Election Day

Two more days off of work this week. It's kind of strange having so many teaching days canceled so close together-- and inconvenient, since we are nearing the end of the semester and there doesn't ever quite seem to be enough time to accomplish all that is required. But, given how busy I am right now both at work and with other responsibilities, it has been helpful in a way to get a little bit of time to devote to planning, prioritizing and organizing. I feel a bit more on top of things, and not as much like I am playing catch-up.

Another perk of the vacation days-- they mark the end of Korea's very... um, Korean?... campaigning process for local elections. Tomorrow is Election day (by the way, try saying that with a Korean accent-- l's are r's-- and that's what I've been hearing all week), which is treated as a national holiday, giving everyone the day off in order to take away any excuse not to vote.

Election season is much shorter here than what we experience in the US, but it packs a bit more of a punch. For the past few weeks, every street corner, subway station and open public space has been filled with people, mostly middle-aged, in various *matching neon-colored outfits* doing *choreographed dances and cheers* in front of giant screens that display the face of their chosen candidate. Yep. I'm really sorry I don't have pictures or video to share this phenomenon with you, but if you are picturing it and it looks more than slightly ridiculous, you are probably imagining it correctly. Now add to that image fleets of oddly designed colorful trucks that drive up and down the streets blaring music and rhetoric, most often manned by a pair of women-- dressed of course in their candidate's signature color-- riding in the back to dance, wave, smile and bow at every passer-by... and there you have a pretty accurate picture of my daily surrounding for the past month.

I've definitely enjoyed it while it's lasted, and I definitely think I will equally enjoy it when it is over.

:)


UPDATE: Here are a few photos of Korean election campaigners that I stole from a friend. They don't completely give an adequate picture of the phenomenon I described, but they do give a small taste.

Happy Birthday Buddha

I think Korea in May has the greatest number of holidays that I have ever experienced in a single month. Not that I'm complaining.

This past Friday we had the day off (once again) for Buddha's birthday-- a very festive day in a country that has historically been largely Buddhist. Around 15-20 percent of the population currently identifies Buddhism as their religion, but the cultural impact of the Buddhist tradition, especially prior to the relatively recent rise of Christianity in Korea, is much more widespread than these numbers suggest. Festivals surrounding this holiday, considered by many Buddhist's to be the most important holiday in their tradition, have lasted the better half of the month-- the largest being Seoul's Lotus Lantern Festival.


I spent most of the day in Samcheon-dong, home to Bongeun Temple, where, as a part of the festival, the monks featured a colorful exhibition of handmade traditional lanterns. The streets in Samcheon-dong have long been my favorite place in Seoul to spend a laid-back afternoon of shopping or just general meandering. The neighborhood is a seamless melding together of historical Korean landmarks, districts and homes with quaint galleries, shops, cafes and restaurants that often give off (what I imagine to be) a rather European feel.


There are also numerous "tea gardens" in the area, which offer the setting of a traditional Korean tea house, while allowing patrons to enjoy the open air and a beautiful view of traditional homes- or even a Joseon-dynasty palace- against the backdrop of low Korean mountains. I soaked in the view while sipping on strawberry flavored "five-taste tea," a sweet drink made from the fruit of the Chinese magnolia vine, chilled and served with ice cubes that had tiny flower buds frozen inside.

It was lovely, and I don't know that I could have come up with a more idyllic way to have spent the holiday. Days like Friday leave me thoroughly convinced that moving into Seoul when I return to Korea would be the right choice for me.

The Dark Underbelly of Teacher's Day

The Month of Family, as May is often referred to in Korea, includes Children's Day, Parent's Day, and finally Teacher's Day on May 15th. The inclusion of teachers in a month set aside to honor the most intimate and foundational of social systems reflects the high regard with which the teaching profession has long been held in Korean society. And while this sentiment may be waning somewhat among younger generations, teachers are still widely acknowledged as one of the most important influences on a young person's development and ability to succeed in life. Teacher's Day is a day set apart to acknowledge the hard work that teachers invest in the future of the nation.

The respect and honor traditionally shown to teachers has, of course, a direct correlation to the extraordinarily high emphasis placed on education in Korea-- something I have mentioned here many times before. And with the exponential rise in educational and professional competition featuring so prominently in South Korea's recent history, it comes as no surprise that this enthusiasm and competitiveness has infiltrated the celebration of Teacher's Day as well.

My extensive Wikipedia research on the subject [;)] returned the following...

Originally [Teacher's Day in Korea] was started by a group of red-cross youth team members who visited their sick ex-teachers at hospitals. The national celebration ceremony had been stopped between 1973 and 1982 and it resumed after that. On the celebration day, teachers are usually presented with carnations by their students, and both enjoy a shorter school day. Ex-students pay their respects to the former teachers by visiting them and handing them a carnation. Many schools now close on Teacher's Day because of the rampant bribery implicit in the expensive gifts often given to teachers.

At my own school, Teacher's Day is treated just as any other school day, a conscious decision having been made to avoid any school-wide celebration or endorsement of the day for exactly the reason mentioned above-- bribery and extravagant gifts have in the past caused scandal and dissension among the parents and within the community.

As a native English-speaking teacher with little say over the children's grades, I am fortunately not impacted by these kinds of politics, and for me it has proved a sweet day. Knowing that they will not see me tomorrow (school is held every other Saturday, but I only work Monday through Friday on any given week), a few of my students have given me gifts of cards, candy, and various little origami creations. They also asked to sing for me in class this morning, and while I know that atleast 80% of their motivation in this was to avoid having to do work for the day, it nonetheless put a smile on my face.

April Fool

So, apparently I give off the "I'm gullible" vibe across all cultures...

Today is April Fool's day, and it's a day that is just as popular and well loved here in Korea as it is in the States. Knowing this, and given that I work with *middle school* kids, you would think I would have been a little more cautious and at least somewhat skeptical of anything that seemed a bit out of order today. But, no.

Every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon after school I have an extra class with about 18 of the 3rd grade (think 9th grade) boys. They are a great group-- always very active, eager to pay attention and willing to participate in making class creative, fun and productive. They are some of my favorite kids in the school, mainly because they are some of the few with whom I have actually managed to forge strong relationships.

Today, though, when the bell rang to start class, they were all standing in the hallway right outside of the classroom. A little annoyed, I opened up the door to tell them to hurry up and come in. One of the students came in and told me that one of the other English teachers had sent him to ask me to come to see him in his office. A few other students nodded in confirmation. I was surprised but went looking for the teacher anyway. I checked his office and he wasn't there, so I stopped another teacher in the hall to ask if she knew where he was.

Needless to say, I quickly figured out that he had NOT in fact asked to see me, and was reminded between laughs that it was April 1st. When I came back to the classroom, the boys were all sitting in their chairs quietly, hands folded in their laps with angelic little wide-eyed smiles on their faces. "Teacher, find him?"

A perfect April Fools prank-- not so serious or big, but still managed to make me look foolish in a big way. A number of things about the situation should have tipped me off (like, why the pre-class huddle? and why would this particular teacher want to see me when we hadn't spoken all week? and during class no less?) but never once did it even cross my mind that the kids were not being one hundred percent honest with me.

They completely got me, and it was great. :D

My only regret is not having been prepared with a prank of my own. But after this experience, if I'm still here for this day next year, I've definitely got something big in mind.

White Day

Yet another in a long string of relationship-related holidays in Korea, today was White Day-- the day guys finally reciprocate the affection showered on them this same time last month.




Ahh, so much commercialized love all around.

The 14th of next month, which is pathetically called Black Day, will be dedicated to the singles. But rather than being a day of celebration as it has been in the past couple months, this 14th will be marked by groups of singles gathering to eat jajang-- chinese noodles with a black sauce-- and bemoaning the misery that is their relationship status.




Oh, Korea.

Double the Holiday Love

First of all, Happy Belated *Seolentines* Day!

For those of you who have no idea what I mean (most of you?), that would be Happy Seolal, aka Korean Lunar New Year, and Happy Valentines Day, all wrapped up in one! The two holidays happened to fall on the same day this year, which meant it was a day doubly filled with love for families and friends. And I felt particularly blessed because I had two of the people I love most in the world here to celebrate it with me. :)

Valentine's day has always been a favorite day of mine. Before you start rolling your eyes and jumping on my back for buying into the comercialized hype, let me tell you I will be the first to admit that the whole concept is completely cliched and contrived, and, in fact, my love for the holiday has nothing to do with a desire to be romanced. Rather, I simply love being given the excuse to indulge in overflowing and absurdly ridiculous amounts of girliness for one whole day out of the year. In all honesty, I think that I would probably live my entire life twirling around in a display of pink and red hearts if that were at all socially acceptable, so it is quite fortunate for me that Valentine's day provides an outlet to express my deep appreciation for ubercheesy prettiness and all things tackily feminine.

Even more importantly, though, on Valentines Day it becomes completely appropriate-- in a way that it is not on any other day of the year-- to be extravagantly effusive in expressing your affection for the people you care about, and that is something that I absolutely *love*.

Not suprisingly, Korea, with its booming "couple culture," has fully embraced this particular holiday as well. Everywhere I turned on VDay I was faced with couples in matching outfits bearing gifts of flowers and chocolates for one another. In Korea, Valentine's day in mostly an opportunity for women to shower the men in their lives with lots of love and gifts (don't worry, the men get their turn to reciprocate next month on "White Day"), but I definitely witnessed the love flowing both ways.

In spite of all this, though, Valentines day was still a bit of a sidenote this past Sunday; mainly because it was so overshadowed by the importance of Seolal. The Lunar New Year is the biggest festival day of the year here in Korea and a time for families to travel to their hometowns and spend quality time with relatives. It's akin to the way we might view and celebrate Christmas in the States. (Side note: It was particularly sweet for me to have not just distant family here with me on this Korean family holiday, but my own siblings. I know I said it once already in this post, but I cannot say enough just how grateful I am for the time they have gotten to spend here!)

The Lunar New Year is also the day that everyone in Korea officially ages one year. I thought about skipping out on the traditional ricecake soup (deok guk) that is typically eaten on the holiday, because I was always told by my mother growing up that without eating it I wouldn't be able to become a year older, but in the end I couldn't resist-- deok guk has always been one of my favoriteeee Korean foods, and I just couldn't muster up the will power.

Yum.

Ah, well... I guess being 24 is not *so* bad. And atleast now I can rest easy knowing that I have secured good fortune for myself for the rest of the year :)

*All* my love,
M.E.

메리 크리스마스!!

I hope that all of you at home had a WONDERFUL Christmas. I really appreciated the cards, phonecalls and emails-- so sweet to know that you were thinking of me, even though I am so far away :) I had an absolutely FANTASTIC Christmas. It was very low key, but full to the brim with warmth, friends and love.



Top 5 Highlights

5. Nertz
I hope I got the spelling right. This is a card game that a couple friends in my bible study introduced to me for the first time at our Christmas Eve sleepover. They explained it as group Solitaire + Speed. Google it if you aren't familiar. I was absolutely terrible-- we were playing to a hundred (first person to get to 100 points wins) and at the end of the game, my score was -5. I had a lot of fun, though, and next time if I end up on the positive side, I'm calling it a victory.

4. The Grinch and Elf
Two Christmas classics. It was fun to guage our Korean friends' reaction to Dr. Seuss and Will Ferrell.


3. Christmas Eve music at Dongsan Church
The night featured, among many other things, a Korean rendition of Avalon's "Testify to Love," an uptempo version of "Joyful, joyful" performed by our English service praise team, a group of ajumas in pink angel outfits doing a choreographed dance, a boy playing the saxophone while zipping through the crowd on roller skates, and a bunch of three year olds singing and stomping around in bedazzled green and pink dutch looking costumes (one of them even got so excited bopping up and down to the music that she tumbled off the stage mid-performace... she popped right back up unphased and kept doing her thing, though). It is times like these that I really wish I had my camera to share the wonderfulness that is Korea with you all.

2. Skype, Sleepovers, and Singing
The best part about my first Christmas away from home is that I didn't feel sad or lonely at any point. Not only was I able to skype my entire family (multiple times) and hear all of their sweet voices praying and singing together on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I also got to have back-to-back sleepovers with two great groups of people here in Ansan. It was wonderful to get to wake up surrounded by my bible study group on Christmas morning and to all head to church together. And my Christmas Day sleepover at the Dow's that evening was especially precious, because AP and I stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. singing and listening to Christmas carols (the guys joined us for about two songs, before moving on to video games). It was a sweet blessing, and a great way to end my first Christmas experience in Korea, because singing Christmas songs together is probably the one single part of celebrating with my family that I have always treasured most.

1. Spending quality time with the birthday boy
I know it's cheesy, but I love Christmas and I love Jesus. And I had a really great time thanking Him for being born :)

FaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa

Christmas is only 3 short days away!!

I am so excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus for the first time ever in South Korea!

For those interested, here are a few random tidbits about Christmas in Korea...

Christmas here is an opportunity for Chrisitians to go to church and for dating couples to have (yet another) Valentine's day-type celebration.

Families don't get together for Christmas.

The main gift given on Christmas is cash.

Sometimes, Santa wears blue instead of red.





PS. This Christmas season my thoughts are with my family and all of the other people in North Korea who are struggling day in and day out to survive this winter, and who either don't know that it is Christmas, or who are forced to celebrate in hiding. Check out my other blog, and join my family and me in remembering and praying for the people of North Korea this Christmas.

Happy Holidays: Belated Thanksgiving Cheer

I realize that this is my second Thanksgiving-related post, but I just couldn't help myself. This past Turkey Day surprised me by ranking up there with one of the best that I have ever had.

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I fully anticipated being completely miserable on the day, locking myself in my apartment and crying over Skype. The holiday is always very special because it is a really big deal for my family and me, so I figured I would be feeling quite homesick on my first Thanksgiving away from them-- especially since I'm living in a land where no one really even cares that some pilgrims once sat down to eat with some Native American Indians (I know, weird, right? :P).

However, when I woke up last Thursday, I felt immediately happy and thankful, just like I had on every other Thanksgiving for the past 22 years. At work, one of my coworkers even commented on how excessively smiley and chipper I was. I simply sang back in my very happiest happy-Mary voice, "That's because it's Thanksgiving!"

After school I came home to shower and watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" before heading to a potluck dinner some American friends of mine were hosting. I went over to their place early and got to assist with setting up, laying the table and preparing mashed potatoes, salad, and deviled eggs-- which made me much happier than it probably should have, but it just felt like such a wonderfully homey and festive thing to be doing. The group ended up bringing together an amazing spread, which included blackberry merlot and pumpkin pie for desert. We all ate way too much, and I had a lot of fun explaining to my Korean and South African friends what Thanksgiving was like for me at home.

Then, the next morning, I got to wake up knowing that it was still Thanksgiving in the US. So lucky me got to celebrate for 36 hours instead of 24! It was a seriously great feeling :)

And, on top of everything, I still had SUNDAY to look forward to. A church that a friend of mine attends hosted a traditional, good ole' fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner that night at Yongsan Army base in Seoul. Stepping on to the base, I actually felt like I had been transported home to the US for the evening. This second Thanksgiving dinner supplied everything that my first had been missing-- namely turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Plus, it allowed me to celebrate Thanksgiving with yet another great group of people, which was pretty special too.

The Army base was decorated in true American fashion with tons of twinkly lights, Santas, and giant Christmas trees-- so what better place to pose for a holiday card style photo? Below is a picture of our group, contentedly stuffed to the brim with turkey and dressing, putting on our best smiles of holiday cheer for YOU, dear family and friends!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
With Love From South Korea!

Happy Turkey Day!

Living in a foreign country and dealing with unfamiliar, often uncomfortable and sometimes frustrating occurrences on a regular basis, it can be easy to lose sight of just what a truly awesome blessing it is that I am here. So with Thanksgiving just a few hours away in the US, I am taking a moment to reflect on a few of the things that I am thankful for in Korea specifically.

Posted as a timely reminder to myself, here is a short list of five HUGE blessings that have come as a result of my being in Korea, in no particular order...

1. Meeting and getting to know family who I would have never otherwise had the opportunity to get to know

2. Growing relationships with precious friends here who have kept me grounded and encouraged by consistently speaking wisdom into my life

3. (Re)learning the depth of my need to rely on God's grace

4. Experiencing a different culture, and learning and growing from those experiences daily

5. Becoming connected to a part of my identity-- the Korean part-- that I had never been able to truly identify with while living in America

And none of these wonderful things would be happening to me had I not decided to come to Korea-- so I am also very thankful to all of you who encouraged me to go and who have helped me along the way. I really am truly and unbelievably blessed... :)

***
PS. I've been watching this video sent to me by a friend to help me get in the Thanksgiving day mood... Makes me smile everytime!

Happy Pepero Day!

Pepero. You might know them as Pocky sticks-- the Japanese version more commonly sold in the states.

Growing up my mom would often purchase these little chocolate covered sesame sticks from the Oriental food market as special treats for my sister and me. One year, I in turn gave them out as valentines to my class, excited to be able to give something somewhat unique that would share my Korean-ness with my friends.

It wasn't until coming to Korea, though, that I discovered there is actually an entire holiday devoted solely to the giving and recieving of the tasty little treats.

Today, November 11th, or 11.11 (imagine 4 pepero sticks lined up neatly in a row), marks the celebration of the unoffical but wide-spread Korean holiday Pepero Day. On this day, friends, family and sweethearts exchange boxes of Pepero as a show of affection. It is similar to Valentine's day-- but the vibe I get is a little more playful, and a little less romantic. The boxes of Pepero, of course, are specially decorated with hearts and flowers to promote the holiday. There are even giant gift baskets and stuffed Pepero toys for those who really want to go all out.


It's quite impressive what a bit of clever marketing can do-- the holiday has really taken off, and I was told that nearly 50% of Lotte's Pepero sales happen in November, despite the fact that it has obviously been entirely contrived by the candy's makers just for that purpose. And a number of other retailers are capitalizing on the Pepero Day hype as well by giving out free Pepero with every purchase. Even at the bank earlier this morning, I was greeted by a tall glass full of Pepero sticks sitting on the counter.

Turns out, though, that despite all the obvious enthusiasm in the stores and on the streets, the Korean goverment is not so happy with the holiday, and for the past 3 years have been making a big push to promote the exchange of Garaetteok (Korea's traditional rice cake sticks) instead of Pepero, in order to raise domestic rice consumption. Read about their efforts here.

Noble cause, I suppose, but if the excitement that my middle school students (and co-teachers) express over giving and recieving Pepero is any indication, I'm just not sure that rice cake will be able to compete.

Boo!

Halloween this year came and went for me without much notice. As much as I love anything to do with fall and pumpkins and seeing kids and animals dressed up in cute outfits, I've never been that into celebrating the holiday myself (well, except for in college, but that is mainly because festivities on Franklin Street were kind of an obligatory part of the UNC experience :) ). And, being that Halloween is a Western tradition, it's not such a big deal to Koreans either. Yes, many English language hagwons held Halloween parties where the younger kids had the opportunity to go trick-or-treating-- even my own students, who are between the ages of 14 and 17, mind you, came up to me in the halls yelling "trick or treat" and hoping for candy-- and many young people, both foreigners and Koreans, who frequent the Itaewon and Hongdae bar scenes in Seoul did dress up in costumes for a night of celebration and bar hopping. However, aside from these instances where Western and American culture is "in," Halloween is not generally celebrated in Korea. Which is fine by me.

However, when I saw this pic of a friend of mine from the States who dressed up as an Asian tourist, I just had to post it.


So on point-- captures the stereotype perfectly.

Made me wonder if anyone here in Korea has ever dressed up as a Western tourist for Halloween, and what exactly that costume would entail. Based on what I know of Korean stereotypes about Americans, I imagine they might don a nasty pair of flip-flops, a worn-out backpack and a rather sizable beer gut...

Happy Chuseok!

This past weekend was Chuseok, or the Full Moon Harvest Celebration-- one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. Emerging as a custom of ancient agrarian society, it is the day that Koreans have traditionally set aside to give thanks to their ancestors for the year's harvest and to share their abundance with neighbors, family and friends.

I celebrated Chuseok with family in the neighboring city of Suwon. Customarily, on Chuseok morning families hold memorial services for their ancestors and visit ancestral graves, but the family members that I stayed with are not so traditional. Celebrating Chuseok with them was much more like celbrating Thanksgiving at home. We spent the majority of the day simply enjoying one anothers company, eating a lot, playing Go-Stop, watching TV and playing the Wii-- in fact, just substitue Rook for Go-Stop and add in a family football game, and it would sound exactly the same as a Reese-Green-Hooke family Thanksgiving.

The representative foods of Chuseok are freshly harvested rice, fresh fruits, and songpyeon, a tasty kind of rice cake. Click on the photo to read more about the varieties of songpyeon-- from acorn, to pumpkin, to clam-- and to see the recipe for making it at home.


I also visited Hwaseong Palace and Hangook Minseokcheon Korean Folk Village while staying with my family for Chuseok. Both are sort-of open air museums displaying how Koreans lived in the past and are common tourist attractions, so I first assumed my family was only visiting them for my benefit. However, there were actually a ton of people-- and only a few appeared to be foreigners-- who were touring these places with their families on Chuseok. I guess it makes sense; after all, Chuseok is a day to give thanks, but also to remember your ancestors and celebrate your history.

Many of the families who were out had younger children with them and were dressed in colorful hanboks, or traditional Korean clothing, which was fun to see. Hanboks are so beautiful-- and I have decided that that is the one and only souvenier that I want to bring back home with me from Korea. I'll just have to make sure to get my hambok before Seollal (New Years), though, because that is Korea's next big holiday and will be one of my only legitimate chances to wear it here. I'm definitely already looking forward to experiencing it :)