And, I must say, I don't want my own country going to war over Taiwan, as terrible as a Chinese takeover of the island would be.

I thought of this the three days I was in Taiwan. As I pushed through the hundreds of worshipers at Longshan Temple. As I stood on top of the world's highest building and looked down on Taipei. As I sat behind Grant on his scooter and we zoomed in and out of Taipei's traffic one warm evening. As we ate fried chicken on the Danshui waterfront and people watched I wondered, what would change if this were now "China" and not just "Taiwan"? Hopefully nothing. Afterall, Hong Kong seems to have fared well since being returned to China. Still, freedom is not something that you can touch. But it is something that you can feel. And the knowledge that that my friend's freedom lies so precariously in the balance made me appreciate mine all the more.

The main gate to Longshan Temple. The dragon at the top of this post is one of the many elaborate statues that can be found on its roof.

The scooter is to Taipei as the bicycle is to Beijing.

Above is the National Palace Museum. Unfortunately I was able to visit it for only about an hour. It is the world's greatest collection of Chinese art and spans 5,000 years. Chiang Kai-shek took the imperial treasures from the Forbidden City and carted them across mainland China during the Chinese Civil War before finally evacuating them to Taiwan. A good thing he did too. Otherwise they probably would have never survived Mao's Cultural Revolution when he destroyed all things relating to the old era. Thus, China's greatest treasures are not even in China. It is said that through all its movement, not one item in the 600,000 piece collection was broken. The museum is located at the base of a mountain. It is inside the belly of this mountain that the collection will be protected, should China ever attack.

The bridge at Danshui, a quaint seaside town 45 minutes outside of Taipei.

Taipei

“Ouch! Ok! I get it: I need more sleep!” The misuse painfully prodded my right big toe. The pain I felt apparently told him I wasn’t getting my 8 hours. The problem was he had already demonstrated this on my left toe. This was Taipei , Taiwan , and I had escaped Korea for the four day weekend in order to get away from all my stresses and just relax. This foot massage was not the relaxing, tension reducing experience I had imagined. It hurt. And it tickled enough to make it uncomfortable. It was all I could do to keep from wrenching my foot out of the misuse’s hands.

“He says to relax,” my friend Grant informed me. He was getting his first foot massage too in the chair next to me.

“I…am...trying,” I said through clenched teeth.

Forty minutes later I was relieved to have the massage end. Nevertheless, despite the discomfort, it worked. My feet felt relaxed and the pain from walking around all day was gone. I won’t say that it was pleasurable, but it did do the job.

The Chinese are famous for their belief that foot massages can help heal the rest of the body. Nerve endings from all parts of the body- organs and muscles, end in the foot. According to Chinese medicine, if one massages these endings it will have a positive effect on the rest of the body. I don’t know if it works, but a massage every once in awhile certainly never hurt anyone.

Two of Grant’s friends met up with us after the massage and we walked through one of the night markets that Taipei is famous for. This particular one is infamously named “Snake Alley”. The Chinese also believe in the good medicinal effects of eating snakes. The alley is filled with restaurants offering snake dishes. Cages of snakes lined the walkway, and a man with a white boa constrictor shouted out, trying to entice people into his restaurant. An elderly woman strung up a medium sized snake and butchered in front of the crowd, peeling off its skin and pulling out its guts. If she was trying to make snake look more appetizing, it wasn’t working.

I’m always up for new experiences and so the four of us chose a restaurant and pulled up some

chairs beside a shelf full of bottles of Chinese liquor and ordered two bowls of snake soup to share. It was pretty anti-climatic. The broth tasted like fish and the snake…you guessed it…tasted like chicken. Except chicken that you have to pick off of hundreds of small ribs, like when eating a whole fish.

“Oh! This is snake penis alcohol,” Grant excitedly told me, pulling a bottle off the shelf. “You’re joking.” “Nope. Snake. Penis. Alcohol.” He pointed out the three Chinese characters. I know what you’re thinking and yes, each bottle had its very own penis inside. And no, it just looked like a long piece of ragged meat preserved in formaldehyde. I would have never guessed what it was. But, thanks to Grant, that small piece of knowledge merely added to the experience.

I met Grant on Couchsurfing.com and he offered to house me and show me around his city. He’s just a year younger than me and we quickly became good friends over the three quick days I was in Taiwan . He showed me around this, the capital and largest city in Taiwan .

For years Taiwan was only famous for its dilapidated buildings, pollution, overpopulation, and being dirty. Chiang Kai-Shek and his Nationalist forces fled here after loosing the Chinese civil war to Mao Tse-tung and the Communists. It was never meant to be a permanent capital city as he planned on quickly returning to mainland China and reclaim for the Nationalist forces. Because of this, along with the fact that he despised the local Taiwanese, considering them inferior to mainlanders, he never bothered to upgrade or develop Taiwan for the almost 30 years he ruled the country with an iron fist. He was hardly more democratic than the Communists he “saved” the island from.

Fast forward to the 21^st century and Taiwan is quickly changing. Sure, a lot of the buildings are still dilapidated and dirty. And snake markets still make great tourist attractions, but ritzy shopping malls and other development are popping up all over the place. This Asian Tiger, like South Korea, has pulled itself up from the dregs of authoritarian rule and is finally coming of its own. The future remains uncertain. Beijing is hell bent on bringing Taiwan- a rogue region in their eyes- back into its fold. But until that day happens, Taiwan seems set on reinventing itself.

To be continued...

The Chaing Kai-shek Memorial. Inside they copied just a bit too much from the Lincoln Memorial.

Chaing Kai-shek Memorial

Chaing Kai-shek Memorial

Taipei 101

Taipei 101- a fantastic view from Grant's apartment

Korea strikes again!

Although I’ve been here two years, there is still this thing called “ Korea ” that occasionally occurs. Korea is said to have struck when something outrageous happens that would probably never happen back home. Having lived in this country for two years I’ve built up a healthy immunity to Korea . I don’t even notice things that would have been outlandish to me two years ago. Usually one must sit back in amusement and wonder and enjoy the show. This is exactly what I did yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday the faculty of my school was allowed to leave after lunch. It was a gorgeous spring afternoon. The sun was shining, the flowers are in full, vibrant bloom, and the air was warm. Being extremely tired because I don’t know how to go to bed on time, I decided that when I got home I would take a nap with my windows thrown open and the sun beaming in. And after that maybe I would go biking, or at least take a walk. But not so! Korea struck without warning...

Korea ’s first blow came in the seemingly benevolent form of a drop of water-falling on my face as I entered my apartment. Instinctively looking up I discovered water dripping from my ceiling. However, being a little too immune to Korea , I sopped up the small puddle at my feet and went about my business- doing the laundry and settling into my apartment. The racket of some kind of loud motorized machine that sounded like a pressure washer called to my attention that maybe dropping water from the ceiling is not something that one should ignore.

I went upstairs and informed my landlord and his wife. They are just like the stereotypical wealthy old couple one might find in Southern California or Miami. Skin that’s just a tad too tight for their age, spiffy, younger looking clothing, and for the Mrs., too much makeup and red lipstick. The landlord took a look at the water, which was coming through the light fixture, and disappeared.

The racket upstairs suddenly ceased and Landlord returned with a maintenance man. Back and forth they argued and discussed, examining the water.

“Well I didn’t do it!”

“Then where’d it come from?”

“You got me..”

“Is it coming from here…or here?”

“Let’s find out.”

Meanwhile, as the two men argued I continued my vacuuming. I had chores to do and I wanted to get them done before I took my nap. Besides, I couldn’t understand anything and they weren’t talking to me.

Maintenance Man grabbed my kitchen chair and stood on it wielding a blade. First he cut away the wallpaper on the ceiling (yeah- one of those things that no longer seems strange to me) and threw it on the floor. Then he cut a big square in the plaster. Dust and water fell onto his facing, and subsequently, onto my floor. The vacuum still in hand, I sighed in dismay yet also had to stifle the giggle that came as Maintenance Man spit and sputtered the plaster out of his mouth and rubbed his eyes. I’m not sure what he was expecting when he stuck his face immediately below the hole he was making in my ceiling.

After determining that this was not the source of the water he moved the chair to the entrance way, and began cutting yet another hole in my ceiling, throwing plaster everywhere. He stood directly under the light fixture, where the water had been coming from in the first place, and banged on the ceiling with his fist. CRASH!

I looked up to see Maintenance Man wincing and holding his head in pain. The light fixture had fallen from the ceiling and the only thing between it and the floor was his head. In addition to plaster and water, shards of glass now covered my floor. Maintenance Man’s temple began to ooze blood so I handed him some toilet paper- Korea’s all-use paper product.

After 30 more minutes of intense discussion and investigation Maintenance Man and Landlord seemed about finished wreaking havoc in my apartment. Water, plaster, glass, and bloody tissues were everywhere.

“Pee, pee! Do you have a pee?” The landlord asked me, waving his hand.

“Pee? Huh??”

Pee is the word for blood. I was totally confused, but, seeing as how there was a bleeding man standing in my apartment, this was not totally out of context.

“Uhhh, boom? Do you have a boom?”

“Oh! Broom!...no.”

Apparently the word for broom is bee, which sounds deceivingly like the word for blood. Hey, a new vocab word.

Landlord’s Wife dropped off a bee and dustpan. I started to clean up the mess, then thinking better of it, returned to hanging my laundry on the clothes rack. “Why should I clean this up? I didn’t do it.” My stubbornness paid off. Landlord’s Wife returned shortly with Cleaning Lady who dejectedly looked at her new project. On the outside I smiled sympathetically and said thank you. On the inside I thought "That's what you get for always scowling at me and never responding to my cheerful hellos."

Despite the chaos she had it cleaned up in a few quick minutes and was gone. Peace finally returned to my apartment I finished tidying my house. By that time my entire beautiful spring afternoon had been squandered and it was time for me to leave for an appointment. Finding my first pair of shoes soaked, I put on another. I snatched my bag and sunglasses and phone off my bed. As I walked out the door I laid down some neatly folded toilet paper and placed a sponge directly under the spot where the ceiling continued to drip…..drip…..drip....

You can see the water line in the corner. But this was a good chance to show you my map of Korea I made.

A rebirth, of sorts

Spring is finally in the air! Despite taking several ski trips this winter, and spending three weeks in the States, winter seemed extra long this year. Seeing as spring is a metaphor for new life, I have decided to give this blog a new life of its own. We'll see how long I can keep it up.

This weekend the cherry blossoms were in full bloom- a surefire sign that spring has arrived. I went to bask in their simple beauty this past weekend. I used to love the seeing the cherry blossoms in DC every spring, so I’m glad that it is one aspect of America I don’t have to miss. Of course, this being Seoul, everyone and their grandmother was out on the beautiful Easter Sunday that I decided to see the blossoms. But the sun was shining and the weather was warm- a nice respite from this year’s drawn out cold winter. It was nice to see the families gathered together on their blankets, children running around with balloons and grandparents playing catch with their grandchildren.

It made me think of my own family, which all had gathered together in Colorado for this year’s Easter celebration. Knowing such reunions are happening without me make me homesick, but I that’s the price I pay for living abroad.

My school sits at the tip top of a huge hill, nestled against Bukhansan- the mountain and national park that dominates Seoul ’s skyline to the north. Every morning I walk to school, huffing and puffing as I hike up the hill. Yesterday morning I took a rest for a minute and turned around- the hill I looked at in the distance was gorgeous. Covered with flowering trees, it was almost all pink and white. Why, after seven months of hiking that hill, had I never noticed that view before? Actually, I think I had, it’s just never been noteworthy before, as it’s seemed dead and brown for most of that time.

It has also been fun learning the names of the flowers in Korean with my students- kay-nari, jindalae, and but-goat are the three most important- forsythia, azalea, and cherry blossom.

My 27^th birthday passed by just as quietly as Easter did. My fellow teachers and I enjoyed a cake and strawberries together that were generously provided by a friend of mine, and American Easter candy from my mother which conveniently arrived in the mail that same day. That same friend later came over and we had dinner together. It was not the most exciting of birthdays, but what can one expect on a Tuesday night a

nyway?

There wer even some fire breathers there!