Lunar New Year, etc.

I wrote this entry yesterday, February 6th, but due to the recent loss of internet at my apartment (argh), I wasnt able to post until I got to work today, Feb 7.

The Korean school system is officially makes zero sense. It’s Sunday night and after two weeks of “seat warming” at work (aka still having to go into work even though the students aren’t there), the students are finally returning to school tomorrow. They’ve been on vacation since December 30th and they are now coming back after the Lunar New Year, but only for 4 days. Starting on Friday, the students are on “spring vacation” until the beginning of March. When I asked why the students come back only for 4 days, I was told that it was for the 8th graders’ graduation ceremony. Why all the students have to come back for 4 whole days I don’t know, but the strangest part is why they have a separate vacation not even a week after they’ve gotten back from their long winter vacation. When I asked about that, it’s because the school year begins in March. This long winter vacation is like our summer break, I just feel bad for the kids that their long break is in the cold, dark, Korean winter and not in summer. These poor kids. Anyway, the kids are on break again in a few days and I hope I can take some more vacation days off and travel outside of Korea.

So nothing to report about work. I spent most of my “seat warming” time watching ridiculous amounts of How I Met Your Mother and thoroughly enjoying it.

The beginning of February brings a lot to celebrate and commemorate. Everyone was on vacation Wed-Fri for the Lunar New Year (on Feb 3rd), which is a big deal here in Korea. This year is the year of the rabbit, so there are rabbit decorations on storefronts, the TV, etc. In Korea, everyone gains another year at the Lunar New Year, so happy birthday to me! My Korean age is now 23. If you ask Korean their age, you should subtract 1 or 2 years from it to get their real age because they will give you their age that includes Lunar New Year birthdays. For example, all of my 6th graders say they are 14 years old, but they are actually 12 or 13. Val’s Korean age is 27 (since he turned 26 in January).

Also, today, February 6th, is my & Val’s 2 year anniversary. To celebrate, we booked two nights (Wed and Thurs) at a nice hotel in Seoul. We stayed at the Novotel Ambassador Hotel in Gagnam and enjoyed ourselves swimming in the indoor swimming pool, ordering room service, listening to live music in the lounge in the evening, and eating our hearts out at the enormous complimentary breakfast buffet. I was particularly giddy about the bathtub in the hotel room since I don’t have one in my apartment. I made sure to take full advantage of it and took two baths within the course of 45 hours. The hotel burned a bit of a hole in our pockets, but it was worth it. Considering what we had to go through to achieve this milestone in our relationship, it seemed an appropriate way to celebrate. Also, getting away from our apartment and taking time to focus on each other, not to mention living out our fantasy of being a wealthy couple taking a luxurious weekend off at a blingin’ hotel was oddly liberating. We found ourselves acting more like our inner kids rather than our inner bourgeoisie couple for much of the weekend, though, especially at the pool. While all the other adults were doing laps and the kids practicing their breaststrokes at their swimming lesson, we were doing flips and handstands and playing underwater tag. We bought one meal at one of the hotel restaurants and poked (nervous) fun at the outrageous prices for the tiny portions; though I was able devour an absolutely delectable piece of salmon for that outrageous price. After that meal, the rest of our afternoon and evening meals were in Itaewon, the foreigner district nearby, where we ate tacos, subs at Quizzno’s, and bought Pringles and cheap wine to have along with our room service meal we ordered on our last night. What can ya do? We’re just young professionals/students tryin to make a living, ya know? We slept, relaxed, and bathed in style but we ate on a student’s budget. It was perfect.

The first week of February also brings the anniversary of a much more somber event. February 7th marks the 5 year anniversary of the death of a high school classmate and friend, Benny, who took his own life. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years already. Looking at my life the past 5 years, what I’ve done and what I’m doing right now, it just makes me sad to think about everything Benny missed out on. He was such a bright and unique spirit whose enthusiasm and smile were contagious. I hate to think about what he was never able to accomplish, and how much pain his death still brings to his family, friends, and classmates. That’s all I really have to say right now. I just thought it’d be wrong to not mention him during this time.

Bringing the mood of this entry back up is the year and a half birthday of my beautiful niece, Natalie, on February 5th. I got to Skype with her (well, more like watch her play and run around in all her adorableness) before Val and I left for our anniversary celebration in Seoul and it made my day. Happy half birthday Natalie! While we’re on the subject of birthdays, I can’t leave out the birthdays of 2 of my college gals Lauren and Catherine, on Feb 5th and 6th, respectively. Happy Birfday!

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Saturday afternoon I had a pancake party with Blythe and Michelle to celebrate us all turning one year older at Lunar New Year/I had a huge unopened bag of pancake mix/who needs an occasion for pancakes? We made chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes and drank mamosas and caught up with each other. Today, Sunday, I decided to attempt to make Ja Jang Myun, a dish that we love to go out and get at the Chinese restaurant down the road. A huge bowl of Ja Jang Myun (noodles with black bean sauce, veggies, and pork) usually costs 5,000 won (about 6 bucks) and it’s always a treat. Wanting to try something new and to have something special to eat on our actual anniversary, I looked up the recipe online and bought ingredients. The only thing I had trouble finding at the store was cornstarch, an ingredient listed on the recipe that came from an American recipe website. It didn’t occur to me that cornstarch might not be available here since unlike most food consumed in the U.S., Korean food does not consist of a lot of corn. The only starch available was potato starch, so I got that instead and it worked fine. There’s an example of a difference you don’t think about until you get to a foreign country. The Ja Jang Myun final product was OK. It definitely didn’t taste like the restaurant one, but it wasn’t bad for the first attempt. I was glad to have tried to made a new dish and now I have tons of leftovers which I froze for later. Yay!

During my low-key weeks at work, I decided to start following through with my New Years Resolution of learning Korean. I can now read and write Hanguel (Korean), but right now it’s just like how I am with Hebrew. Thanks to years of Hebrew school, I can read Hebrew but I have no idea what I’m reading. So once I get the reading and writing down spat I’m going to start learning vocabulary. I’m getting better and better every day since I have lots of opportunities to practice. I proudly announced to my family that and I’m learning a new vocabulary word a day (to which my sister replied, “just like Natalie!”). Hey now. Korean is hard. I’m taking baby steps (no pun intended). So far, I know how to say,
• Hello, goodbye, yes, no
• thank you (kamshaminda/komapsomida/kumawo) –depends on who you’re talking to/the situation
• it does not exist, it’s not here (a very helpful phrase, actually) (opseyo)
• It’s OK (kincheneyo)- also very useful
• foreigner (waygook)
• old man (adjoshi) and old woman (ajouma) –respectful phrases that you use to address an old man or woman
• friend (chingu)
• boy, girl (namja, ohja)- so namja chingu is boyfriend, ohja chingu is girlfriend
• I would like (_________ juseyo)
• Station (yuk)
• Police station (kyon chal so) – this one I know because my apartment is near a police station and to get home in a taxi I tell the driver the name of the station)
• Teacher (sunsaenim)
• Middle school (cho hakyo)
• Bus (buseh)
• Taxi (taxshi)
* It's cold (choowohyo)- very useful also!
• I’m full (pebulo/pebuloyo)
• Eat well (chow moh kashamida), I ate well (chow moh kaysamida)- like “bon appetite”
• Earring (ki-gori)
• Relax (Iwah) – I learned this from yoga
• Forehead (Imahn)-also from yoga

I’d say it’s a pretty impressive list. And it’s quite helpful to have some vocabulary now and I feel a little better being around by myself now that I can at least read the bus signs or write out names of places I need to go if I’m lost. And now that I understand the Korean language better, I can find I can also learn more words faster. So maybe soon I can beat Natalie’s rate of one word a day!

Speaking of yoga (the last couple words on my list reminded me), my yoga teacher is SO sweet and bought me a bracelet. When I arrived at class last week she brought me a small, wrapped box and inside was a bracelet with wooden beads and a slight aroma. My yoga teacher, remember, who doesn’t speak English, managed to tell me that they are Indian beads and the perfume is “good for health”, a phrase I hear Koreans say a lot, especially women. Spicy food: “good for health”, eating live octopus (my friend Melodie did it once): “good for health”, fresh air “good for health”. Hah. Anyway, I was so humbled that my teacher bought me a gift. She is so sweet. I only have a few more sessions left with her but I think I’m going to sign up for another one. It was a bargain and I always feel great after.

I finally have my camera back so soon I will upload pics from the past week onto Facebook so y’all can see them. Thinking of many of my family and friends in the Midwest and East Coast who are buried under feet of snow! That’s all, folks!

Cheers,
Mel