Seoul International Marathon, Troy's wedding

We started training today. In the rain. At 9am. But it felt good to get out and run and we did an easy 4 miles. Just add 22 to that and we'll be ready to race! haha. I found out that there's also an Ulsan marathon, which is being held on March 1, so we'll run half of that for training 17 days before the one in Seoul. I've gathered a group of supporters who will come up with us for the weekend (St. Patty's day weekend!!! No Guinness or green beer for us this year) and cheer us on.

Running 4 miles an hour before Hapkido is not, however, quite nice. Vicky and I were definitely feeling the difference in energy level and motivation in class today, but hopefully as we get more and more fit we'll be able to do both with ease. This week we are running 4 days, and we have the weekend off. woo!

One of the reasons we aren't running this weekend is that our good buddy Troy who runs Bench is getting MARRIED!! And I was shocked and delighted to receive an invitation, along with Lee, Hazel, Kate and Lindsay. So now that age-old question arises: What do I wear?! Clearly this means I have to go shopping, but what will I find in Korea? This could be interesting... photos will certainly follow.

It's time to babysit the middle schoolers now - they are having rigorous testing this week and last at their regular schools, so I'm not allowed to teach. Just sit. Thanks to this rule, I finished The Alchemist last week and am onto The Valkyries tonight.

Cheers!

Korean Thanksgiving, hold the kimchi (photos!)

Friday night, as mentioned, was my version of Thanksgiving. After a week of planning, shopping and cooking, I had 8 friends (Kate, Lindsay, Lee, Vicky, Mark Teacher, Michelle, Hazel and Ryan) over to my house for the following menu:

Apple Walnut Stuffing
Linda Dunn-Landolfi's Internationally Reknowned Sweet Potatoes with a Pecan and Brown Sugar Topping
The Ultimate Mashed Potatoes
Alexis' Proper Italian Mama Salad (homemade roasted red peppers marinated in EVOO, garlic and oregano, homemade spicy roasted olives in a tangerine, garlic, chili and EVOO sauce, and fresh totally expensive mozzarella over mixed greens)

...with candied orange peels dipped in chocolate served for dessert, along with Mark Teacher's ice cream cake gift.

My cooking was praised wholeheartedly, and I would like to point out that all of this was done on two burners, six inches of counter space and a portable toaster oven which could handle one small round (smaller than a pie tin) baking dish at a time. Somehow, though, it all came out well and everyone is asking for another 'family' dinner (NJ: Sunday Night Dinners are moving to SK!) . Plus, I had not a single leftover!!

It's quite challenging to plan a dinner party here. For this event, I needed Kate's plates, Lee's bowls, extra silverware and new wine glasses. None of our apartments have more than 3 or 4 of anything, and we all walk/cab/motorbike everywhere, making transport of breakable things a tactical nightmare. Also, as you saw from my photos, the apartments are itty bitty. Luckily, Lee came over and helped me disassemble my bed and prop it against the wall, giving us space to have a nice dining area in my room, on a piece of the bed frame that was a perfect Korean table. A few $1 candles, a string of white lights, 13 bottles of wine and some soft music and we had a Thanksgiving feast!

The plan had been to hit a local jazz bar after eating dinner, but we were all having such a good time hanging out at my place that we never made it out. Thanks to great friends and creative cooking, my Korean Thanksgiving far exceeded my expectations. Now I can focus on planning the Foreigners' Formal Christmas Feast and the New Year's cocktail party :) There's always something in the works.

Hope you Westerners had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday as well - I missed my Stateside traditions, but my Friday night Korean Thanksgiving certainly did its job.

Loves!


Here's some photos Hazel took at the dinner:
http://887420160.slide.com/p/3/Amazing+food?view=True

Seoul Marathon, Tongdo Fantasia, Daegu

Not necessarily in that order...

Last weekend the girls (Lindsay & Kate) and I went to Daegu. Daegu is about 90 minutes away by bus and has a population of 2.5 million, versus Ulsan's 1 million. They also have a Costco{angels singing}... buuuut by Sunday we were too tired to hoof it all around Costco, and since I'm still poor, I wasn't going to buy much anyway. But it's there, and that knowledge makes us happy.

Daegu is known for its textiles and shopping, of which we took advantage on Saturday afternoon. Friday we had taken the 11pm bus from Ulsan and then just stayed in at Agnes' (Lindsay's friend from Canada) apartment with some soju and girl talk. Agnes had to work on Saturday, so she helped us figure out the subway and got us to the shopping area in the afternoon. I could have spent oodles of money there, but limited myself to a sweater and a shirt that says "Carifornia - Santa Monica SURFIN, crazyriotriding wavecrush" on the back, with an elephant on the front. haha. oh, and two pair of earrings that are delightfully funktastic.

While shopping, we ran into a group of foreign guys. Later, we came to know that they were named Matthew, Peter, Peter and Peter. And each Peter was from a different country, which made it even easier! Aussie Peter, Irish Peter and English Peter. (Matthew was also from Australia, but he didn't need a classification). Each very nice in their own way, they are living in Busan and hopefully we'll meet up with them there. Their traveling companion was a wonderful girl named Nettie (although I'm quite aware that the spelling is horribly wrong, at least I have the sound right) who bore a striking resemblence to Keira Knightly, complete with the hat and accent. She and I spent quite awhile chatting in a plush window seat at a bar called "Thunderbird" with our pints of locally brewed beer. Red Rock, I believe it was called. She's married and her husband is not living in Korea... but he does come to visit every few months.

At the same bar, we met up with a friend of Kate's and I made the acquaintence of a girl named Heather who lives in Daegu. She and I hit it off so well that she's coming down to Ulsan this weekend to spend Saturday night out with us. Ulsan is hosting a rugby tourny, and our bar Bench will be the hotspot for the massive influx of foreign rugby guys. That shows the sad state of romance here in Korea- girls are flocking from miles away at the hint of boys! And I played rugby; I love rugby guys, on the field and at the bar... but for a date? Sorry fellas. No thanks.

I just think it'll be great fun to have another girl in our group. Heather's really sweet and it's always nice to have a bit of a change of face. Plus, we intend to head back to Daegu for a weekend after the holiday festivities die down, so it's good to have another apartment to crash.

****************

Tongdo Fantasia... This is a Korean amusement park that wishes it were Six Flags and Disneyland all rolled into one, but in reality is more like a state fair that stayed too long. Our school takes the students on field trips about once a month, and this was the first I was involved in. Although being at school at 8:30a on a Saturday morning is clearly not ideal, I had a wonderful time. We rode on a small bus (not a SHORT bus, a SMALL bus) with our smaller kids, and Carrie (Korean teacher), Mark, Sunye (director) and I took a group of about 12 around the park. Sunye had to leave early, and Mark took a few kids off to do other things, so Carrie and I had quite a large group together for awhile. It was fun to see the kids out of school, being silly and even more fun to be silly with them. We went on kiddie roller coasters and a little ferris wheel, and even a couple rides that went upside down. Two of my crotch-highs became superglued to my hands and wouldn't ride rides without me, which was fantastic. Leah, who is just the cutest thing you've EVER seen and really smart to boot, and Michael, who is an ADD behavior problem in class but means well and is quite a momma's (or teacher's) boy. Since the field trip (2 weeks ago?) they both greet me with big grins and screaming ALEXIS ALEXIS ALEXIS in the hallways until they practically bowl me over with a hug crash landing. It's nice to feel a connection with my students again. Working with my deaf kids every summer, and speaking their language (however badly at the beginning) made for such a strong bond, and I was missing that here. Now that everyone has settled in a bit more, I'm starting to have that again and it's so much better.

*********************

I am going to run in the Seoul International Marathon. Yes, I said MARATHON. As in, 26.219 miles. In less than 5 hours. My friend Vicky mentioned to me last week that she was interested in running in it, and the more I thought about it the more I realized that that is just the thing for me to do! I spoke with some other friends, and we have quite a group going. Kate, Lindsay, Hazel, Mark Teacher, Lee, Vicky and myself. Monday we start training, and luckily Lee has his degree in PhysEd, so is designing a proper training schedule. For first-time marathoners, the recommended training time is no less than 24 weeks. We have 12. The marathon is on March 18, so we have to get in gear immediately - without risking injury. I'm excited to be a part of a marathon, especially here... but apprehensive about the training and my abilities as a runner. I will be giving my life over to Lee for conditioning for the next TWELVE WEEKS. Also, the Seoul Marathon has a short time limit - 5 hours and they sweep the course, taking runners who aren't finished off so they can reopen the streets. For us, finishing is of paramount importance, and we also want to do this as a group.

So, for the next 12 weeks I will be running 4-5 days a week under the tutelage of The Scot. We are all getting together on Friday for my Thanksgiving dinner and will discuss timing then, but Lee wants us up and running around 7am. THEN I'll have to go home, shower, and head to hapkido, after which I'll shower again and go to work. After work, I will most likely sleepwalk home and fall into bed. But I'll be able to wear my "I ran in the Seoul Marathon and didn't die" shirt with pride :) ... and I'll have yet another story to tell about my early 20's :) And of course, this will certainly put me on my way to goal #3 for my year in Korea: to be in the best shape of my life. Training for a marathon will do that for ya!

So that's my news. Tonight is Bingo - I'll probably make an appearance, but may not play since I have lots left to do for dinner on Friday. Then tomorrow we have a parent recruiting function at which I have to briefly make a self introduction, and Friday I have the dinner! Saturday I will meet Heather at 7pm at the bus station and hang out with her until later when we meet up with Kate and Lindsay to head to Bench. Sunday will be spent mentally preparing for the 12 weeks that lie ahead... and Monday morning will start the pain!

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans. Wish I were there to spend it with you, but thanks to friends here it won't be so bad :)

xoxox

Things to send, good friends and a quick update

So many of you are offering care packages for the holidays, and I'm really touched. I'm trying to keep track of things that occur to me, in terms of what I'm missing most here. So far, the following would be welcome:

*TEA!! You can't imagine how hard it is to buy tea when you can't read the package, esp if you want the caffeine-free herbal variety. I tried a few here and they seem rather flavorless, so I need my Good Earth Original Blend and Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime. I'd be open to many other Celestial Seasonings flavors and if any of you have Starbucks connections (cough cough), Tazo would be fine too.

*Chapstick: Apparently I have developed an addiction to Burt's Bees chapstick. If you could throw a couple sticks in your envelope, that would be fantastic. Mom, that coconut stuff and the other stuff you usually send would be very welcome as well.

*Mulling spices: Word on the street is that it gets bone-chillingly cold here in the winter, and for the last couple years we've been fighting the harsh Northeastern winters with mulled wine and cider. I can find the apple juice and the wine here, but no mulling spices. Easterners, they sell them at Stop & Shop and they're like $1 in a little green packet. Westerners, you're on your own, but I'm sure they're around.

*And one last house-keeping item (literally)... there's a rubber dohickey that they sell at Bed Bath & Beyond that sits over the shower drain and catches hair. It looks like a hat, a little, with the top part of the hat being rubber mesh and the brim being solid rubber. It should also cost less than $5 and I desperately need one.

So! There's a couple ideas, and I'll try to post more. Thank you again for offering to send stuff, and if you don't want to end up all sending the same thing, perhaps you could post a little remark here letting people know what you're taking care of. :* !

************

On a similar vein, I just want to acknowledge the empathy of the foreigner community, and my friends specifically. In the last two days, I have had several long conversations with close friends about my holidays. Since I don't hang out with any Americans, Thanksgiving seemed like it was just going to pass me by. And if you know me well, you know that Thanksgiving is a very important holiday to me, steeped in tradition and attached to some very moving memories. While living back east, Nicollette and I made the same enchiladas that are the mainstay of our CA Thanksgivings, and last year we had not 3 but 6 Californians in Boston for a 'family' feast. My good friends here have offered to help me make mashed potatoes, yams, and pumpkin something (pie is out of the question), and to come hang at my house with some wine to honor my holiday. We're doing it on Friday here, so that it is on the official Thanksgiving back home. Their concern and care means quite a lot to me, since this will be the toughest holiday to miss for me personally.

I have also spent a significant bit of time over the last couple weeks explaining the Winter Solstice, which is the winter holiday at my house in CA. As my friends pump me for more details and ask what exactly I will need to feel at home, I am repeatedly grateful that I have found these people and have such a great support group here. They are truly interested in my traditions and invested in re-creating as much of the homey holiday feeling as they can. Conversely, I am also on the planning committee for the Foreigner Christmas Feast, which will be held at a hotel on Christmas Eve. Holidays away from home are always tough, and I'm so glad to be with people who understand the need for familiarity and comfort.

Thanks everyone!

**********

So, for the quick update: The weekend after Halloween, I had the good fortune to be invited by Nicole to join her and a couple friends for a day of hiking and rock climbing. I rode on the back of Nicole's bike up to Munsu Mountain, where we met up with John (US Airforce, ending his Korean tour and heading to Germany), and later Dee and Jack. I'd never been rock climbing before, and wasn't sure I'd do it, but came along for the ride, the hike, the fresh air and the trees. The view alone was certainly worth the 45 minute trip. When we arrived at the mountain after a rigorous hike, John and Nicole took out their gear and showed me what things were called and how we'd be climbing. After Jack arrived, he led the climb, hooking the rope through a ring at the top of the rock face. Then John and Nicole climbed, and when she came down everyone was looking at me. So - I sacked up and put on the harness. Nicole was also kind enough to lend me her special rock climbing shoes that give you spidey-skills - those things STICK to the rock! I was really nervous at first, but soon discovered that I wasn't afraid of falling (Jack is a strong guy, and was belaying me), just failing. So with Nicole's encouragement I made some seriously cool maneuvers to get me to the top and had SUCH a rush when I got there. John has photos on his camera, and I hope to get them up soon. My arms and legs felt like they were filled with the stuff you scoop out of a pumpkin, but I felt GREAT!! I ended up taking another climb at the end of the day and was equally thrilled with that one. They told me I caught on fast, and I just hope the weather gives us another good weekend so I can try again :)

Other than that, I've been sick and laying low during the week, only going to Hapkido and work. Saturday nights are debaucherous as always, and last weekend we did it up right with a girls' dinner and cocktails evening, followed by a trip to Bench, a noribang and dinner/breakfast around 6am. Mandy, who hosted the girls' cocktail hour, just moved into a gorgeous new apartment with her husband. They have not one but TWO rooftop patios, and when she found out I can dance, requested swing lessons up there.

Speaking of dance, I saw a sign the other day that had an illustration of a couple ballroom dancing. I have no idea if that means there's a studio there or not, but I am determined to find out.

...and with that, I have to post this, since I have a photo shoot with a class of crotch-highs in a few minutes. Thus starts the rapid exploitation of the American teacher for purposes of parent recruitment!

Photos! Gender bending CAN be fun!

These links will take you to a slide show of Halloween and my apartment, respectively:

http://www52.rockyou.com/show_my_gallery.php?instanceid=43857041

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/pixelpulp/?action=view&current=1162970479.pbw

enjoy! more soon!

Halloween - finally!

Hi and sorry! School's been busy, I've been sick, and the weather's getting chillier, all contributing to me not spending as much time online, hence the lack of entries here.

So, let's skip back to Halloween, about which many of you are quite curious.

Saturday the 28th was spent racing around town, getting last minute pieces of costumes and doing the final sewing bits on a few items. We had a momentary panic attack when Nicole's sewing machine decided to go on strike, but Kate and Michelle quickly got the situation under control with the help of a local seamstress. She was able to put Dorothy's skirt (complete with denim petticoat for oomph) and shirt together for us for about $15 in a couple hours. What a lifesaver! Kate and Michelle did have quite a time of pantomiming how the skirt was meant to be big, since it would be going on a man... but in the end, it fit like a charm and Patty loved his floofily skirt.

After getting our costumes mostly finished, we all split up to get going on other chores for the day. I had promised my creative costume services to Lee and Vicky, and also to Troy at Bench for decorations, so I headed from Nicole's, to Kate's for lunch, then over to Bench where I met up with Vicky and Lee. I also ran into a new girl there, Kathy (Irish, petite, nice), and brought her along on our shopping trip. After making Bench into a properly spooky and cobwebbed cave, our troop headed a few blocks over to the wig shop - all under my direction, I might add. (I was surprised as anyone when we showed up at the right place!) There, I ran into Mandy, for whom we dog-sat during Chuseok. She was trying to shop for her and her husband, but couldn't come up with any good ideas. I immediately recruited them to be our Glinda (Mandy) and Wicked Witch of the West (hubby), since yet again our witches had backed out. Mandy and I quickly found a skirt and overlay top for her, and then started looking at wigs. Meanwhile I was helping Lee put together a pirate costume and succeeded in finding him a perfect head scarfy-type-thing in a pretty shade of blue velvet that worked SO well with his blue cape and Jack Sparrow-esque persona. We also managed to get Kathy in to the wig spirit, and she went home with a long red wig reminiscent of the Little Mermaid. For Vicky (who had decided to be a baby in pajamas), we found a plush kid's 'purse' that looked like a strawberry, and a sippy cup on a strap she could wear around her neck. And to top it all off, I found the piece de resistance for the tinman's ensemble - a perfect wig, which you'll see in the photos.

All told, I was up at 8am and running like mad until 6, when I returned home to shower and head to Kate's. Our Wiz crew was scheduled to meet there at... 6. Ha. But luckily just about everyone else was running late, so when I got there at 7, I only joined Lindsay and Kate. As Patty, Michelle and Lee arrived, we put final stitches in costumes, sewed on Michelle's tail, painted faces and stuffed straw in all my pockets and boots. Scooting out the door, we put Dorothy on the back of Lee's motorcycle (the rest of us were wearing skirts far too short and/or tight to straddle a bike) and then hailed a cab for the remainder, making it to Bench a little before 10. Disappointingly, loads of other people were running late with their costumes, so the crowd was a bit lighter than expected. Nonetheless, we royally terrified the locals with our Halloween parade through downtown. Leaving Bench, the Wizard of Oz crew walked directly behind Troy and another guy carrying a big banner proclaiming the Benchwarmers Halloween Parade. We weaved through the streets, ending on a major corner where a stage had been erected. There, we all did a bit of a runway show, pausing for professional photos (which will be available online for sale at some point) and for the 5 judges. A throng of Koreans had cameras, camera phones and gaping jaws at the edge of our stage. Parents would pick up their children to look over the crowds and point to the strange foreigners in their weird clothes. Can you imagine how strange this holiday looks to people who don't celebrate it at all?!

After the parade and fashion show we headed back to Bench, stopping under a structure called "Shigae Top" which is inexplainable - but I'll try: it's like a big circle, supported by four pillars (one on each corner), far above the street (buses can pass easily beneath it) that hovers over an intersection in Shinae (old downtown). The professional(ish) photographer climbed up to the roof of a building on the corner of said intersection and took a picture from above of all of us bunched together -and stopping traffic- under Shigae Top. I'm sure this makes no sense, but when the photos are available online, I'll let you know.

So - back to Bench for a dance party! Smart planning by Troy; he didn't announce the costume contest winners until about 1:30am, so everyone had to stay at his bar at least until then. When he DID announce the winners.... we got the prize for Best Group! And our friend Josh, who went as Rambo, got Best Costume. The two Korean School Girls (Wendy and KiwiKatie) got sexiest, and I honestly don't know who ended up with Most Original. There were many contenders for that one, my favorite being the guy who had a giant box that was covered in tin foil and a sign that read "beer powered sex machine." He appears in quite a few photos. Also interesting was the tetris piece (Mike), but he didn't show up until after the contest was finished and as such was ineligible.

After the results were announced, we took our winnings and headed to the other foreigner bar, Tombstone. There weren't many people there, so we took our party to the makkoli bar up the street and had some delicious rice wine and snacks. From there we disbanded and headed home, pleased with our win and ready to get out of our itchy face paint and short skirts/too small shoes/arm bands/stupid hats etc.

I'm working on the photos right now... so check back if you don't see them.

:)

1 month in Ulsan, wigging out and Alexis the American

Other teachers have told me that time here passes quickly, and they're definitely right. Yesterday was my 1 month anniversary of arrival, and although it seems like I haven't seen all of you in forever, it also doesn't seem like I've been living abroad on my own for a whole month! It feels like college time did - although individual days could be long and arduous, looking back revealed a semester that slipped by before we knew it.

Adding hapkido to my schedule has certainly quickened the passage of time. Now I'm busy from 9:30 am until after midnight every weekday. Our halloween costume project has also been gulping down evening after evening. We're spending tomorrow (Friday) night finishing up the last bits of the lion, toto and scarecrow, and will be putting Dorothy and the tinman together then also. Nicole (very nice, Canadian, will take her black belt test in Gumdo on Saturday), who loaned us her apartment and sewing machine last Sunday, has inifinite costume design and execution ideas. We've taken to calling her the "costume guru" and are exploring printing a shirt for her to that accord. Thanks to her, the sexiness was accomplished and the lion will look more like a lion and less like a meal at the Roadkill Cafe.

Last weekend, while halloween costume shopping (again - but with success this time) we found ourselves in a wig shop, looking for a brown wig for Dorothy (who has changed from Phil to Patrick - "Patty"). As girls are wont to do in a wig store, we each tried on several styles and colors. And instead of leaving with a wig for Dorothy, we left with a wig each for Michelle, Kate and Alexis! One of the ones we bought would double for Dorothy, but we were going to get our fun out of it first. So - a week before Halloween, Michelle, Kate and myself donned wigs for a going away party (for people I didn't know) at Bench. I was nervous to do so at first, but after some liquid courage at Kate's pre-Bench, I put on my game face and headed to the bar... with a glossy, long, brown, curly wig securely fit onto my head. Michelle went blond and Kate was a burgundy/maroon redhead. Our arrival to a packed bar was any and everything we could have desired. Instant conversation and popularity, combined with admiration from other girls for our pluck and good taste in headgear. We had a wonderfully good time, and although Michelle's wig was pulled off once, and mine fell off while being dipped dancing Paedar's version of the cha-cha, we made it through the night without ill will or mishap ruining our lovely locks. We also reminded one another that Sunday was sewing day, so were able to get ourselves home by the comparatively decent hour of 4:30, after drinking water at the bar for over an hour.

Sunday was tedious, and our first real rain since I've been here. It was nice to have the rain, both because I love it and because we were stuck inside sewing all day anyway, so nice weather would have just tortured us. We worked and worked on our costumes and didn't make it home until around 1am. We also met a couple guys in the Airforce who were down visiting Nicole and Dee (writes for the foreigner paper, rock climbs, rides a motorcycle, very nice), who pitched in some with our costumes too.

Monday at Hapkido he went easy on us, which was nice after such a hectic weekend, and then at work I started teaching my new middle school class. That caused me to spend Tuesday looking up ways to get middle school students interested and involved, and also to find discipline ideas... they have a lot to learn about Alexis Teacher! Tuesday night was more late costume work, and yesterday, Wednesday was - BINGO NIGHT!

I love bingo night. I relish in being able to hang out with all the other foreigners and chat during the game. It's quieter than the bar is on weekends, but more busy than it would be during the week on an off-bingo night. People aren't as drunk, and intelligent conversation is easier to come by - plus, it's a way to meet and get to know new people, since on the weekends we tend to gravitate toward our friends who we haven't seen all week instead of making new ones. Last night I didn't win at all, but Kate and I shared the entry fee so I was only out $10. I was exhausted, so took off as soon as bingo was over (2am), but ended up talking to a friend until very late and only getting a few hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 8:45 this morning~ yes, I had to get up extra early and make myself presentable because my school was holding an 'open house' to recruit more students. Our enrollment needs to increase quickly so we can still bring in Gino and Andrea, and parading foreign teachers in front of prospective parents is the way of it. I asked yesterday if there was anything I should prepare to do or say, and was told by Grace (wonderful Korean co-worker who lived in New Zealand for 8 years and speaks great English) that all I needed to do was "show up, smile, and be a tall, pretty American." So I did, and then hurried to Hapkido, ran home to change, and then got a free lunch from the director out of it. After lunch (which was delicious!) we went to a coffee shop where they sell smoothies, and I had a mango one for dessert.

Now it's 4, I haven't had classes all day, and I'm sleepy. The only class I'm teaching is my middle school group at 8pm.... so I'll be twiddling my thumbs until then!

Cheers :)