Teacher Outing: CATS

With the end of the semester finally here, the Doam teachers headed to Seoul to see CATS the musical. My co-teacher SK kept telling me that she heard it was going to be the Original Broadway version, and I didn't realize that meant the musical would be in English. That discovery when the lights went down, the music started, and the first words were sung was so nice.

Having never seen, knowingly heard any of the music from, or read anything pertaining to Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS, I have never liked CATS. I have never gotten a good vibe from it. I would see stills of the Broadway actors in costume and I would quite consciously screw my nose up. Even pop culture references, such as on Modern Family, couldn't convince me to want to see it. But I was very happy to have the experience in Korea, with Korean actors and surrounded by a Korean audience. 

Musée d'Orsay, Seoul

When Anne mentioned that she wanted to see the impressionist paintings that were visiting from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, my memories flashed back to walking around in the Tuileries Garden and seeing Monet's "Water Lilies" for the first time. That was such a happy day - sunshine, good company, and beautiful artwork. Turns out I was remembering the Musée de l'Orangerie, but the Musée d'Orsay is on the opposite side of the Tuileries Garden, housing impressionist and post-impressionist work in the marvelously restored train station. That day, our super-intense-awesome tour guide Joelle led us through the museum. Equally happy day.

Joelle and the Louvre, Me and Candice with a lightpost

sprouting from our combined awesomeness

Anyway, the timing didn't work out for a couple of weeks, but we finally made it to the National Museum of Korea, where the impressionist paintings from France would be and will be displayed until August 31st. The exaggerated, poppy flower-lined stairway from the subway station to the museum prefaced the atmosphere up at the museum. Korea has this wonderful way of making everything delightfully comfortable. From convenience store straws for one's milk to the fancy coffee machines at most places of business to the lovely, motivational stationary, there is an overall feeling of ease and gentle thoughtfulness in Korea. 

Thank You, Bus Drivers

The bus drivers here in Korea are cool, fearless, sometimes easily irritable, lay-on-the-horn type, and have a "I'm bigger than you" mentaility when driving. One of the city bus drivers I see more regularly has shocking white hair, wears aviators, and changes gears like he's flying a fighter jet. 

Red lights are optional and the bus drivers are, if possible, more anxious and impatient than the riders themselves to get where they need to go. Express buses to Seoul from my city, where seats are reserved (see below for online-iPhone reservation how to), leave the second the scheduled departure time rolls by. Leaving from Seoul, there's a great stand-by system that let people pay for seats of people who miscalculated their timing and don't get to the bus on time. When arrived at the destination, the express bus drivers stand outside the bus door and bow as each of us passengers get off. 

On the longer trips I've taken (to Busan and Seoraksan National Park), the bus driver has had a set of indoor driving shoes, driving gloves, and a suit and tie hanging behind his seat, you know, just in case. The level of professionalism and pride of ownership - I drive this bus - is so right. I've noticed in other places - taxis and public places like bathrooms and elevators - head shots of those in charge (the drivers, cleaners, operators and maintenance workers). It seems like a good system to me, one that says, "Hey, I'm here working and making life that much nicer for you." 

Trick Eye & Ice Museum

I went to the Trick Eye Museum, and by extension the Ice Museum, with Anne and Rebecca a few weeks back. Located in young and hip Hongdae area, the days were still quite cold and the winter drear was at a maximum for me. The Trick Eye Museum mashed together great scenery with the joys of taking and looking at pictures of ourselves, and the visit gave me some much needed "Vitamin D." I was carefree and high on art, though I was still plenty awkward as I tried to coordinate my body into a good pose for each scene.

Day 6 & 7: Badger Blogging Blitz

[Badger Blogging Blitz (BBB) 2014: Ashley ...meanwhile in Korea..., Vicky Outside the Pyxis, Maggie The Traveling Flamingo, Drew The Hungry Partier, Rebecca Rebe with a Clause]

Today is Sunday, March 30th. The weather today is sunny with a high of 68, low of 45 degrees fahrenheit. Saturday's weather was rainy, drizzling on and off all day in Seoul (high of 63, low of 48).

Saturday Daily Recap
Get in my belly, weekend. Dentist appointment in Seoul and first meal at Lotteria, Korea's version of McDonald's in case you don't want to go McDonald's. Shopping, soju, beer, and Vietnamese food with Anne and Rebecca on the "Avenue of Youth" in the Jonggak area; it was SO good to hang out with them.

7:13AM: I give up trying to sleep in until 8:00, when my alarm is set for. What can I say, my body is finely-tuned machine with the internal clock of a punctual polar bear. I listen to NPR's hourly newscast in bed and then I don't even know what -- pretty soon it's already 8:30 and I quickly shower, make coffee, take my calcium supplement, and race out the door to catch the Dongbu Express bus to Seoul for my dentist appointment.

Catnaps in Korea

"Asian ability to sleep anywhere."

When I read this on one of my favorite travel blogs, I laughed out loud. Yeah, it's a pretty accurate description. Since living in an Asian country, I wonder just how this stereotype has been overlooked. There's some comedy gold where this goes.

It's not simply people sleeping on the soft grass in the park. It's not people napping on the lounge furniture at the spa. And it's not people snoring on buses or subway. It's the people zonked out on the tile floor of a busy cafeteria at the jjimjibang. The people asleep on a concrete wall in the middle of downtown Seoul. Those are the people that make sleeping anywhere an ability, a skill.

"Abby always falls asleep the
second we step onto the RER or metro"

I don't mean to brag, buuuut I've always been pretty amazing at sleeping. My bus ride home takes roughly 20 minutes, the perfect amount of time to be intellectually productive (read or listen to an educational podcast). Alas, how the story usually goes, I sleep. The bus makes an apparent left turn immediately before my stop. I've never missed it. Skill.

When I was about eight or nine, I was at a concert with my dad. I forget the particular piece that he was sure would "wake me up," but he did assure me it would. In the middle of the upbeat "crashing cymbals" and "banging drums" I closed my eyes and never looked back.

Fighting Bob Fest 2009. Freezing cold, rock hard bleachers. Squeezed in between my mom and dad, I had one of the best corn dogs and one of the best sleeps of my life.

These catnaps make life worth living. What is life without good, deep naps I ask you? Lesson learned and appreciated, Korea. Your move again.

Last Day of School FOOD & NANTA

I admit, I anticipated food. Last day, I figured. No way there wouldn't be food. I planned accordingly (a dangerous habit in Korea) by eating a lighter breakfast. And by golly, I'm getting good at living in Korea, because I was greeted in the hallway by one of my favorite fifth graders handing out homemade chocolates. After the graduation ceremony, I was given the usual bag of rice cakes plus a prettily wrapped, fancy rice cake topped with soybeans and other tasty savories.

Bag-of-rice-cakes (뜩 ddeok) is the norm here. I've received countless and still struggle to finish the contents. I like ddeok fine, but they're like the elvish waybread in the "Lord of the Rings" to me -- and I'm sadly not a hobbit in this scenario. They are incredibly dense and filling; Koreans pop them down like saltine crackers.

For lunch, we teachers headed to a restaurant that serves the Korean ground mudfish soup (추아탕 chuatang). The fourth grade teacher raved about the soup on the ride to the restaurant, but he was aware that American taste buds might not appreciate the flavor. No need to worry, it was a fantastic lunch -- I didn't think it tasted all that fishy; it just tasted good.

My relationship with soup has grown into a full-blown love affair. Thank you, Korea. Served boiling hot in an earthenware bowl, I added garlic, green onions, and permilla seeds to my taste. Noodles and/or rice were also added and the slurping and sniffling noses soon followed. Utter perfection with two different varieties of kimchi, raw onions soaked in sauce, and pork cutlet available in between spoonfuls of soup, I was told I am very pretty at eating. Why thanks!

Teacher outing number three, next we headed in our coach bus to Seoul for the "Cookin Nanta" show in Myeongdong. The coach buses are well decorated and the drivers always very professional. Olympic speed skating and a small cat nap later, we arrived at Myeongdong, shopping dreamland. We had some time to kill before the show, so I hit the shopping streets with a group of teachers. I'm not at all shopping compatible with Koreans. They shop like they eat school lunch: quickly. I like to take my time and to feel the different fabrics and materials. No, no. But I did manage to buy two shirts, which all the teachers were excited to know.

I went to Nanta with Steph and Alex when they visited and it was fun. But going with the Doam teachers was an absolute hoot. We had great seats - second row from the stage, which meant that a lot of the teachers were pulled up onto stage during the performance - SO FUNNY. And they just ate up the humor, making Nanta round two really awesome. I think part of it was the English. Nanta is a nonverbal comedy percussion act, but when they do use "real" words, it's English. At one point in the show, the nephew carries in a take box of chicken - "take-out" written in big letters on the box. The teacher sitting next to me, who doesn't ever speak to me, sounded the words out, out loud. The language aspect of the show was something I didn't factor in the first time; it's like me being thrilled I can say, "만두 주세요." I'm planning on writing a full-review of the Nanta show coming soon.

Another bag of rice cakes and little oranges on the bus ride home: FOOD.

Happy White Chocolate Robot

Korean Performances

I was incredibly excited to see my second Korean musical, December: The Unfinished Song, which happened to star one of K-pop's biggest stars, Kim Jun Su! I was sudo-fan girling, because I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about k-pop, but that boy can move his hips haha. My friend has been following his career very closely and was completely freaking out with the rest of the Korean peninsula when he appeared on stage. It was such a fun day.

The musical was good... I was pretty confused the entire time, though my friend and I pieced together the basic narrative afterwards. It wasn't just that it was all in Korean but that it was a crazy, Korean narrative, compete with flashbacks, flashforwards, and imagined memories - every angle was explored. It was a love story; there were these great outdoor balcony scenes (essential in any good love story) and scenes of school life, working in the office, street riots, drinking soju into the wee hours of the morning, and this fantastic army scene.

One of my favorite parts of the musical, three soldiers are goofing off as they patrol a fenced area. One of them moves forward as the other two lag behind, still laughing and joking. The first soldier calls back to the two jokesters, his tone different. I've seen The Hurt Locker enough times to prepare myself, but his shouts as his clueless friend carelessly treads forward coupled with the immediate explosion created a riveting, emotional moment. The special effects were amazing, the timing of the sounds and lighting spot on. And from the pitch black stage, a spot light appears as one of the soldiers, standing center stage, belts out this song that ends with this incredible high note. His voice fades as he falls backwards, the spot light stripping the stage of light seconds before he hits the ground. It was well done.

My experiences thus far in Korean theater is that it fittingly uses a lot of technology - video and artificial sound are prominent. Koreans love their screens, and the fact that the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts' theater seats are outfitted with small TV screens just reiterates that. Used throughout the December performance as year markers (that's how we figured all the time changes), the screens would flash on and off throughout the three-hour performance. I'm not sure I liked it, but it was an interesting aspect of the show.

On stage, too, video was projected, showing the silhouettes of the lovers dissolving into flying birds and so on. The first musical I saw in Korea, The Hunchback of Notre Dame: The Musical, was supported by a computerized orchestra and the Cookin' Nanta show I went to, though excellent, disappointed me a smidge with the overwhelming use of electronic medleys when they were drumming.

It's all so Korean -- I love it, truly. The flashiness, over-stimulation, and utilization of technology speaks to the earnestness and perfection that define Korean work ethic. And it makes for performances are that uniquely different from any I've ever seen before. There is a style and knack, or art, for putting on a show that I absolutely respect and continuously crave to see more of.

Birthday Suits Me

I could not (and would not) have a planned a more poetic way to spend my 25th birthday but in my birthday suit at a jjimjibang, or Korean-style spa. There was something quite liberating about it -- somewhere between bath time with my sister when we were kids and skinny-dipping at the lake with friends. 

Jjimjibangs are public bath houses where yes, you strip down to the nude and enjoy the hot-water baths, cold-water baths, saunas, massages, body scrubs, and more. Open 24 hours, it's a great cheap alternative to a hotel or hostel, costing around 12,000won (less than $12) for an overnight stay. Leaving your shoes behind in the shoe lockers, you get a wrist-band key for a locker that also acts as a credit card of sorts inside the facility, a pair of pajamas, and two hand towels. The changing rooms and public bath area is gender specific and at Dragon Hill Spa, one of the famed jjimjibangs in Seoul, the entrances are in separate areas of the building (to avoid a terrible, terrible mix up).

stack o' pajamas

I had brought my swim suit I suppose with the intention of wearing it. Even the threat of an ahhgumma yelling at me for not being naked didn't phase me. But once I got into the environment, I was just like, whatever. When in a jjimjibang, it's not weird. Dragon Hill had around six different hot tub pools, all held at different temperatures and some with massaging jets, two saunas, and the body scrubs I had heard about in America. Scrubbed pink with my dead skin all around me, my skin has never been softer (except perhaps on my actual birth-day).

After the baths, we got dressed in our pajamas and headed to the main area, where we could hang out with our guy friends. Jjimjibangs are a culture of their own -- complete with snack stands, small shops, yoga classes, an arcade, a fitness center, an outdoor heated pool, and a floor labelled on the elevator as "horse riding." I'm not sure if that was a "bad" translation, if there were actual horses on that floor, or if "horse riding" is something else (I have a feeling I'm missing a joke here haha).

The designated sleeping areas at Dragon Hill were all three: "women only," "men only," and co-ed. Bringing a small pillow (NECK PILLOW YAY!) is encouraged, and if you're lucky, you can snag a sleeping mat and/or blanket. One of my friends and I chose a co-ed sleeping room because it was a bit more airy than the others we had scoped out. We grabbed a spot on the heated floor and said our good nights. Probably one of the strangest experiences I've had yet in Korea was waking up next to a Korean man. Good times, good times lol.

That was the end of my birthday night. We started out with tacos & makgeolitas!

Me & Ashley
with our makgeolitas & beanies!

I had been craving so called "urban tacos" since my first visit to Itaewon in October, so for my birthday, we hit up the cool Vatos Tacos, Sinsa location. Great atmosphere, great staff, and great food fusions, including kimchi fries, galbi & baja fish tacos, nutella nachos, and the ever important makgeolita -- a mix between the popular, fermented, and alcoholic Korean rice drink called makgeolli 막걸리 and a margarita -- mango (delicious) was the flavor I got; I was very happy about it. And for ordering the makgeolitas, free beanies!!! 

Birthday shopping, birthday tacos, birthday alcohol, birthday GIANT barrel of beer, birthday fruit platter, birthday body scrub, and birthday waking up next to a Korean man. Perfect 25th birthday!!

Relaxing Weekend in Seoul

Hot Americano so fine

This weekend turned out to be very nice. A few of us decided to stay overnight in Seoul at a hostel, and there was shopping, sushi, Issac Toast, slow-drip coffee, and a phenomenal french toast breakfast (second breakfast if we're getting technical). The hostel stay was superb. I've never stayed at a hostel before but this one - Backpackers Inside - was really something comfortable. Great atmosphere, cool staff (cool like I wanted to be friends with the guy), an amazingly soft bed, and an amazingly comfy comforter. It was perfect.

I think what I enjoyed most was taking it easy with other people. It's one thing to crash at my apartment by myself but therapeutic to do the same with friends. The hostel has this main room with a couch and other seating -- probably one of my favorite moments from the weekend was chilling in there for about an hour. Light guitar playing, talking about students and school, and I flipped through one of the guestbooks, which had messages and drawings from the hostel's worldly occupants. That was neat to look through.

Sunday morning, we grabbed some breakfast from the conveniently located (ten steps from the hostel) Issac Toast stand. I got a ham-cheese Issac Toast, which is basically a ham and cheese egg sandwich. Everything is processed - white bread, fake cheese, spam-ham - but mouthwatering good. About halfway through, I discovered corn had been mixed in with the egg. Keeping me on my toes, Korea.

Second breakfast happened because we had planned on eating at the french toast place (250° Celsius) the night before but it wasn't open when we had wanted (needed) to eat. We were chatting outside the doors when it opened for the day. Two of our group departed for the Rail Bike and three of us stayed behind, sipped on tea, and fangirled over the fancy china tea cups and good music selection. I split the french toast platter, which came with bananas, whipped cream, sausage, salad, and homemade yogurt. Delish.

Anne & Rebecca with fancy tea 

Haven't had good bread
for a while -- amazing

Pushy Seoul

A group of people from my program have been taking Korean language classes in Seoul for five weeks now. They invited me along this past Saturday and with the class costing 1,000 won (less than a dollar) per class, I'm planning on a weekly trip to Seoul -- which is fine by me. I like Seoul; in a city of ten million, there's millions of things to see and do. And there are millions of people to gawk at.

There is also something neat about the fact that I was born in Seoul. It's one of those odd feelings that I can only describe as romantic. It's poetic but more straight cut than poetry. It doesn't feel like "I've come to the mothership" or anything like that. It's simply Seoul, the city and culture I was born into. 

After class, a few of us decided to go to the big fireworks show right outside the Yeouido subway station. With themed segements representing different countries - France and Cananda being two of them - the fireworks supposedly lasted for over an hour. My favorite part was the festival food. There were whole chickens rotisserie-style for 6,000 won, fried everything, and corn on the cob that tasted like the kernels were infused with rice. Rice is a main dish in Korea, but I don't know how they did that to the corn. Once the fireworks started, I really enjoyed watching the general reaction. It was as if the Koreans had never seen fireworks before. I mean, there were kids rightfully freaking out (one boy sitting on his dad's shoulders was pounding his little fists on his dad's head over and over in his excitement). But there were adults talking quickly in Korean with intermitant booming, imitating the fireworks. It was adorable. 

That being said, THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE. As one is in a different country, I'm glad I went. But I may just avoid major events like that in Seoul ever again. Or just make plans to spend the night and wait out the crowd. Walking into the festival grounds was an experience because the sheer number of people really got to me. Got to me in the sense that wow, there are a shit ton of people in this world, and I'm walking with ALL of them. It was like we were folllowing Moses into the promised land. Everyone heading for the same place. But getting home was a nightmare. We thought we would be fine leaving after the first segment of fireworks. And it might have been okay had the subway traffic been more organized and less pushy. 

I'm not sure if Seoul thought this fireworks festival was going to draw far less people than it did, but there needed to be a team of police dedicated to subway traffic control. It honestly would have been as simple as having a police "bouncer" outside the subway entrance to regulate the number of people going into the station. But they didn't and it was literally a suffocating experience. It took over a hour to get through a space that normally would have taken a few minutes. It wasn't the time that made me so angry but the pushing. We got down there, and there was no turning around. Koreans just shoving us into the crowd. It was completely unnecessary and excalated the situation into a trampling news-like story. There were families with really young kids that I was genuinely scared for. The kids were just wailing because it was so hot and they were getting pushed into -- it was not okay.

It changed my perspective a little bit about Koreans as a people. They are reasonable and polite; however, that experience was stupid. It made me recognize the selfishness and desperation that resides in all people when trying to catch a late night subway.  

I was trying to imagine if this would've happened in Paris or NYC, the other two cities I've been to with subways. It could most definitely. But would people push and shove like that? I can only hope not. 

First Trip to Seoul

Figuring out the bus from Icheon to Seoul was probably the most frustrating experience I've had so far. It was the most frustrating because I let myself get angry at the language barrier. The Icheon Bus Terminal is completely in Korean. The "English" website for the Terminal is most useless. The English help line was asking for my reservation number and when I said I just needed to buy a ticket, the girl said, "Oh. Sorry." Hang up. The tellers don't speak English and I was counting on friendly Koreans to help me. But as my friend from my program later pointed out, not everyone had the day off and a lot of people were probably heading to work and in a less helpful mood.

But there was this one girl. In her twenties. Pink sweater and looking like she might speak English. I'm like, "Oh yeah, she's the one to save the day." I could not have been any more wrong. She was SO rude. I just wanted to rip that pink sweater to pieces. It was a Scarlet O'Hara moment if I've ever had one. 

One eye-opening fb convo with the previous native English teacher later, I realized that all I needed to do was take any bus to Seoul; then, the subway would take me where I needed to go (duh). I'd been focusing too much on the specifics. So, I bought a ticket and honestly didn't know if I got on the right bus. But I did. And then I hiked up a mountain. It was a fantastic day. Subway love.