tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46765451218443014542024-02-20T09:02:43.668-08:00Love You Long TimeThe illustrated adventures of Sophie and Terry as they embark on their adventures teaching English in the Gangwon-do Province of South Korea and entering the US Navy.SophieandTerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06340098724854423380noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-60628815928428101042010-03-30T22:59:00.000-07:002010-03-30T23:16:56.129-07:00People of Korea... and otherwise.Hey guys. This week hasn't been very rich for lighthearted autobiographical material so instead here are some sketches. First and foremost: a drawing I did of my friend Hyun Ja, who is featured so much in these strips.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4475356547/" title="Hyun Ja by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4475356547_f1f1eac192_o.jpg" width="533" height="767" alt="Hyun Ja" /></a><br /><br />She looks pretty focused here but that's because she was trouble-shooting some computer problem when I was drawing her. Normally she is very animated. Anyway, I though some of you might like to see what one of my stick-figure people looks like in real life.<br /><br />I've also been doing a fun little side-project this past week drawing ridiculous hipsters off LATFH.com (it stands for "Look At his F*cking Hipster"). My <a href="http://dcisgoingtohell.com">webcomic</a> is set in Williamsburg, Brooklyn so I like to keep up to date with hipster fashion. It doesn't really pertain to this blog but maybe some of you will enjoy them:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4461936385/" title="Spiderhipster by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4461936385_20afbcfa41_m.jpg" width="240" height="169" alt="Spiderhipster" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4463843335/" title="riflehipster by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/4463843335_75681dcb34_m.jpg" width="169" height="240" alt="riflehipster" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4476129968/" title="gameboyhipster by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4476129968_3e2d5bbc66_m.jpg" width="167" height="240" alt="gameboyhipster" /></a><br /><br />Click for a larger view.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-53430625782195182232010-03-26T07:42:00.000-07:002010-03-26T09:48:38.296-07:00Principals with Principles: Some Puns are no Fun<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4463852175/" title="March26_2010EPIKAD by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/4463852175_3b36eb536c_o.jpg" width="562" height="812" alt="March26_2010EPIKAD" /></a><br /><br />I should probably add that "Dynamic Korea" was the catchphrase most frequently thrown about during our orientation by the organizers. I think it was meant to encapsulate the vibrant culture and rapid development of Korea but among the new teachers it quickly became a euphemism for everything illogical and confusing about our lives here. <br /><br />Example: "At orientation I was told I would be teaching grades 3 through 6 elementary but now I'm also teaching kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade as well. Dynamic Korea!"Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-11474273114711562142010-03-23T05:31:00.000-07:002010-03-23T05:37:11.080-07:00Happy Birthday to me.When better for some self-pitying autobiographical comics, then on my birthday? Enjoy! I know I did.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4457230796/" title="March22_2010_1 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4017/4457230796_6f7b8c63c4_o.jpg" width="560" height="839" alt="March22_2010_1" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4456452425/" title="March22_2010_2 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2773/4456452425_345857b672_o.jpg" width="565" height="823" alt="March22_2010_2" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4457230990/" title="March22_2010_3 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4457230990_2dab6aba5e_o.jpg" width="564" height="822" alt="March22_2010_3" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4457231082/" title="March22_2010_4 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4457231082_e41b5de9e1_o.jpg" width="562" height="826" alt="March22_2010_4" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4456452715/" title="March22_2010_5 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4456452715_cf3c629b41_o.jpg" width="562" height="827" alt="March22_2010_5" /></a>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-19833383864677253982010-03-20T08:35:00.000-07:002010-03-20T08:42:04.624-07:00Korean school kids.... and a anthropomorphic kimchi.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4448072872/" title="KoreaSketchbook1 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4448072872_0444afb7c7_o.jpg" width="531" height="777" alt="KoreaSketchbook1" /></a>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-59920839701650436762010-03-18T05:42:00.000-07:002010-03-18T05:53:51.974-07:00March 11th Hourlies, 2010More hourly comics for 2010. They were such a good drawing exercise before that I made myself do them again. Sorry for the bad quality of the scans. It's really hard to work with copy paper, I've found.<br /><br />Anyway, enjoy. Or suffer. Your choice.<br /><br />Notes: I somehow gave David Foster Wallace's initials as "DSW" instead of "DFW". And I mixed up am and pm several times. Argh.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4443171766/" title="March11_2010_1 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2793/4443171766_ca4afa298d_o.jpg" alt="March11_2010_1" height="839" width="555" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4443171860/" title="March11_2010_2 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2683/4443171860_f002c5f960_o.jpg" alt="March11_2010_2" height="839" width="563" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4443172018/" title="March11_2010_3 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4443172018_70820bb684_o.jpg" alt="March11_2010_3" height="839" width="566" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4442395183/" title="March11_2010_4 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2790/4442395183_56ee12cdb4_o.jpg" alt="March11_2010_4" height="839" width="560" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4442395253/" title="March11_2010_5 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2751/4442395253_ac801fe246_o.jpg" alt="March11_2010_5" height="839" width="564" /></a><br /><br />For more hourlies, check out my flickr set <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/sets/72157623231713059/">here.</a>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-50186702356077873062010-02-14T17:11:00.001-08:002010-02-14T17:20:04.329-08:00The Land of the Morning SunThere is something about long-distance air travel that I enjoy. I's practically axiomatic that planes are stressful, uncomfortable, and in a word, awful. My flight to Korea had all the hallmarks of such a flight- fourteen hours in the air, roughly 6,000,000,000 screaming babies, and someone in the seat behind me with some kind of epilepsy of the legs, as I deduced from the spastic and repeated drumming of knees and feet on the back of my chair, especially when I was trying to go to sleep.<br /><br />And yet, the trip was thoroughly enjoyable. I had the good luck to be sitting next to a large family all heading to Korea for the same reason as I was- to visit a loved one who works there- and they made for excellent company.<br /><br />On top of that, the views we saw crossing over the Arctic were completely mind-blowing. I woke up from fitful airplane-sleep to see a bright red sun rising over a desert horizon, and I looked down and saw a desolate landscape of endless ice, scored by deep canyons and cracks. It was like being on another planet. Going over Russian Siberia a few hours later offered a similar experience.<br /><br />On top of that, the in-flight movie was "The Incredibles." <br /><br />I arrived in South Korea at 4:30 Seoul time yesterday. To my internal clock, it was 2 in the morning, and despite that I've already had a pleasant walk around the arts district, which is full of self-consciously Western coffee shops and galleries, and through Ijtaewon, with it's packs of roving drunken GIs and it's infamour Hooker Hill.<br /><br />Weird Korean fact of the day: Korea as a country does not name it's roads. One navigates entirely by landmarks. This is probably a side-effect of the Korean city planning method which seemed to consist only of taking the medieval streets of Seoul and paving over the mud and chickens with a thick layer of asphalt and calling it a day. The neighborhood we are staying in is a labyrinth of small shops, countless traditional restaurants, and cheap hotels, mixed in with mysterious, walled compounds with the roofs of pagodas peeking up.Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08281955447376736352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-71136921291107580022010-02-07T18:44:00.000-08:002010-02-07T22:12:22.155-08:00Hourlies, 2010<div>Hey people, I did some hourlies for February 3, 4, and part of 5. To avoid confusion, I should clarify that currently school is currently not in session, so right now that involves a lot of desk warming. There, you have been briefed:<br /><br />((Edit: I posted a slightly larger easier-to-scan version of the comics on the Hourly Comics 2010 forum <a href="http://www.tencentticker.com/msgbrd/viewtopic.php?t=1515">here</a>. Go there if the following seems too small to you.))<br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Wednesday, February 3rd</strong></div><div><br /></div><div><a title="HourliesFeb3_2010_1 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4331636059/"><img width="344" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb3_2010_1" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4331636059_92d9b22b0b.jpg" /></a></div><div><a title="HourliesFeb3_2010_2 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4331636259/"><img width="344" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb3_2010_2" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2564/4331636259_b828ed606a.jpg" /></a></div><div><a title="HourliesFeb3_2010_3 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4332373812/"><img width="342" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb3_2010_3" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/4332373812_47d63fbea8.jpg" /></a></div><div><a title="HourliesFeb3_2010_4 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4331636385/"><img width="338" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb3_2010_4" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4331636385_831fa12697.jpg" /></a></div><div><a title="HourliesFeb3_2010_5 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4332373906/"><img width="500" height="267" alt="HourliesFeb3_2010_5" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4332373906_67187d4728.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Thursday, February 4th</strong></div><strong></strong><div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4331636487/" title="HourliesFeb4_2010_1 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4331636487_ed14513c6e.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb4_2010_1" /></a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4332374010/" title="HourliesFeb4_2010_2 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4332374010_1db2747cee.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb4_2010_2" /></a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4332374070/" title="HourliesFeb4_2010_3 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2766/4332374070_122fff8b7a.jpg" width="341" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb4_2010_3" /></a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4331636659/" title="HourliesFeb4_2010_4 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2792/4331636659_615be07071.jpg" width="346" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb4_2010_4" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Friday, February 5th</strong></div><strong></strong><div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4336222489/" title="HourliesFeb5_2010_1 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4336222489_1295031cb0.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb5_2010_1" /></a></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcisgoingtohell/4336968272/" title="HourliesFeb5_2010_2 by dcisgoingtohell, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2769/4336968272_0673cd3576.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="HourliesFeb5_2010_2" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I had a lot of fun working on these. Autobiographical comics have always made me nervous to it was good to jump into it full-throttle instead of the tentative attempts I've been making in my notebooks. Feedback, questions and general commentary is encouraged and appreciated!</div>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-6391489994099256722010-01-17T21:05:00.001-08:002010-01-27T17:59:15.244-08:00Taiwan Revisited, Part VII: ConclusionThe exciting (not really) conclusion to my Taiwan adventures. See the complete flickr set <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/sets/72157623055919477/?page=2">here</a>.<blockquote>1/9/10<br />Hi Angel,<br /><br />After a subway, a train and an aeroplane I am finally here in the Seoul International Airport, waiting for the second-to-last leg of my journey to begin (bus to Taebaek, then taxi to apt) and writing to my baby so far away.<br /><br />I've missed you so much these past few days. Wandering around a foreign city alone, contrary to whatever you may think, is not the cure for a lonely heart. I'm going to turn on my skype when I get home at night and I hope you'll call me when you wake-up tomorrow. I would very much like to hear your voice.<br /><br />Yesterday was pretty mild but enjoyable, and a solid conclusion to my trip. It was raining so I stayed in and watched Rounders, which is an excellent film about card sharks with Matt Damon and Edward Norton. Then, after we spoke, I took the scooter out and tried to find a mountain pathway that Simon had heard (second hand) was worth driving along. I didn't end up finding it, but I did wander into several sets of military guards with heavy weaponry. They had no idea where the road was either.<br /><br />After abandoning that ambition I tooted (scootered? puttered?) my way down to the Harbour, where I was to meet Simon to visit the tearoom at the old British Consulate. Despite getting horrendously lost (a constant feature of your Love's travels both at home and abroad) I got there about an hour early and spent that time contemplating the ocean (purdy) and taking short walks to warm my blood. The Consulate was a bit of a dissapointment, unfortunately. The "tearoom" the guidebok mentioned was merely an outdoor deck-style cafe with a counter and, unfortunately, a kareoke machine. Simon and I made it though some caterwauling while enjoying the tea luncheon, which they did have, in the tiered dish style for which I have such affection. It was a bit of a muted time because Simon's Grandfather had just passed away. He was failing all week and so Simon has been trying to wrangle an emergency trip home while trying to get constant updates from his parents. So, he wasn't exactly bubbling over with joy. Afterwards we went to a giant bizarre department store where we bought supplies for the Stenciling Party Simon had organized for my last evening. It was actually pretty fun. I met a bunch of Simon's friends plus saw some again that we'd hung out with over the week. I also made a tank-top that I'll take a picture of for you when I get home. <br /><br />By the way, I finally saw Avatar a couple nights ago, in 3D. I don't know if you saw it in 3D, I can only surmise from your mild review of it you did not, because I thought it was totally amazing. Aside from the obvious storyline, thinly veiled speechifying and occasional silliness I have to say, with absolute convinction, that is was perhaps the best movie-going experience of my entire life. And I mean that percisely--it was a movie which came to it's full potential on the big-screen, in 3D, and seemed absolutely suited to those elements. It was visual thrilling and stunning and if it was perhaps all spectacle it was one of the best spectacles I've ever seen. Baby, if you haven't seen it in 3D don't walk, RUN to a movie theatre and see it again.<br /><br />Yours,<br />S</blockquote>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-86577878179614796272010-01-17T20:53:00.001-08:002010-01-26T17:40:53.123-08:00Taiwan Revisited, Part V: Of fishing casinos and things...<div>This weekend I had several people crashing at my stylish abode for Taebaek's World Famous (not really) Snow Festival! It was quite fun and I took bunches of photos so those should be up soon-ish. Now, back to Taiwan....</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>1/6/10<div><br />Dear Terry,<br /><br />I got your note. It sounds like your pretty busy, poor angel. Barely enough time to hose off the meat particle spray before it's time to wake up and do it all over again. Just make sure you get lots of sleep baby. Those meat slicers are not for the unwary.<br /><br />Things here have continued to be interesting. Yesterday morning I was left to my own devices while Simon was at work and so I took my time showering and breakfasting only to find that when I tried to open the front door that I couldn't turn the key! I was locked inside. I used skype to call Simon's cellphone after about 1/2 hour of trying (culminating in ineffective kicking, shouting, and tears) and then he informed be that the key had to be EXTENDED before it would work in the lock. Who knew.<br /><br />After that debacle I made my way over to the art museum, which involved some backtracking and guessage. It was worth it though, the museum was excellent. I saw an interesting exhibit on indigenous-people inspired art (ie, the art was made by people descended from indigenous tribes but was not in itself indigenous). There was a series of photographs of Maori warriors showcasing their facial tattoos, which was cool. There was also a giant bull made out of tin cans, for some reason. It was anatomically correct... if you know what I mean.<br /><br />The other exhibit I really enjoyed was a collection of sculpture and photographs focusing on hands and communication. I thought it would be about sign language but that turned out to be only a small aspect of the show. Actually it was a bit of a hodge-podge with several pieces and photographs I recognize from artists who I know weren't specifically focused on hands in their work... but it was still interesting. My favorite piece was a large statue of a hand making the Buddha benediction sign covered in blue sequined fabric and titled "The Glove of Buddha". I got some sketching done and it was nice to do some non-Darwin work. I always find it reinvigorates my love of drawing to sketch at a museum... I don't know why I don't go more.<br /><br />Also at the museum was an exhibit on Pixar. That was awesome. There were a ton of movement studies, character design sketches, clay sculptures, environment color schemes and other stuff you wouldn't even THINK of. It's amazing how much work Pixar puts into each of their projects and seeing it all it's no wonder their movies come out as well as they do. I especially liked seeing the process of character design, and the sketch artists playing around with facial expressions and movement. Really impressive. My favorite pieces though were a series of x-rays of Toy Story characters (very clever) and this AMAZING zoetropic sculptural piece. </div><div><br /></div><div>Let me explain. </div><div><br /></div><div>A bunch of figurines of various ToyStory characters were arranged in concentric circles on a rotating platform. For example, one concentric circle was Woody bouncing up and down on a horse, with each figurine slightly different then the former and one whole rotation making up the motion. There was also Buzz Lightyear bouncing on a ball, the cute alien squeezy toys diving into a puddle and the army guys parachuting off a platform in the center. As I watched the whole thing started rotating fast until it was a blur and THEN then hit it with the strobe light and OMG--it was like watching animation. It was inconveivably cool, like having actual toys come to life before your eyes. And even more amazing, it was a sculpture, so that by moving your line of sight up and down you could actually see various angles on the figures which kind of blew my mind. I don't know if I can adequately convey how awesome it was. I couldn't take any pictures, sadly, but maybe there's a video of it somewhere.... here we go: </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4pDgwpVCz_Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4pDgwpVCz_Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /><br />The video quality is terrible but maybe you can get some idea of what I'm talking about. Here's another higher resolution video, but it doesn't show the still sculpture first so only look at it after you see the other one: </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nKPtmXK--bA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nKPtmXK--bA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Sign outside the Pixar exhibit:</b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261788951/" title="DSC_0728 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4261788951_3b68502f6b.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0728" /></a></span><br /><br />I finally made my way back to Simon's at about six. My back has been pretty sore and painful since snowboarding and I think I might have to visit a doctor when I get back if I'm not fully recovered by then, so I was moving kind of slow. Simon met me with a very shiny red helmet and a rented scooter and I got my first-ever scooter ride--it was completely terrifying. I thought biking in NYC felt unsafe but it has nothing on scootering in Kaosiung. The city is completely congested with motor traffic and there are so many scooters that they even have separate scooter lanes on the major roads.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Posing on the (unmoving) Scooter:</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262543332/" title="DSC_0736 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2697/4262543332_a1f4ce037f.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0736" /></a></span></b></div><div><br /></div><div> I spent the first 40 minutes of my scooter experience totally terrified. We took the scooter over to Simon's friend Dan's place, where he climbed on (three to a scooter is, let me tell you, very cozy) and then went to a rock climbing wall where we met up with Simon's current paramour--or at least the girl he's been seeing for the past two weeks. It actually wasn't very awkward, as I had been fearing. I didn't do much climbing, having a) a back problem and b) being grievously out of shape but I did play around with my camera some and got some scooter lessons in the parking lot from Dan. The climbing area itself was kind of neat. Apparently it had been constructed for the "World Games" (no clue) and now it's basically free to all comers except that you have to put in some change to get the lights up and running. It's huge and somewhat abandoned. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Some climbing shots:</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261797543/" title="DSC_0784 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4261797543_95bd23db4b.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0784" /></a></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261802533/" title="DSC_0793 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2734/4261802533_77e861de21.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0793" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261800557/" title="DSC_0791 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2735/4261800557_7cbc3e294b.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0791" /></a></span></span></div><div><br />After that I actually drove the scooter, with Dan on the back giving helpful directions and tips, over to our dinner location, which Simon had been keeping the details of from me for a surprise. It turned out to be, no shitting, a fishing casino. Basically a large dingy room with a dank pool in the center surrounded by chairs and balding men gripping cheap fishing poles and ringed by bingo machines and arcade games. The pool was, reputably, filled with shrimp but I can't confirm that since the water was so brown as to be impossible to see though and we never caught one. Luckily other food was sold so we didn't have to wait on the shrimp to eat. A really nice Taiwanese gent gave us his basket of seven shrimp though so we did get a taste. The shrimp were huge, about six inches long, and you cook them by dumping the (live) shrimp into a bucket of salt, shaking that up, and then placing the (live, twitching) shrimp onto a wire mesh sheet and sticking that over hot flames. They were pretty delicious. I also got to see a police raid, if you can call ten cops (one with a submachine gun) coming in and checking everyone's ID a raid. I would say the whole experience falls under the "pretty fucking foreign" category.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262562654/" title="DSC_0812 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4262562654_b690b13fd9.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0812" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262566380/" title="DSC_0822 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/4262566380_10c5314455.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0822" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262568892/" title="DSC_0840 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2760/4262568892_0b87b04731.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0840" /></a><br /></span></span><br />Today I'm visiting Simon's school. Dude, this place is TRICKED OUT. There is an actual restaurant room with tables and plastic food, a sports shop with clothes and a register, a frickin' AIRPLANE with actual airplane seats and a SECURITY STATION--all just for playacting English-speaking scenarios. It seems that this is some kind of special school where classes from schools all over the area come in twice a year. It's pretty bizarre, really. I sat in on one of Simon's classes and while he's an excellent teacher, very funny and animated, I have to say Taiwanese children are not nearly as well-behaved as Korean children. They were all over the place. I gave some suggestions to him that he seemed to find helpful, although he's taught so much longer then I have I felt it almost wasn't my place. It was good to see another English teacher in action though. I wish we'd gotten more of that in our initial training.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Simon's School:</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261826615/" title="DSC_0874 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4261826615_c682a56d57.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0874" /></a></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261827431/" title="DSC_0875 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2728/4261827431_b3610ca4ef.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0875" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262583940/" title="DSC_0882 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4262583940_7b0d902b6a.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0882" /></a></span></span></div><div><br />OMG baby, this e-mail is a million miles long so I'm going to finish up. I hope it wasn't too dull. I miss you.<br /><br />Toodles,<br />S</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>In a final note on Simon's school, it would be remiss of me not to highlight their most glorious aspect: the instructional English signage. In order to increase students' English abilities, schools around the globe (mine included) post signs with useful English expressions. Here are some of the highlights of Simon's school:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262586406/" title="DSC_0890 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/4262586406_3657f9ed99.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0890" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261837243/" title="DSC_0897 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4261837243_2633ddfa2f.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0897" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261838063/" title="DSC_0899 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4261838063_84e3432763.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0899" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;">And my personal favorite:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262595662/" title="DSC_0905 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2735/4262595662_3bef39433b.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0905" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until next time!</span></span></div><blockquote><div><blockquote></blockquote><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote></blockquote><br /></div><div><blockquote></blockquote><br /></div></blockquote><div></div>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-82911031833884919922010-01-17T20:52:00.001-08:002010-01-21T20:17:44.573-08:00Taiwan Revisited, Part IV: Taroko, More Gorges<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4262529178_7cd8223135.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4262529178_7cd8223135.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div>My Taiwanese expedition continues. For the full photoset go <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/sets/72157623055919477/">here.</a><div><div><blockquote>1/5/10</blockquote><blockquote><br />Dearest,<br /><br />It's been pretty uneventful since my last missive to you. After I e-mailed you last night Simon and I cracked open a couple of Taiwanese beers and watched movies in the abandoned men's dormatory. It felt like we were the only guests in the entire hotel. We watched "Wristcutters: A Love Story", which I want to watch with you sometime and I think you'd really love, and "Terminator: Salvation" which was totally silly. The next morning I got up and we walked over to the (actually not very impressive) temple across the way and gawked some more at the gorge. It was actually a amazing day so the gorge was particularly gorge-ous (warning: I may have been making this pun all weekend). <div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262527606/" title="DSC_0663 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4262527606_49e2c6621b.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0663" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261780229/" title="DSC_0693 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2195/4261780229_c962801fe8.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0693" /></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div><div>Then we ate some more greasy food and started out on what turned out to be an epic journey from the north to the south end of Taiwan. First we took a bus from Taroko Gorge to Hualien (1 hr) and then we took a train from Hualien to Kuasung or whatever the name of this town is (4 hrs). With various delays it took all frickin' day. I wanted to visit a hotspring but we ran out of time and so Simon bought me some apology stickers instead (not actually stickers that apologize but stickers as an apology). It was fun though. We talked a lot about kind of inconsequential easy things and I kicked his butt at Gin Rummy. Then when we (finally) arrived in Kaosiung we dropped off the bags at his enviably appointed apartment and met up with some of Simon's friends to go eat burritos at this ridiculous western-themed restaurant called Smokey Joe's. It was actually kind of awesome, if you miss burritos as much as I do. I also had a mango mojito which was extremely delicious. Good times.<br /><br />Right now I'm sitting in the lofted guest bed in Simon's apartment with his netbook in my lap and his warm rent-a-kitty purring at my side. Macaroni (for that is his name) is a foster kitty who Simon gets to keep indefinitely as long as once every month he brings him in for an adoption auction where other families can see if they want to give him a permanent home. It actually sounds like a really nice deal, and I am totally envious. He's a very talky kitty and we've been having nice meowing conversations since I arrived. I think we'll be best buds.<br /><br />I'm going to get some water and go to bed now. I love you so much! Write me.<br /><br />Yours,<br />S</div></blockquote><div></div></div></div></div>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-43014062242288472192010-01-17T20:42:00.000-08:002010-01-21T20:26:10.629-08:00Taiwan Revisited, Part III: Taroko Gorge, Cont.Yesterday interrupted my unprecedented stream of posting as I was required to travel to Donghae to get a new residency card. Happily, another teacher also had to go so it was a more enjoyable time then it might have been otherwise. Our various bureaucratic deeds only took about 15 minutes, after the two-hour train ride down, so we had time to visit the Donghae e-mart. Previously, I had been unimpressed by the e-mart chain (kind of like a Korean Wallmart) but now I know that it's just that the one we have in Taebaek is lame. I bought some things, among them this amazing hat, modeled below.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoYT3ymKNGkvjaJsfW4O5dUJnXvGmbiyX68CmVeppNJ_7btNQ8XC6RvpYkKYKCw2BmT68gXwplu_L71F95Rn9BIWpN4uyvHj4sEzEvkNF4e9NGXjakUKYWyxfOEVktAwyQsMqj9rkP2fe/s1600-h/Photo+100.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoYT3ymKNGkvjaJsfW4O5dUJnXvGmbiyX68CmVeppNJ_7btNQ8XC6RvpYkKYKCw2BmT68gXwplu_L71F95Rn9BIWpN4uyvHj4sEzEvkNF4e9NGXjakUKYWyxfOEVktAwyQsMqj9rkP2fe/s320/Photo+100.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428741803363253362" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyhoo, the adventure continues in Taiwan so here is Part III of my travel narrative:<br /><blockquote><br />1/3/10<br />Dear Terry,<br /><br />Things have been way more pleasant here then in Taipei. The town our complex (there really is no other name for this assortment of functional but ill-shaped rooms and echoing hallways) is in is very minimal but friendly and cute. After everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in the complex went to bed we "borrowed" some unattended bikes and rode circles around the enormous dining room. It felt like something out of a movie.</blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261754191/" title="DSC_0543 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2749/4261754191_03490638b1.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0543" /></a><br /><br />Today started a bit more abruptly then I might have preferred. First the other ladies in my room started chit-chatting at eight in the morning at full volume and then after that the maid kicked me out to clean the room at 10am. It was not very restful. Eventually we got it all together and hit the road to go hiking in the Gorge--quite literally too because we had to walk for about 40 minutes along the highway before we even got to the trailhead.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261764231/" title="DSC_0598 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4261764231_0fe7222295.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0598" /></a><br /><br />It was actually very pretty and scenic and included not one but TWO hazardous-looking suspension bridges. Unfortunately my camera battery ran out before we got to that point so I have no evidence but I DO have pictures of the super cool abandoned tunnels we found on our way to the trailhead. The highway ran along the Gorge and we passed through several tunnels on route. One tunnel branched off into the dark and so we went exploring. It was totally creepy, and I would not have done it without Simon's flashlight. We didn't see and bodies but it was definitely the kind of place where there would be bodies if any were to be had. The one tunnel came out onto a very swampy trail where I managed to soak both my feet and then lead to another tunnel which was disturbingly warm and musky-smelling and terminated in a wall and a large shallow pool. The whole experience was pretty exciting though. I definitely felt very adventurous.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261769061/" title="DSC_0633 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2784/4261769061_607004768b.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0633" /></a><br /><br />I love you so much. I miss you.<br /><br />Yours,<br />S</blockquote>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-65702718381484841692010-01-17T20:35:00.000-08:002010-01-18T21:42:17.025-08:00Taiwan Revisited, Part II: Toroko Gorge Arrival/Taipei EscapeFor the past 1/2 hour my school principal has been playing the tuba, badly, in the teacher's lounge. Since this renders any real work or concentration impossible I am taking this time to put out the next section of my Taiwan travelogue. Enjoy.<br /><blockquote><br />1/2/10<br /><br />Dear Terry,<br /><br />I am e-mailing you from the Taroko Gorge Youth Hostel, where I will be staying with Simon for the next two days. So far Taiwan has been... mixed. On the negative side of the spectrum I had some disagreements with my travelling companion and lost my wallet, but on the bright side I saw a live snake being gutted before my eyes and Simon lent me a pile of money. Soooo... I'd say it's about 50/50 right now.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Snake stall man preparing shots of snake blood:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261721373/" title="DSC_0351 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4261721373_62c82ed849.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0351" /></a><br /><br />Taiwan is definitely different from Korea, whatever your expectations may have been. It's kind of like Korea's dirtier more superstitious cousin. The buildings are all coated in layers of grease and smog and the food is likewise greasy and questionable-looking. I've been trying to keep an open mind though. Last night I went to two night markets in Taipei, one of which contained the snake-gutting locale of earlier mention. There were a lot of strange sights and despite it being a Friday night and it being on the "must-see" list in my guidebook there were hardly any foreigners. Seoul feels very much like an international metropolitan city but Taipei felt much more... alien. One of A's friends who I was with on New Year's Eve said that Taiwan is much more "authentic" then Korea, but I think it's a mistake to equate dirt with authenticity. However, you know of my passionate love for cleanliness so maybe it's my bias that's the issue.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262469750/" title="DSC_0327 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4262469750_11c80c3cc2.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0327" /></a><br /><br />I will say one thing for Taiwan--the temples are amazing. It's like Las Vegas and Buddha got busy with it and produced a side-show freak. Everything is neon and color and incense and insanity. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262498770/" title="DSC_0490 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4262498770_e7ffc1a6ee.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0490" /></a><br /><br />I went with A to one of the big temples in Taipei and I guess because it was New Year's Day it was full of worshipers lighting incense, doing physically demanding series of bows and piling tables with offerings of inedible looking candies and fruit. It was pretty different... or to reference one of our favorite quotes, "pretty fucking foreign". <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261711385/" title="DSC_0293 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4261711385_273592f0ce.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0293" /></a><br /><br />Anyway babe, there's not much more to tell. The next morning Simon and I took a train to Hualien and then taxied it up to Taroko Gorge. It's dark here so the many natural splendors of the Gorge are lost on us but I think we're going to walk into the two-store town and poke around a probably drink some of the Jack Daniels Simon brought. We had a fun and alarming incident earlier where Simon tried out his new camp-stove and burned off a small portion of his arm-hair but your personal baby remained unsinged. Some of us know better then to poke small burning metal containers of pure alcohol with sticks.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261757943/" title="DSC_0567 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4261757943_09d606c254.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0567" /></a><br /><br />I miss you very much and your ears should be burning since I've been talking about you non-stop. I wish you were here with me but I'm also looking forwards to telling you all about my trip next time we skype. <br /><br />Love,<br />S<br /></blockquote>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-37201175380538520012010-01-17T19:58:00.000-08:002010-01-17T20:50:08.336-08:00Taiwan Revisited, Part IFor those of you not in the know, I spent 10 days in Taiwan for Part I of my winter vacation. While I was unable to blog effectively on site, I will revisit my travels here with the help of my photolog (available in its complete form <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/sets/72157623055919477/"> here </a>) and the (edited) e-mails I sent to Terry detailing my expedition. Here goes:<br /><blockquote><br />12/31/09 <br /><br />Dear Terry,<br /><br />After a number of planes, trains and automobiles I have finally arrived in not-so-sunny Taipei. So far I would have to say the most unsettling thing about Taiwan is that no one here speaks Korean. I mean, I guess any rational person would have taken that for granted but even knowing it was going to be so I find myself always wanting to use my Korean and then feeling very silly about it.<br /><br />We're sitting in our hostel right now waiting for the lady who runs it to come back and check us in. I'm typing to you on a keyboard that has at least four languges on each key. The board is also really resistant so I have to hammer each keystroke in--which is why this e-mail might contain a higher incidence of typos then usual.<br /> <b>((Editor's note: not anymore. ))</b><br /><br />I've seen very little of the city so far but there seem to be a high incidence of clausterphobically small alleys, open trashcan fires and burning incense. Also the smells are more poweful, alternating between delicious spicy food smells and less enticing open-sewer smells. I am pretty excited about taking my camera out and taking some photos. I've already glimpst enough strange things to make an intriguing photo essay.<br /><br />I'm still painfully sore. <span style="font-weight:bold;">((editor's note: I had tried snowboarding for the first time since middleschool the day before I left and fell down... a lot))</span> Moving around is unpleasant and feels overly physical. On the bright side, I took a really hot shower this morning in Seoul and that helped a little. Before that I was having trouble even getting out of bed.<br /><br />As might be expected, I packed way too much and am already regretting it. My rolling bag is extremely unpleasant to be lugging about. On the bright side, I have some pretty dresses I can look forward to wearing. <b>((Editor's Note: yeah, never wore those.))<br /></b><br />I miss you, and I wish you were here to share this with me. I'll try to keep you updated as much as possible. Happy New Year, my love.<br /><br />-s</blockquote><br />I'll post more letters soon, but meanwhile, do check out that Flickr page (linked above) which contain many pleasures unspoken of here such as:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Unidentifiable Street Food!</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261743987/" title="DSC_0474 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4261743987_859975f1e5.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0474" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Exploding National Sites!</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261688919/" title="DSC_0142 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4261688919_b6c8e14043.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0142" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Soups Served in Toilets!</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4261734367/" title="DSC_0410 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/4261734367_3ecd10d89d.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0410" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Aaand Funny Hats!</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophieandterry/4262492964/" title="DSC_0443 by sophieandterry, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2713/4262492964_301b2b4fb0.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="DSC_0443" /></a><br /><br />Until next time!Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-44792550420987252052009-12-20T23:43:00.000-08:002009-12-20T23:51:49.575-08:00Making Waves, Korean StyleSo, I haven't perhaps been as diligent about his blog as I might have liked but this definitely seemed worth posting. Last week all the Taebaek English Teachers (including myself) were required to attend a Korean Contest. Since most of us speak very little Korean, we were understandably somewhat hesitant about the whole thing turned out to be very casual (and pretty easy). We gave a couple pre-written speeches and filled out some multiple-choice quizzes. Unbeknownst the the Korean organizers of the event though, I and some of the other English teachers got together and practiced a little performance, which you can see in all it's off-tempo glory here:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mhjtq6Q-t0c&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mhjtq6Q-t0c&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Obviously we're not going to be getting any gigs with our dance and Korean-singing skills, but apparently someone was impressed:<br /><br />http://www.tjinews.co.kr/ArticleView.asp?intNum=4222&ASection=001001<br /><br />Look who's front and center! Man. Now when things are bad at least I can say "I'm famous in Korea."Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-38600250875685971952009-12-02T14:43:00.000-08:002009-12-03T23:11:34.007-08:00What a shame!Although this "informational" cartoon originates in China the sentiments expressed are pretty close to what you'll find here in Korea. Enjoy!<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l4uEJIsbVyI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l4uEJIsbVyI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-73398082680725623582009-11-25T18:32:00.000-08:002009-11-25T19:04:36.588-08:00If your happy and you know it BEAT THEIR HEADS IN!!!!Hey guys, I guess it's been awhile. I wish I could give a better excuse for my long absence for this blog but I guess a couple of months of being in Korean has turned it from a raucous adventure into a kind of, well, routine that seems mundane and not worthy of record. I occasionally get some perspective on my days and realize that strange things happen to me all the time, like receiving a brick-sized block of rice "cake" in a gold bag because one of my co-workers babies had their special 100th-day celebration, but they don't occur to me that way anymore.<br /><br />Last weekend though I had a very special Korean experience that I thought I should share with all of you. Some other Taebaek teachers and I visited Seoul, where we hoped to exchange the bitter mountain cold for a slightly less face-biting chilliness. On Saturday I had the opportunity to go with a college friend to a national soccer game. FC Seoul vs. The Yellowz (srsly).<br /><br />Now, I have not been to a ton of professional sporting events in my life but from what I remember, they did not usually involve EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the stadium wearing their team colors. Or waving giant flags with Conan the Barbarian on them. Or performing co-ordinated dances. OR FIREWORKS. The last part was truly startling because they fired them off from the bottom of the stands at the kick-off and scared the living crap out of me. I might have screamed, I'm not sure. The shock has clearly damaged my memory. Anyway, they then proceeded to do the same thing for every goal scored by FC Seoul, which thankfully for my life-expectancy (if not for FC Seoul fans) was only one.<br /><br />While most American sports games like to rev up their audience with splashes of rock music, marching band snippets or ritualized chants Korean sports fans warm their motors with tunes like "If Your Happy and You Know It" and "When The Saints Come Marching In" rewritten with Korean lyrics. Such songs, which never really ended but only seemed to flow smoothly into other, equally cheerful numbers, were generally accompanied by rhythmic handclapping, jumping up and down (like 20,000 teenage girls at a Backstreet Boys concert) and tooting little hand-held horns.<br /><br />The game itself wasn't really up to the level of the fandom, but there were some exciting moments. Unfortunately FC Seoul lost in a final shoot-out to the Yellowz, which reduced the stands to an echoing silence, aside from some unoteworthy signs of celebration from the tiny Yellowz cheering section.<br /><br />All-in-all, an excellent experience. I will have to say though, as a final aside, that I don't think fried fish skin and rice cake in spicy broth will ever replace the special place foot-long hot dogs and cotton candy holds in my heart.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-12529051471622259052009-10-27T21:42:00.000-07:002009-10-27T22:05:40.867-07:00English Textbooks Provide Further Enlightenment.Here are another couple charming cultural tips from my 5th Grade English Texbook. I'm glad the Korean government has mandated that an entire generation should learn about English-speaking culture from these valuable resources:<br /><strong></strong><br /><blockquote><p><strong>Language expression of "Excuse me" and "Whoops"<br /><br /></strong>When we bump into a stranger, we usually pass by without any apology. Whereas Western people apologize habitually saing "Excuse me", and when they make a little mistake, they often say "Whoops(Oops!". It means "Dear me!" "Goodness". "Thank you" is the most popular expression in their lives. They appreciate even a little kindness and they say "No, thank you" and try not to offend other people when they reject someone's proposal.<br /><br /><strong>Wrong vocabularies<br /><br /></strong>There are many misused or incorrect vocabularies used in any foreign<br />language. Meanings have usually been distorted or changed in the way it is applied. Here are the examples of the phenomenon.<br /><br />*rotary--> roundabout, traffic circle<br />*mixer--> blender<br />*bargain sale--> bargain or sale<br />*vinyl bag--> plastic bag, carrier bag<br />*sign--> autograph<br />*super--> supermarket<br />*Y-shirt--> shirt<br />*one piece--> dress<br />*two piece--> suit<br />*pama--> perm, permanent wave<br />*handphone-->cellular phone, mobile phone<br />*cunning--> cheating<br />*scarp--> clipping</p><p></p></blockquote><br />...I think we've all learned something today.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-78259301811959650542009-10-20T20:32:00.000-07:002009-10-23T11:14:58.651-07:00Some brief observations.I've been inspired by one of my fellow EPIKers recent facebook posts to make a list of things I've noticed about Korea so far that while they aren't weighty enough for an entire post, merit mentioning.<br /><br />1. Koreans are terrible drivers. I've ridden with several and without exception they all veer into oncoming traffic lanes, speed, cluster up at intersections and are terrible parkers. It's terrifying.<br /><br />2. Korean squat toilets are everywhere. My main school only has one western toilet stall in every bathroom and my secondary school is all squat toilets. I'm not a fan.<br /><br />3. Irony doesn't exist in Korea. There is no such thing as kitsch. If something is cliche it is never ironically cliche. People are terribly and embarrassingly sincere. If you want a demonstration of this I recommend watching any Korean movie.<br /><br />4. Chinese food in Korea is completely vile. Maybe it's that it's only been served to me by the school cafeteria, but invariably it's been black gunky paste over rice or noodles. It looks like something you would dare someone to eat.<br /><br />5. I have a lower spice tolerance then most Korean kindergartners.<br /><br />6. The chopsticks are metal. <br /><br />7. Korean beer is awful, and it's the only beer available. Soju, the national liquor, is like rubbing alcohol. Rice wine and bamboo wine are pretty yummy though.<br /><br />8. Cars only seem to come in two colors: black and white.<br /><br />9. Highschool uniforms are adorable. I would steal both the girls' AND the boys' uniforms if given the chance.<br /><br />10. Boys are shy until you get them drunk. Then they are way too friendly.<br /><br />11. On a related note, Koreans use the English phrase "I love you" pretty indiscriminately. <br /><br />12. Everything is accessorized. Your phone, your car, your computer, your accessories... there is nothing so big or serious that you can't hang a little bobbly from it.<br /><br />13. Korean pastries and bread are pretty sub-par, as one might expect from a rice-based culture. Native deserts are much less sweet then Western deserts. On the other hand, mixed drinks are 90% sugar.<br /><br />14. Everyone throws up a peace sign when you take a picture. Even my 60+ year-old principal.<br /><br />15. The most lowly dive bar in Korea is ten times better then a dive bar in the US. And the nice bars are outstanding.<br /><br />16. Everyone is extremely generous and nice. My fellow teachers will go out of their way to help me and my co-teacher gave me the morning off this past Monday because I was in a funk. She told me to go take a nap in the nurse's office.<br /><br />17. Drinking is very central to the office life and culture.<br /><br />I'm running out of steam here. There are other things I can mention but I think I'll save them for a brief observations, part deux. Have a good week, everyone.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-66028806569961786612009-10-13T15:13:00.000-07:002009-10-13T17:15:13.748-07:00It goes without saying that losing your passport sucks, but having actually experienced it, I now have a real appreciation for what a massive pain in the ass dealing with the government can be- particularly when you need something done quickly. "Quickly" does not seem to be one of the words the State Department likes to apply to it's efforts; I can only imagine some dry board meeting where it was decided that the phrase would be banned from Federal offices, the practice of expediting controlled as tightly as discrimination or thrift. A passport order is expected to take six weeks at the least. I was pretty distraught to realize it would take that long, until I noticed there was an option- surprise!- to expedite your passport application. My joy was short lived; in addition to costing four times as much, an "expedited" passport still takes three weeks to arrive.<br /><br />So, I went to my old friend Google, the modern-day oracle to which we all owe so much. And believe it or not, there are roughly a quibillion private organizations willing to take large chunks of your money to arrange for a passport on even shorter notice! I was extremely dubious at first (and still am, as my passport has not actually arrived yet) but as soon as I'd put my application in (accompanied, it need not be said, by a significant cash advance) I recieved a call from a very helpful-sounding guy from Washington just exploding with enthusiasm for getting my passport processed and delivered in less than a week. I've hit more than a few snags, what with losing my driver's license as well, but it's moving along quite nicely. The stack of information you need to get an expedited passport is pretty absurd, though- you need five alternate forms of identification which can include some pretty weird stuff:<br /><br />1. A photocopy of a page in a high school yearbook depicting you<br />2. Any newspaper article or publicity about you<br />3. Your report card, as far back as ninth grade<br />4. Military medals. If only I hadn't misplaced that Legion of Honor...<br /><br />In any case, this last weekend has been a crazy adventure as I struggle to get all these disparate forms of identification, while applying for a new driver's license. Oddly enough, the New Jersey DMV was fast, effective, friendly, and cheap. I had a new license in, like, half an hour. Who'd have thought?<br /><br />In more pleasant news, I spent a bunch of time roaming around the cities of Jersey and Union, and took a bunch of pictures which are now on the blog photostream. Union City has this combination of often lovely old brick apartments and absolutely hideous plastic-sided tenements, along with a great number of old, repurposed factories. I've noticed that bizzarely, the older a building is in Union City the better it looks. Even the old Yardley Soap Factory down the road has a certain grandeur that new construction does not match. In Jersey City I saw a bunch of pretty amazing all-brick churches and cathedrals which are the closest I've seen to a local architectural style. I'll endeavour to truck on down to Journal Square with my camera and show some of them off.<br /><br />Anyways, the information for my passport has all been sent off via FedEx. All that remains is the horrible waiting, to see if the passport arrives as rapidly as promied.<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08281955447376736352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-90296094311622948742009-10-11T05:13:00.000-07:002009-10-11T05:32:09.215-07:00RecoveryI don't think a public blog is really the place to get into it, but I had a really rough week. The last thing I wanted to be doing, at the end of it all, was hosting an English Camp for kids at my school but that die was cast awhile back and so Saturday morning found me teaching four straight classes how to "Walk Like a Monster" and "Hop Like a Werewolf" (little known fact: werewolfs hop).<br /><br />The camp was from 9am to 1pm Saturday and Sunday and for it I had to make two lesson plans on a Halloween theme (I chose the theme... my school, my theme). For the first lesson I had the kids play "Mother May I" with the aforementioned thematic twists and on the second day I taught the kids Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance. Which, for those of you keeping score, meant I had to learn it too. There is a special pathos to learning the Thriller dance from a youtube video in your furnitureless living room while you feel like shit. Everyone should get to experience that at least once in their lives.<br /><br />The part of teaching that makes it so hard, and so great, is the total focus you need in the classroom. Maybe for those teachers out there that have been in the field longer it's different, but when I'm teaching there's no room in my head for anything else. Keeping the attention of a roomful of kids, getting them to stop hitting each other, and trying to rustle up some enthusiasm for the English language requires all of my resources. One teacher I know said that he knew his students not individually but by their class's personality. Some classes are good, some are bad. That's just how it is.<br /><br />I think I'd take that one step further. Teaching a class is kind of like being in a relationship. When they're happy you're happy, and when they're sad you're sad. I'm not going to dwell too extensively on the metaphorical connections between romantic relationships and a roomful of children but I think that connection really saved me this weekend. Making a bunch of 5th grade boys twirl like princesses and leading 3rd graders through the Thriller dance drained me but I felt better after. As stressful as it's been I feel grateful to have found work I can lose myself in.<br /><br />Funny though, I still don't want to go to work tomorrow. I guess some things never change.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-84578738750653120722009-10-07T00:22:00.001-07:002009-10-07T01:02:14.780-07:00I Refuse to Make a Pun on "Seoul", OKAY!?The first and most shocking thing about Seoul, coming from a one-말 town like Taebaek, was the incredible number of foreigners there. All the clubs I visited, with the exception of one (and honestly, it was so dark and I was so drunk that who's really to say what I saw inside) were at least 70% full of English-speaking foreigners. This is partly, I'm given to understand, a function of the areas we were staying in and partly due to our age and the activities we pursued which totalled three in number: drinking, shopping, and clubbing. (Okay, maybe that's just two activities.)<br /><br />Korea does employ a large number of English teachers, particularly Seoul, and those teachers tend to be young for all sorts of reasons that are obvious and not worth enumerating here. Young people tend to enjoy partying and even more significantly, teachers in Korea have the disposable income to afford it. I certainly could not afford three nights of clubbing at multiple venues a night in New York--which in retrospect was probably for the best since the physical toll of that much fun... well. It was substantial.<br /><br />Having that many foreigners around was a mixed bag though. On the one hand, it was nice to see some new faces but mostly it felt unsettling and wrong. As I walked around with fellow EPIK teacher and ex-New Yorker Sue we often would say things like, "This reminds me of the East Village" or "This is exactly like the Meat Packing District". If I had come straight to Seoul from the US it might have seemed exotic and alien but after four weeks in a small provincial city it was all too familiar. Perhaps it's some sort of bizarre reverse snobbery but I have trouble seeing how anyone could get a deep sense of Korean Culture or even the language in a city that's so infested with Foreign influences and accommodating to English speakers.<br /><br />The other part of it I found unpleasant was that because of the sheer number of foreigners there's not the same sense of community. In Taebaek all the foreigners know each other and make an effort to be inclusive and friendly. Meeting someone on the street, I'll always stop to say hi or even divert my path for some company. Seoul, on the other hand, was a total meat market. I was only approached by boys and only for the one predictable purpose. As soon as the word "boyfriend" came out of my mouth they were gone. The only new acquaintances I made at all were other people staying at my hostel, which I'd totally recommend for anyone travelling on their own or even with friends to Seoul. <br /><br />On the other hand, Seoul is a pretty exciting place. I bought way too many clothes, drank way too many drinks, and walked the soles off my shoes. I also visited some incredibly beautiful coffee shops and bars that would be remarkable in any city. One bar had the most fantastic (in the original sense of the word) interior design. We described it as Dr. Seuss meets underground cavern meets a Clockwork Orange Milk Bar (pictures to come). <br /><br />There's so much to see and do in Seoul that I imagine It'll be any number of trips before I can say I've "been there, done that". <br /><br />I think though, on the whole, that I made the right choice in coming to Taebaek. It's been difficult and at times lonely but I've had more exposure to the language and the people then I think is possible in Seoul. It wasn't totally intentional on my part, but sometimes things just work out the best way.<br /><br />Pictures to come soon. Thanks for reading.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-88922491671890681632009-09-28T17:10:00.000-07:002009-09-28T18:05:43.907-07:00Homosocialism and the Korean WayWhile this may be a subject with plenty of potential awkwardness and possibilities for offending it's one that's loomed prominently in my awareness and so like any responsible blogger, I must share it with the world. That topic? <br /><br />How Gay is Korea?<br /><br />Now, before I get into my personal experiences here I should mention one pertinent fact which is that there are no gay people in Korea. A popular sampling of Korean opinions by my peers has determined that generally speaking gay is bad, and that Koreans will have nothing to do with it. <br /><br />Now, this may say more about social pressure, ignorance, and the great river of De Nile that passes through the center of Korea (silly you, thinking it was in Egypt) but that's an essay for another time. For now let's just roll with it and agree: there are no gay people in Korea. Their statistical 10% was shuffled off on some other country, probably Japan. Koreans hate Japan.<br /><br />Now while the people of Korea are emphatically ungay is the technical sense I will argue that as a country Korea is super gay. I will present my evidence in three arguments:<br /><br />I. Korean Homosocialiam<br /><br />a. Koreans tend to socialize with those of their own sex. While this is not totally unexpected in a grade-school it seems to extend even to their adult lives. Office functions I've attended have obviously been of mixed gender but any other social occasions I've been invited to have been all-female. Even among the staff groups tend to split between male and female with the women having their coffee circle before morning classes and men (presumably) doing the same elsewhere. Close mixed gender friendships between unmarried men and women seem uncommon. In fact, single younger men are so incredibly shy in my presence that I'm amazed that the people in this country have managed to procreate at all. It might just be my aura of foreignness though.<br /><br />b. Koreans are super, super affectionate towards same-sex friends. Both women and men will hold hands with their friends and hang off each other and (according to one teacher friend at an all-girls middle school) kiss each other on the mouth. I have also heard tales of boys sitting on other boys laps and other behavior that would be questionable in the states. Obviously this can be more uncomfortable for western males to experience then western females, and I've heard some pretty hilarious stories about one male teacher's vice-principal nearly making it to third base with some vigorous drunken thigh-rubbing.<br /><br />II. Everything is Cute<br /><br />a. From cities to roadsigns everything is Korean is covered in cute cartoons. Even banks have adorable round-limbed mascots speaking to you in pink bubbly word balloons. Even the firehouse, that final bastidion of traditional masculinity, has a cute widdle animal on its sign. God forbid I have to ever visit the ER because if I have to be operated on by a surgeon in a mickey-mouse facemask I might just lose my faith in modern medicine.<br /><br />b. There is no Korean equivalent to Marlon Brando. Men here tend to be attractive on the scale of boy-bands and metrosexual movie stars. All varieties of pink feature prominently in menswear, including fuchsia, and every single man in my school over 25 dies his hair. <br /><br />III. K-Pop<br /><br />a. Case in point: <br /><br />The "Haengbok/Happiness" Music Video from the band Super Junior (SRSLY).<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KuRaKDCrFp0&hl=ko&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KuRaKDCrFp0&hl=ko&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />QED.<br /><br />Conclusion:<br /><br />I think one of the things that makes Korea such a gay country is its nominal lack of gay people. In America people can be so paranoid about appearing gay ("not that there's anything wrong with that") that they'll refrain from showing any sort of physical affection with members of the same sex and try to display their straightness by racing to the extremes of masculine and feminine behavior. It's unfortunate that in Korea such a loose and all-encompassing definition of masculinity can only seem to come at the price of severe homophobia.Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-47075398926842179932009-09-27T08:46:00.000-07:002009-09-27T08:57:56.948-07:00Onwards to victory, and other successes!In retail-related news, the Best Buy company is opening a new store on Union Square in the big city. They've seen fit to hire me to work in that store, which will be a great supplement for my income! I might even be allowed onto the prestigious Geek Squad, a responsibility I've trained for all these long years. So I'm in a pretty great mood, thanks to this unexpected turn of events. The long string of rejections, unreturned calls, and icy interviews was getting me down to say the least. These are hard times to be looking for work, but at least I'm receiving a first class lesson in dealing with disapointment.<br /><br />I've ranted at some length as to how awesome this apartment is. My expectations have been exceeded yet again, however, as I've learned that my neighbor is a director in a New York theater company! I was out back watering the plants when this gentleman literally physically grabbed me and dragged me into his apartment to meet his cast, who were in the middle of a highly spirited party. Long story short, there was intense carousing, beer pong, flip-cup, adorable puppies, and I got free tickets to the show. It seems like the NYC culture I've been neglecting to this point is practically falling into my lap. And would you believe it, one of the actresses went to my high school! Considering Gill St. Bernards (as hoity-toity as it sounds) had a graduating class of about 40 people, this was rather unlikely- but it's a small world, and I keep running in to people I knew back in the day. It seems Hoboken/Union City is really the upcoming place. If I had a half million dollars, I'd buy property here. This neighborhood is going to gentrify so fast it'll make your head spin. I'll bet the first Starbucks will open within a year. This place is due for a visit from the <a href="http://dcisgoingtohell.com/?paged=13">leprechaun of gentrification</a>.<br /><br />So, in short- I got a job, I got free tickets, and I made some friends. Good news!<br /><br />Also, plans are in the works for a visit to Korea, bankrolled at least in part through birthday cash. OMG.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08281955447376736352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-65004704772259493732009-09-23T18:03:00.000-07:002009-09-23T18:05:09.514-07:00This one goes out to you.I would like to dedicate this youtube video to my love. I miss you Terry.<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zwFS69nA-1w&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zwFS69nA-1w&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4676545121844301454.post-77571329992282469792009-09-21T01:42:00.000-07:002009-09-21T02:17:15.642-07:00Tee-Eye-Arr-Eee-Dee, TiredAfter <a href="http://sophieandterry.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-personal-hiroshima.html">the wild events of last week</a>, this weekend I indulged in sleep, American television and drawing. Unfortunately it doesn't give me much to write about here, but I think it will help me endure the upcoming week.<br /><br />While I feel on top of the class preparation, lesson planning and (mostly) teaching my body hasn't quite caught up with my mind. I'm always exhausted by the end of the day, whether it went smoothly or no. Today fortunately was a smooth day in the classroom but a hectic one without. My co-teacher and I spent a good hour and a half trying to turn a 6th grader's Korean essay into English for an English speech contest. Honestly, I'm not sure what purpose the contest serves since apparently all the speeches are re-drafted and altered by the teachers and the students only serve as little robots who regurgitate memorized phrases they couldn't possibly understand. It's a little sad microcosm of the larger problems in an education system which emphasizes rote learning over teaching independent analytical thought. Unfortunately for these children the entire system of lower education terminates in an SAT-like test which determines whether the student can go to college and if so, where. This has created an educational system built on the Kaplan plan: teach the test, not the subject.<br /><br />Anyway, my apologies for that little aside. Besides sleeping and watching television I did make time this weekend to attend two dinners. Saturday was a welcoming dinner for our newest EPIK teacher and Sunday another EPIK cohort hosted a little get-together in her apartment with some home-cooked western-style delectables. It was all deeply appreciated by myself. I also consumed the first palatable wine I've had in Korea, which in this case had come to Korea via Australia. I don't think you'll be seeing Korean sections opening up in your local wine shops back home anytime soon.<br /><br />Next time I'll try to provide you with more hilarious anecdotes but for now just enjoy the catchy tones of Lee Seung Hwan's "Superhero", my current favorite K-Pop Hit:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rblnc5AJ99w&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rblnc5AJ99w&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />At the very least skip to the end for a fun 80's Exercise Video inspired dance routine. I think this video could also make for an excellent drinking game. The only rule: Take a shot every time a major copyright is violated. Enjoy!Sophiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05439821784652109012noreply@blogger.com1