Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Christmas in Korea


Hongdae
Originally uploaded by MacKensie!.

Korean reindeer saying hi at a party.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

True Story

This will be somewhat out of order but I must start with the Russian dance club story.

I went out to Itaewon (the crazy, foreigner, party part of town) with fellow American girls Meghan and Laura last night. Our friend, Vlad, who is from Uzbekistan and speaks fluent Russian, recommended some Russian bars near Hooker Hill (no explanation needed for that one, huh?). We thought it would be fun and interesting to check one out and it was... but nutty!

As soon as we turn on to the street we started to get a lot of attention and as we went up the stairs a group of older Russian men tried to join us entering the club, trying to take our jackets and such. We try to politely blow them off but they were apparently in it for the long haul because it took us hours to shake them. One man took a particular interest in me (god knows why, I didn't even speak to him) so he seats himself in the empty chair directly across from me, his friend pulls up a stool and proceeds with "My friend, he thinks you are beautiful... My friend, he wishes to know where are you from.... My friend, he would like to buy you drinks....." All this with his friend nodding and smiling to me. It was amusing for about a second but it got old real fast. They got more and more aggressive even though we totally ignored their existence at our table (we did move a few times but these guys were like the Borg, resistance is futile). Then, loverboy starts trying to feed me peanuts from his hand... his hand! And getting angry when I spurned the offer, I also rejected the drinks he set in front of me and the bouquet of flowers he procured. It was nuts. I told his friend they needed to go away and leave me alone, he basically said no. I said I had a boyfriend, they said they didn't see him around, so they didn't care. I'm sure you're wondering why we didn't leave but other than these two creeps we were having a blast. It was a sea of men from Russia, Korea, and Central Asia doing something along the lines of the Electric Slide to techno music. There weren't many women, definitely not other American ones. An Asian/Eurasian cultural thing is that men and women don't mix much on the dance floor. It is very fun and exciting for them when clueless chicks like us try to join them in dancing. They were loving it. When we sat, the men danced for us, like it was a show or something. So weird! I managed to get a song played by my favorite Russian band (yes, I'm a weirdo and I listen to Russian music), I even tested out my tiny bits of Russian on the bartenders. I didn't dance much as loverboy would always try to join me. We were poised to ditch the place at any point if loverboy got out of hand and sadly, it did come to that. I stood by the dancefloor to pose for a picture when a man literally whisked me on to the floor for a dance. He did not bother with the niceties of asking if I was interested or offering his hand or anything. We danced for a bout two seconds (my friends kindly photodocumented this event) when loverboy tried to fight him! It was awful, we grabbed our stuff to go and loverboy actually grabbed my arm and tried to keep me back! I flipped. It was a bummer. We went to another Russian place and proceeded to spend the rest of the evening dancing with Pakistani businessmen. We actually started out the evening at the Salsa club with the Peruvians, way too exciting a night!

Friday night was the company Christmas party which was just a nice lunch before work and then endless treats throughout the day. It's very Christmasy here. About 30% of Koreans are Christians and of course lots of non-Christians celebrate Christmas for fun. There's decorations and music everywhere. After work Kay, Meghan, Michael, and I went to see the new James Bond movie (good stuff) and he showed us his favorite hangout, Bar Anderson, nearby. It was a cute bar with a flair show, when they're all throwing bottles around and setting things on fire. It was a good time. Besides being incorporated into the show we also got free scarves and t-shirts. I have no idea why but people are always trying to give foreigners things here. Works for me!

It snowed last weekend! It only stuck around for a day but it was fun, about 3 inches.

Some bathrooms here have an "etiquette bell" it's a button you push in the stall that makes a fake flushing noise to drown out any embarrasing noises. Haha!

My Korean lessons are going well but they're tough, 70 words a week! I succesfully called in a food order by myself the other day and when the delivery guy got lost and had to call me, I understood him and directed him! Yay!!!!

new pics are up on flickr, I'll update this again soon.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Is it winter yet?

It got really cold and now it's warm again. I even wore my fall jacket yesterday. Probably won't last long though.

So, Heidi is really gone now and I'm sad because she was definitely a good friend. Johnny will still be here for a week so we might go out Saturday. It must be weird to leave after spending six years here.

The new teacher, Meghan, is really cool and we're getting along great. We went out to a show last weekend (when I say show I'm refering to live local bands) and had a blast. It's nice actually having places to go and knowing people. We met an interesting man (actually a few) but this guy was named Vlad. He's ethnically Korean, so looks Korean, but was born and raised in Uzbekistan. He's a third generation Russian and Russian is his native language. It was quite odd talking to someone who looked Korean and sounded Russian all night. Anyway he and his fiance, Katie, from New Zealand were cool. The local bands here are great. I love going to see shows because then it's not just about sitting at a bar and drinking, it's about watching the music, dancing, and talking about the music. Much more social and fun. And if you don't know anyone or don't want to talk, then just relax and listen! Perfection. There's lots of Western bands, most of the members being fellow English teachers, but there's a smattering of Korean rock bands as well and they're all really fun.

I'm still having food adventures and still haven't gotten sick from anything (I'm never this lucky). The funniest is when you think you're ordering something Western and then it has something unexpected added to it. Like; ham and cheese sandwiches with strawberry jam, ice cream with candy, fruit, and tomatoes on top, a hot dog with mayonaisse and sugar... stuff like that. It doesn't bother me too much though.

My students are still cracking me up all the time. They're always saying funny things. The oldest kids are the best because they totally get my sense of humor now and they have enough English skills to joke around. How scary is it that I'm the one teaching them about Western humor and culture. They're going to be such nerds! Haha.

The younger kids were harder at first but I think I have the hang of it now. I have to act like a total fool sometimes to keep their attention, but it works. Their thing right now is to say the opposite of what I say- "Wow, it's pretty cold today, isn't it?"--"No, teacher. it's hot. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" yeah, hysterical. At least they've caught on to opposities. I also have this one-on-one, Tim who is pretty much only involved in class if I make everything about monkeys and robots. In a big class I wouldn't indulge this but my life has been easier since I started letting him write "The monkey has a cold. We should call Dr. robot!" whatever.

Nothing much is going on, same old, same old. There are a bunch of parties during the holidays which will be cool. The three of us Americans at school are going to spend Christmas day together, basically eating and watching movies all day. I have a party to go to for New Years Eve and.... this is exciting.... I'm entered in an ice fishing competition in January. More updates later.

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Love you guys! --MacKensie

Sunday, December 03, 2006

OK, I've been crazy busy so here's the highlights:

- I did a little bit of volunteer work with the National Museum of Seoul It was just checking the English translations on their exhibits. Not too bad, I met some cool people and I have officially read every information panel in the museum.

-Heidi (my coworker and best friend here) is leaving this week. The new girl, Meghan, just got here from America and seems really cool.

-One of Heidi's going away parties was a last dinner at the Peruvian restaurant. Some of the guys at our table were musicians so we got to hear some really cool live Peruvian music. They love hearing about what Andrew's up to over there and are always asking for updates.

-I found the music scene in Seoul and have been to a bunch of cool shows. I felt like I've met a million people in the past few weeks and they've all been great. Lot's of Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders but other nationalities too. Everyone's been really friendly.

-I started Korean lessons on Sundays. My classmates are a couple of Med Students from Mongolia. They're awesome!

- Heidi and I went to a sauna yesterday and tried "cupping." It's meant to draw toxins out of your body. These weird suction cups are applied all over your back, they sit for 15-20 minutes and they suck god-knows-what liquids out of your body. Then you're given a back massage. It leaves big round bruises on your back for a week or two. We just thought it would be interesting and it was. Only slightly painful at first and then it felt good. I'd probably do it again sometime. They recommend following it with this "sand bath" where you're buried to your neck in hot sand for half an hour. Maybe next time. The massage ladies were Chinese so it was cool talking to them as well.

- alright, that's all the cool stuff lately. Classes are fine, I still love my students. I have a new one-on-one class with the most adorable 7 year old ever. She's missing half her front teeth and although her English is pretty elementary she loves to talk anyway so we have lots of fun.

OK, I miss everyone! Love you!
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