The round food diet.

I have lost some weight being in Korea. I have been jogging and doing yoga,  but I like to attribute it to my round food diet. It seems like everything I eat is spherical in shape. Other things I constantly eat that aren't in photographs here (but are in other parts of my blog) are hotteok and mandu. They are both round, too. I am thinking of bringing this diet back with me. Everything though is starch. I really haven't ate a significant amount of vegetables or diary, since being here. Rice is everywhere in every possible form. And is something I hardly ate before I came here.

The best I can describe this as is a cookie, but I believe it is made from rice. The rice cake man gives them to me for free, when Kelly gets her rice cakes. They are delicious. They are not moist and a little chewy with a touch of sweetness.

Tteokbokki, stir fried rice cake, are sold at just about every street vendor. They are slightly spicy and have pieces of fish in it. They are soft and chewy. My description doesn't do justice to the actual texture. It is one of those things you just have to dry. Great late night, drunk food. It can all be mixed with mandu, peppers or sundae (noodles made to look like sausage). An order larger then this is just under two dollars.

These chewy, little mushrooms are everywhere. You see them in beebimbop and soups, especially.

Fun with sweet, street bread.

It looks like a banana.

I get these about three days a week, after work. This woman also sells the best mandu I ever tasted. You get three of these steamed buns filled with bean for less then a dollar. She started giving me and extra one, since I go there so frequently.

Walnut balls: Dough, walnuts and bean puree = deliciousness (especially, if you get them fresh and warm)

Also, there is a chestnut form of these. 

I love the packaging for them. I buy these from a tiny store with one woman making these all day.

Octopus balls topped with dried fish, scallions and a spicy sauce. This is possibly my favorite thing in Korea. This particular order consists of five larger balls. A lady by my house sells smaller ones. She is always there, but I prefer these. Unfortunately, the octopus man (which is what I call him), pulls his little red truck in front of the grocery store sporadically. I don't get these as often. He speaks perfect English and told me he is branching out to other locations. He was training a worker the one day, so maybe someone can be in my location more often.

Mini, spicy seafood and scallion pancakes and little mini egg omelettes. These are my own personal descriptions and not what they are actually called. I get these constantly from a woman right near my apartment. She works all day with I think a woman, who might be here mother. She is constantly mixing larger containers of kimichi. She is really nice because I am there so frequently and she usually makes sure my order is a little bit bigger.

Rice cakes are the same thing that the tteokbokki is made out of. They come in all different flavors and are sometimes filled with things, as well.

 This is Tteokbokki with hard boiled egg, noodles and fish. Also, kimpob is on the left. My Korean friend, Jinok, took me to this little restaurant. Our meal cost less the six dollars for all this food.

Korean hairstyles.

The little girls come to school with some of the craziest, time consuming hairstyles. Usually, they are kept together by a million bows, rubber bands, colorful barrettes and etc. This side pony tail caught my eye today. 

Pros and cons.

Truth be told, I am kind of torn about leaving here. I am really homesick and miss my life. I really had a great life. Friends, boyfriend, a nice apartment and always something to do. Now I am alone a lot and always in my head. So maybe if you read my lists, you can give me some insight on your opinions. Right now I am trying to make it to November. I want to do a lot of traveling, but  monetarily it is hard. I make next to nothing here. I didn't do this for the money, but for the experience. Over the past couple years from freelancing graphic work and restaurant work I was making between $45,000 and $60,000 a year. Now I am down to $18,000 with even more bills (I hate school loans). I defiantly want to go to Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Thailand before I leave, though. However though I really, really want to go to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, while I am here. The only way I can feasibly do that is to stay longer, but I don't want to be depressed and miserable either. When the other English teacher leaves in July, I am worried I am going to be really alone.

First list are reasons I want to leave:

1. My bosses are liars and have cheated me out of money and do not honor everything in my contract (I got screwed out of vacation days).

2. My gas bill is split between all the tenants on the floor I am on (it is a Korean thing). I really don't use it, but it is always a high bill.

3. Korean clean (everything is wiped, but not really disinfected).

4. Mean Korean teachers.

5. Stupid expats (American guys on the search for Korean women, religious losers and dorks that now think they are amazing because they are in the land of misfits).

6. Korean whores all over ever foreigners.

7. No confrontation (sounds like a good thing until you are being avoided by your boss at all cost, so he doesn't have to tell you where your money is).

8. friends (and everything that encompasses: drinking, dinner, talking coffee, pictures, etc.)

9.  food (restaurants, specific available foods, coffee, etc.) also I am getting tired of the food options here

10. Mike (and everything we do that I won't list like pho, squeezes, sleeping, going out to eat, ritz milkshakes, etc.)

11. going out to eat 

12. Olive and the other dogs

13. beach

14. the feeling of summer

15. casual American style

16. family

17. working in a restaurant (language, energy and cash)

18. not being able to interview for graphic jobs)

19. the amount of time I am alone here and in my head

20. can't really be myself (I can't talk about things or do things that I do in America with my Korean friends, they just wouldn't get it cause of cultural differences)

21. North Korea

22. generally missing my life (my friends keep telling me I am not missing anything, but I am)

23. homesickness

24. the American movies they show in Korea are Harry Potter, anything with Mel Gibson, Will Smith, Steven Segal, Jean Claude Van Dam or Milla Jovovich)

25. American TV (Gossip Girls, Grey's Anatomy, all the CSI's and the Hills) I really only watch House, Sex & the City and the Simpsons (but if course they are all on at odd times or really late)

26. I figured out a lot of things I want to get done, when I get home and I am just waiting to start them

27. I just generally feel like I am waiting to go home 

28. the schools food

29. I have no real breaks anymore at school and talk for hours straight

30. I get stared at, when I jog

31. the school is completely unorganized

32. not really talking to anyone for days

33. not being able to make my full student loan payment (I had to reduce the amount I pay)

34. the ever fluctuating won (Korean currency)

35. the only people I really like here are leaving soon

36. being paid late and never the correct amount

37. the shower/ bathroom combo

38. small apartment/ jail cell

39. smelly refrigerator I can't get clean

40. there are no bars, just restaurants and clubs

41. feeling like I am always under dressed

42. gma

Reasons to stay:

1. traveling

2. being alone and able to do all the stuff I never had time for (reading, working on my portfolio, drawing, etc)

3. teaching (I like the kids)

4. a guaranteed job

5. the local food

6. seeing new things all the time

7. meeting a few cool people here and there

8. being outside my element

9. the experience as a whole

10. being even more independent

11. learning to live simply

12. learning to live on a budget

13. inexpensive to live here (food, traveling, site seeing)

14. hair removal

15. packaging, art and design

16. going to clubs (something I never wanted to do again)

17. can really do whatever 

18. can talk about anything, anywhere in English cause no one really understands you

19. Korean teenagers calling you beautiful American

20. Korean pop music

21. Korean style (everyone dresses up here, people really wear jeans because they take so much pride in their appearance)

22. Korean friends

23. blogging

24. talking to people I haven't talk to in forever

25. stories

26. people keep telling me they are so proud of me for being here, which I kind of find ridiculous, but I think people

are kind of vicariously living through me for this experience

Poo and more.

Today I noticed during class that one of my little girls kept running to the bathroom and asking me for toilet paper (teachers hand out the toilet paper). I had her for an after school class, as well. When I walked in the classroom she was standing by the teacher's desk wiping her leg with toilet paper. There were kids running around from the previous and current class, yet to start, and the other English teacher was in the room. We were conversating about school, when we both smelled the odor of poo. We thought it was one of the gaseous kids, but I then saw the little girl put dirty toilet paper on the teacher's desk, after wiping her leg. We both looked in horror and I became slightly nauseous, when we realized it was shit not gas. She wasn't going to take care of it, so I had to clean up the little girl. I took her to the bathroom and began wiping the shit off her. It was pretty gross. I have never even changed a dirty diaper. After awhile though, it didn't even bother me. I think it brought out maternal instincts in me. It's kind of like when I got a dog and then realized I was going to have to pick her shit up off the sidewalk. Now shit is just shit.

Shit though is a reoccurring theme at my work. Both the literal and metaphorical form. The amount of shit I put up with some of the mean Korean teachers and my horrible boss and the amount of shit I see. Like in the photo below is a typical trash can in a Korean bathroom. Full of shitty toilet paper.

This photo is great, too. I sat down to pee and turned to my right and noticed fecal smears on the bathroom wall. They have been there nearly three weeks and they will probably always be there.

Various other school things:

Sometimes I play with the kids toys, when I am bored.

Great English grammar printed in the work books I use.

Since I have been at school (just less the three months) six Korean teachers have left because my school sucks. We have a piano room, but unfortunately the piano teacher is one of the instructors that left. She was the worst though. Her room was filthy and I barely heard any music coming from the room. Inside the room There are smaller closet like rooms with pianos. The one below is the cleanest and gets the most light. When I do have a break, I go there to read, sleep and generally just escape from everyone.

This is Author. He is a sweet little boy. I don't have him in any classes anymore, but I always past him, when he is leaving the bathroom. He always runs out with his pants undone just to say hello to me.

Funny kid's names (the Korean teachers name them):

Gisele

Pinky

Adjella

Den

Minky

Brain (they all pronounce it Brian)

Nicole (for a boy and I told them it is a girl's name and they didn't change it)

Nikita (who is a gorgeous little girl)

Luna

Ziki (a boy)

Berry

Cherry

Hera

Neison

Roy

Risa

Sammay

Rookie

Continuation from previous post.

Right after I posted the post below someone I knew posted this on facebook and it kind of summed up my feelings on church:

Q: What is christianity? A: It is the belief that a two- thousand-year-old jewish zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat an apple off a magical tree in a wonderland.

Church at 8 pm on a Saturday night.

Protecting myself from yellow dust.

Since being here, I have come down with a cold a few times. Nothing serious, but Koreans act like the slightest cold is a near death experience. Maybe it's their way of life, but even when I am sick at home, there is no way in hell I would be a loud to call out of work on a Saturday night or even be able to afford to. In retrospect, I've probably shouldn't have gone to work many times in the past, but here my job is cake. Also, it's is the little monster's I teach that keep getting me sick. It still boggles my mind how I could clear plates and glassware from strangers for years at restaurants and it not effect me as much as these disease transporting kids effect me. It most be some strange Korean strain of the cold virus.

That said, my Korean friend, Guard, bought me gifts to keep me healthy:

mouthy washy 

(he adds and "e" sound to everything... the best is when he says, "I left you a messagey.")

He also instructed me on how to use mouth wash and that it burns. He did not quite understanding me, when I tried to explain, I know how to use this, we do have this in America, too.

antibacterial hand wash

Face mask to protect from the yellow dust blown to Korea from China.

I asked if yellow dust meant pollen, but he did not understand what I meant. He told me his sister, the nurse, recommended for me to use these items to stay healthy. I get everything but the mouth wash. I know you should use mouth wash for good oral hygiene, but is it a necessity to ward off the common cold?

After presenting me with my gifts, I assumed we would go grab some dinner. First, he wanted to take me on another walking tour of Seoul National University campus. It was a beautiful Saturday, upper 70s and flowers in full bloom. He told me the name to many different plants, that of which we also are accustomed to in the USA. For instance, the weeping willow is referred to as belly puddle. To me this was a very literal translation, do to the fact they grow in water prone areas.  It was just as literal as how they term fresh air as, "forest bath." The only problem with are little walk is that he wanted to hike up a dry creek bed. Which normally I would not have an issue with, but I was wearing a dress and boots with a slippery sole. Again he didn't understand why I was less then thrilled and we continued the hike anyway.

In the above picture you can notice the high rise buildings of the city jutting out behind the hills. Below is a picture of a pond with not a single fish. There is no wild life in Korea. You can see a bird now and again and if you are really lucky a chipmunk. I asked if in the woods if there were deer or anything living. He laughed and replied no because there are too many people in Korea and not enough room for animals.

In the picture above and below is where we hiked, which isn't dangerous or anything. It is though a real bitch in boots and a dress. I guess though in his defense, Korean women are always overly dress and it is not uncommon to see a woman in black pumps hiking on a trail.

So after our hike, we went to go get dinner. The spot he took me to coincidentally his two pastors from his church was also dining there. I think Guard has a little crush on me and he gets so weird and uncomfortable sometimes around others in front of me, which makes me uneasy. He is also, to overly helpful that I feel near retarded. I am pretty use to doing things for myself. He is the thirty-three year old, who is still solely financially dependent on his family and I have been out of the house in an apartment, since I was eighteen. In Korean culture though, my independence is a difficult concept for him to understand, especially me being a woman. Women here take on a helpless roll. They are almost doll-like. In fact they dress like baby dolls and a lot of them whiten their skin to achieve that porcelain doll effect. In all the country is kind of wimpy and quiet. (I am not trying to be rude.) The man are very feminine, metro sexual-like and ultra passive, as well. In the subways their are glass shelves with gas masks, but there is only like twenty in comparison to the millions of people that use the subway a day. Basically, if their was chemical warfare, with out a doubt my ass could take on the whole Korean population and get one of the twenty gas masks. I am taller and weigh more then most man and woman, plus they would all be so polite about it. 

Regardless though, somewhere on this outing I agreed to go with Guard to hear church music. I thought though, being outside on this lovely spring day, that he was talking about church bells.  I was sadly mistaken. I ended up at 8 pm on Saturday night listening to a bunch of young, devout Christians playing English Christian rock songs translated to Korean. There were hands in the air, people swaying, tears and eyes closed so tightly in an almost a near orgasmic expression all around me. And yes, I was the only foreigner. Immediately, my body began to stiffen and clench. My joints began to ache. I got hot, tense and completely uncomfortable. If you know me at all, you would know I have an intense dislike for church. I think it is fake, cult-like and in need for a huge modern makeover. I just think the whole concept of religion is dated. Not that I don't believe in anything, but I just don't think church reflects what life is today. But that is a whole nother blog page. Needless to say I never more at any moment since being here wanted to be at home so fucken bad. After the music stop the service began. At one point they were giving little presents out to first time visitors. Guard urged me to go up and I refused. Then he started to translate the service to me. I couldn't understand him, so he got up and left to go find me and English bible. First of all, I don't even know what to do with a bible and secondly, it would probably melt through my hands. I got up and ran for the door. I told him I was not feeling well, which was true, religion made me sick. I told him I had to leave and I started to nonstop fake cough. He walked me to the subway and I never rushed away from anyone so fast in my life. 

Trying to recover from this dramatic experience, I decided to meet my American friends out. I had no plans to go out and drink, but I had to sin as much as possible to make up for the fact that I was just at church. I meant them in Hongdae, where at the first bar I consumed four beers and four shots of tequila in less then an hour. With shots costing less then a dollar fifty many more were consumed that evening. Oh and yes, the face mask did make an appearance out.

Burger king at 5 am and a million different condiments. I asked for barbecue sauce and I got mustard, ketchup and on that lid bulgogi sauce (which is the most amazing thing ever).

People come to Burger King and sleep till the first subway train runs at 6 am.

People waiting on the subway and sleeping till it starts.

Love for women.

This is one of my favorite commercials. Korean commercials have the catchiest jingles.

At the end it flashes quickly, "Love for women". It is suppose to mean that their pizza is

healthy, so women can eat it and still be thin.