Slide Show

Hi again everyone!

Someone (who shall remain nameless) was moaning that I don't put enough pictures on my blog.  So!  I am going to put up a whole bunch of pictures from the weeks and weeks and weeks gone by, when I have neglected to post.  Here you go. 

OK - before the pics, I'll tell you about what I did today.  I've been sick for a while (with strep throat) BUT I got antibiotics and am feeling so much better now.  Good thing, because it was SPA day!  My friend Lucia (Korean) took Rosalie and I out of town to what she described as a beautiful hot spring in the mountains.  It was that.  Now, what Lucia left out was that it was basically a beautiful amusement park of hot springs in the mountains.  I have never seen anything like this!  I WISH I could have taken my camera, I really wanted to show you guys.  Anyway, picture the water park at Canada's Wonderland, including the crazy slides.  Now add about 20 little rooms, with various themes, like Jazz music, Asian traditional, TV room, couples room (we didn't venture in there), etc etc. And add the most beautiful sauna you've ever seen (it was marble).  Now put it all outside on a mountain.  Now make it all hot water... including the water slides.  That was my day!   

Most of these pics come from Seoul, the capital of South Korea.  

Why not?

Building the giant Hannukiah - Roger is in beige, Tobi (the girl who so wonderfully lets me stay at her place in Seoul) is in the red, and I don't really know the guy in blue.  He's from Israel, and he didn't speak a lot of English.  

Korean t-shirts often have English writing on them.  A lot of the time, something is lost in translation...

This is one of the best things about Korea.  Notice that in the same store, you can buy underwear, winter coats, clothes, books, and music.  This is in the main Seoul subway station.  

This was taken just outside the Daejeon Cultural Center.  It's right outside my school, which is awesome because it's a gorgeous building and houses a ton of performances.  I've seen 3 so far, including a phenomenal Chinese Ballet (performed by the National Chinese Ballet on tour).  It was one of the most beautiful shows I've ever seen.

Tina and I at Monkey Beach...  it's a bar in Seoul where you get buckets of alcohol.  Eeeeeeep!

Inside the secret garden in Seoul.

Also inside the secret garden.  Top left is Tina, middle is Connie, then me, Rosie is bottom right and Rachel is bottom left.

There was this cool tree cared into a dragon!

Purty.

This was taken inside a secret garden in the middle of Seoul.   It's really neat because the city is a huge, bustling, kind of grey and smelly place, and suddenly you can turn the corner and enter this lush, green, beautiful garden.  There were lots of people there, but it was still a peaceful escape.

They really do Tai Chi in the park.  Actually, they'll do Tai Chi pretty much anywhere.

Me and Lucia with one of many, many crazy cartoon-y statues around Seoul.

Me and Rosie

This is the Seoul Tower....  kinda cool, eh?  Dad, I thought you might be interested in this one.

So that's my picture show!  They got out of order when I uploaded them, so it's a little mumbo-jumbo.  Sorry about that!

Hope you all had a great week and a Happy Chanukah/Merry Christmas!  Enjoy New Years next week!  I'll be going back to Seoul, and will hopefully have some more pics for you.  

Much love, xox

Lisa

Mianheyo!! (I'm sorry!!!!)

I think this girl is going to be a Mafia boss one day.  She's badass.  And beats up the boys.

This is stuart.  He's a pumpkin.

Jeremy

Jenny learned about static electricity.   What's amazing is that she can say "static electricity" five times fast.  Yeah, I made them do it for my amusement.

Sally

A traditional Korean meal, Bulgogi.  Ashley, Verona, Kathy and I (Korean friends) went to a mountain, Sorak-San just outside of Daejeon.  We ate outside in November!  The number of side dishes is completely normal.  This picture doesn't actually capture them all.

Yup.  You can eat larvae here. Mmmmmmm.

This temple is known for it's serenity, especially in winter.  I am thinking of coming here for a temple stay (weekend meditation) in February.

The painted detail on the temple roof is amazing.  These colours are traditional and have special meaning in Buddhism, and all Buddhist temples use the same floral design lining the roofs.  Many also hang a wooden fish for good luck.

Hi!

So after 5 posts, I reverted to my normal, out-of-touch self, and stopped blogging.  All the prep documents I read before coming here sketched a clear outline of adjustment patterns for foreigners...  Month 1 is culture-shock with excitement, month 2 is figuring stuff out, month 3 is "Oh boy, I'm still here...."  For me, that was bang on.  I think it's part of why I disappeared on the blogging front.. I blame it on the adjustment.  It really has been an interesting couple of months (can you believe I'm in Month number 4 now??  It's officially the longest I've ever been away).  Discovering the social quirks of the foreigner community has been, er, educational... the high turnover rate means there's not really a stable group, and the dynamic is constantly shifting.  Finding my own place within a group that is so inconsistent was an unexpected challenge.  It helped a lot to discover that I was not the only one experiencing this... almost everyone seems to go through it here.  Anyway, things have settled really well for me now!  I'm definitely finding my groove.  

Things are good here.  I've got a pretty busy routine, although I'm taking this week off because I've been sick for a while.  I've made some Korean friends, which is pretty cool.  The closest ones are Ashley and Verona.. they take me on day trips to mountains/temples, and help me with a TON of getting-around sort of things.  I edit English papers for them in return.  :)  After dabbling attempts at various martial arts (including Tekeon, Kung Fu, and Tai Chi - which is much harder than we think in the West, it's basically squatting for an hour and a half), I'm learning Tae Kwon Do, taking Korean lessons, going to the gym most days (except this week), and I joined an orchestra.  Between those activities, teaching 9-5 every day, and little day-trips, I keep occupied!

Last weekend I went to Seoul for a pre-Channukah party!  It was REALLY nice to get in touch with the Jewish community in the country, and there's a bunch of young people too.  It was quite an assorted group... some teachers, some professors, and some people here for business.  Even a couple of Isralis (including the ultra-orthadox Rabbi, whose hand I went to shake, to our mutual embarrassment).  I also made plans with some nice Jewish girls, Tobi and Daniella, for New Years... I'm going to do the big site-seeing tour of Seoul, including the DeMilitarized Zone... I can't travel to North Korea anymore because tensions have increased.  Lots of travelers ventured there before late November, but I wouldn't go regardless of the political situation, just because I've heard it isn't worth the money (Kim Jong Il will have to stay "so ronery" for now).    

Lunar New Year (late Jan) is Japan with big brother!!   I'm SOOOOO excited that Jay's coming out here.  YAYYYYY!  I've been reading my Lonely Planet, and I can't wait.

Mmm, what else?  Next week I'm going to a Korean christmas party at my friend's house... tres exciting.  I'm also hosting a "Sooo this is Channukah" party for all the non-Jews (with the other Jewish girl in Daejeon, Melissa...  she grew up in Markham and we're both hoping to be at OISE next year - so strange we met here!).   The party will be complete with dreidles and Channukah napkins (care of Dad and Sarah, thank you thank you thank you!).  I'm also buying "sufkaniot" from Dunkin' Donuts -- yes, they have that here -- and making latkes.   I hope it goes well!  :)

Oh yeah!  I found a few foreigners who like to sing, so we have started a little girl group called The Waygooks on the Block" (Waygooks means Foreigners)...  good times.  The members are me, Rosie, Melissa, Michaela (another good friend), and a new Mexican girl Marianna (super sweet, and my new neighbour!).  Currenty we're working on "The 12 Days of Korea", a brilliant spoof Rosie wrote.  I will send the link for the video when it's complete.  

Well, those are most of the major updates of the last few months.  Please write back to me!  :)

Peace/Anyeong,

Lisa-Teacher

ps. I've been working on my photography "skills"...  what do you think?