Korean Elections

There are elections in Korea right now and it's shown us a new side of Korea...political propaganda CRAZINESS.  Politicians put up giant ads (seriously, they're gigantic), there are chants and songs over loud speakers around town, trucks with huge video screens playing movies as they drive, and my favorite--trucks with loud speakers and people dancing to political songs in the back as they drive around town.  It really is quite different.  Here's a video that my friend, Kim Lozano, took outside of Homeplus (grocery store) to give you a taste of what we've been experiencing.

Homeplus

Homeplus is our primary grocery store here in Korea. Bonnie and I made a trip out today to pick up what we need to get us through our last week here before we head back for the summer. While there we couldn't help but indulge ourselves in these:
Korea is gearing up for the World Cup this summer so you can find spirited shirts all over the place.

Another more random side of Homeplus is that a lot of the time they have give-aways if you spend enough money there. Once we got a jug of fabric softener. The past three times we have been they have given us ramen. I don't know what the heck we are going to do with all of this:
You have to take your receipt to a redemption table to claim it and Bonnie told me not to go this time, but I just can't pass up a free prize. We will probably have to give it away. Anyone want us to bring you some?

It's 10 PM, why not

Prior to this video we had been hearing a lot of drilling outside our apartment at around 9:40 PM on a Friday night. I got curious about what was going on and this is what I found.

coaching

A teacher friend school (Kim Lozano via Barry Lawrensen) just gave me this photo from basketball season a couple of days ago.  This was taken at arguable our biggest game of the year during our end of the season tournament.  I liked it and wanted to share it. 

off to the races

Our wonderful friends, the Patton's, came to visit us this past weekend and the four of us decided to go the horse racing track in Seoul. After we finally found parking and made it to the track, we located the "foreigner lounge." It was this really nice lounge with comfortable seats, and best of all they had directions in English on how to bet on the races. After betting on a handful of horses Tom won a little bit of money (I never won...sad story), but not enough to break even. Luckily it costs less than a dollar to get in and we only bet 1,000w (less than $1 US) on each horse. Needless to say, it was a cheap, fun, and relaxing event. My only wish is that it would not have been hazy/rainy.

Here Tom and Andy are betting on some horses.

Here we are in the foreigner lounge.

Andy and Lindsey:

The track with some horses doing their thing...

The horses actually seemed to be quite a bit smaller than ones I've seen in America. Below is a picture of the horses getting ready for a race.

If you're in Korea I recommend checking the Seoul Race Track out. It provided us with quality enjoyment. Just be aware of the super intense Koreans...they can be quite superstitious and not the nicest if you sit in their seat or move their stuff. We learned this the hard way. When we sat down in the lounge our seats were empty except for some papers that looked like trash. Tom put them on the ground so we could sit down. Apparently the owner of this "trash" came back and was super mad at us. She proceeded to scowl and shove her papers across Tom's armrest the rest of our time. It was a little tense. See her next to Tom below. Lesson learned: don't mess with betting Korean women.

thoughts on LOST

So for the past 4 or 5 years Bonnie and I have been watching LOST. To us it has been a show full of fantastic acting, intriguing characters, riveting mystery, and some great story telling. As a lot of you probably know it showed its final episode this past Sunday. Bonnie and I sat down to watch it Monday night and loved it. I must say it took about an hour of digesting for me to get to the point that I decided I loved it but now the more I reflect on it the more fantastic it is.

So here are some of my thoughts on the way things wrapped up. If you don't follow LOST then this probably will make no sense. If you haven't seen the finale then stop reading.

Let me start with the Island. It was real. It was not a dream. In fact it was the only time line in this season that was real in the earthly sense. Sideways world turned out to be nothing of the sort. It turned out to be, for lack of better name, purgatory (or some sort of multi-faith version of it). I really had to let go of the fact that Sideways word was not what I thought it was before I could grapple with what happened on the Island.

When the Losties set off the H-bomb they did not create an alternate reality. They simply put themselves back in the correct place in time, from what I can tell that is it. Nothing split, nothing changed in time, everything went back to the way it was before Ben jacked it all up by turning the wheel. Once I came to grips with that the Island world was amazing.

We saw characters rise and fall. We saw Jack become a secure leader. We saw Ben, Kate, Sawyer and others find redemption. We saw the MiB become human again, and in turn saw "John Locke" die for the second time. We saw people get off the island (Frank, Miles, Richard, Claire, Kate, Sawyer = the new Oceanic 6 or technically the Ajira/Freighter/Blackrock/Oceanic 6). We saw Jack die in the same place his new Island life began.

We saw what made Desmond so "special" (anyone else would have died before even reaching the peg in the water as evidenced by all the bones). We saw that Desmond didn't have all of the answers. He thought, like a lot of us, that Sideways world was a sideways world. He was wrong.

In the Purgatory world we got an interesting commentary on the afterlife. It seemed to be some sort of take on people either needing to let go of their life, be refined, or realize they are actually dead before going to... somewhere. "A Better Place" maybe? I don't theologically agree with that aspect of the show but it certainly gave us a fantastic twist in the last 2 minutes of the show's existence. If you were invested in the show for its characters and their stories then it gave you some of the most emotionally charged reunions/enlightening moments you could have imagined. And not to be forgotten it gave that great shot of most of the cast gathered together again one last time.

Another thing that made the finale interesting was we made a dinner bet with our friends Andy and Lindsey. The bet was that we would each make 10 predictions about the finale and whoever got more correct would win. The predictions could be anything at all. Here they are (italics means correct):

Meyers:
1. Hurley says "dude"
2. Ben will end up being good.
3. Juliet is Jack's sideways wife
4. Jack won't operate on Locke.
5. The smoke monster will cease to exist in the end
6. Richard is still alive in the beginning of the finale.
7. Claire will be reunited with Aaron
8. Rose and Bernard help Desmond out of the well. (This was a 2 pointer because it was a risky choice)
9. The island will continue to exist.
10. Hurley and Libby will end up together.
8.5 out of 10
*I give 7 a half because Claire does get off the island and I think we should assume they reunite.
*10 is a technical "no" because sideways world was not a world at all so how could any one "end up together."

Pattons:
1. Kate and Jack Kiss
2. Someone Explodes
3. Someone says, "this i the reason i'm here." or some variation.
4. Desmond Dies
5. The man in black doesn't die
6. Richard is Dead
7. The island is not destroyed
8. The candidates who aren't Jack go home.
9. Hurley sees a dead person
10. Someone goes into the light.
5 out of 10
*On 8 Hurley did not leave
*9 is a technical yes since Purgatory Hurley saw people and everyone there was dead. Although he was dead too so...

I am pretty proud of our victory.

My final thought is that I love how the show was also a commentary on itself. I'm reminded of lines like:
"Jack, weren't you kind of the obvious choice to take over?"
"Every question I answer will just lead to another question."
"Christian Shepherd, that's his name, seriously?"
I know I butchered most of those but you get the idea.

Lost I will miss you.

i can finally rent a car

May 20th was my birthday!  I've made it to the rental car age of 25.  I feel like all age restrictions have been lifted now until I reach the senior discount range. 

My bday started off with Tom giving me a menu of breakfast options.  I chose biscuits and gravy, and Tom did a great job of making it for me while I got ready for school. So thoughtful!

Next it was time to go to school.  We open our front door to another surprise!  Our friends Kim and Eddie Lozano decorated the front of our apartment.

The rest of the school day was fairly normal. I finally broke my two years of age-silence with my students.  I managed to keep my age a secret since I've started teaching, but now that I am finally out of my "early twenties" I've decided to divulge my age.   Honestly, it was really anti-climatic to share with kids.  They were just like...oh, okay.  I think it's more fun to keep it a secret.   The night ended with a great surprise from Tom...a Baskin Robbin's Bday cake!  So Great!

After going out to dinner, Tom and I went to the high school band concert at our school.  It was fun to see our students doing their thing.  Here we are outside our school before the concert. 

Friday night we had friends over and my friend Laura brought another great cake!   It was so thoughtful and so good!  Korea knows how to do birthday cakes.

Overall it was a great birthday.  I plan to keep celebrating my birthday-ness over the next few days while we keep eating cake and when I get back to America with my family (I generally make it a point to celebrate my birthday for a week+).  Many thanks to all those who gave birthday wishes, sent cards,  sent packages (thanks mom, dad, and bro) and gave me a lot of love.  I felt very blessed.  Thanks.

Phone Tree?

Would you call this a phone tree? It blends into the surroundings so well you would never suspect it is unnatural right?

I-fest booth

Another aspect of the I-fest was that school clubs and organizations could use it as a fund raiser. Bonnie is one of the sponsors of our schools GIN club (Global Issues Network) and a group of students working with Habitat for Humanity put together a fundraiser for the event. They made little bead bracelets and cookies to sell and also passed out fliers. It was good stuff.

The booth:

English poster:
Korea poster:
The customers and salespersons:
The boys on the right did a great job of tracking down customers and letting them know how well specific bracelets matched their clothes and eyes. It was quite entertaining.

the best snack in the world

I can't get enough of this wonderful slice of heaven: plain yogurt with chocolate covered cheerios.  Love it.   Thank you Korea.

I-fest

Yesterday our PTA put on a festival for the school and community they called the International Festival. We decided to go check it out for a little bit and were quite impressed with everything that parents and staff put together. Some highlights:
a bounce house
I thought this was a little odd. A carnival ride in the back of a truck.
A teacher dunk tank. Bonnie and I managed to avoid this.
Sumo suits. This is Eddie Lozano (left) and Steve Darby.
Darby won.
I had never seen these jousting suits before. The goal was to knock the other persons head off.
Tons of food for sale.
Guess who's in the PTA?
There were also performances.
And finally there was a small fireworks display shot from the roof of the dorm that we could see from the roof of our apartment building.

teacher's day

Teacher's Day is a "holiday" in Korea.  This year it was on a Saturday...boooo! But we did manage to get a few gifts from our students.  Tom racked up the most gifts (what can I say, kids find him charming) but by the end of the day I did manage to get some chocolate and this lovely flower.  Tom walked away with an interesting Korean cultural thingy in a frame, a tie, baked goods, and chocolate.  3 more weeks and we'll be done with our second school year in Korea! Time has gone by so fast.

car repair

Background knowledge: Ever since we bought our car back in September our door locks will randomly spasm and lock themselves when we lift door handles, shut doors, breath heavy and make other sudden movements.

So the other day Bonnie is driving our car. As our friend Lori-Ann is pulling the passenger door handle the interior handle just decides to detach itself from the door. This made our car just a little more ghetto than it already was because we had to start rolling down the window to open the door from the exterior handle.

A couple days later I go to unlock the passenger door for Bonnie (chivalry). The locks start to spasm and automatically re-lock after every time I try to unlock the door. I decided to get smart and keep the key in the unlock position as I lifted up on the door handle at the same time. This action proceeded to disconnect the exterior door handle and thus the passenger door no longer opened at all.

I think Bonnie should have started getting in and out the Dukes of Hazzard way but she opted to start riding taxi cab style. We decided that we should pull the trigger and get the door repaired. I was a little leery because we had an automatic door lock problem on our Accord and I think it cost around $150 to fix each door.

The school mechanic takes the car to the shop for us today and brings it back later in the day. When I go down to pay for it he is really apologetic because it was more expensive than he thought it would be. It was $55. I was totally cool with that considering my door lock repair past. Then he relays to me that the reason it was so expensive is because when they went to fix the passenger door they found out that the automatic locks we also broken so they fixed that too.

BOTH DOORS FOR $55! Amazing.

high school retreat

This past weekend was our high school retreat.  It was such a great time!  We traveled about 2 hours south of Suwon to a Korean youth center.  The facilities were okay and the weather was perfect!!!

When we first got to the retreat center we went to our rooms (as seen in the picture).  Notice what is missing?  That's right. It was true Korean style: no beds.  Luckily they gave us some mats to throw on the floor and sleep on.  I was in a room with just one of other teacher so I was able to stack 4 mats together to make a comfy sleeping arrangement. 

We were the first international group to come to this camp.  Typically they provide for just Korean school students.  As a result there was some cultural clashing between our "international" style and the retreat centers militant Korean style.  For instance, the first night the retreat workers made all of our students line up and sit in rows while we were just hanging out in a big meeting room.  The Korean staff were really nice, but we're just a bit more laid back with the students.  Thankfully the retreat staff backed off over the course of the weekend and they let us lead our kids.

On Saturday we got to shoot arrows, which was way cooler than I thought it would be.  And we got to play paintball, which was kind of a let down.  I got shot within the first minute and my gun didn't work.  Tom got shot in the head. 

That night we had GSIS Idol.  This was probably the best night I've ever had at GSIS.  The kids were so great! They sang, rapped, danced, played in bands...it was awesome.  It was also outside, at dusk, with some great lighting.  While people were performing the students got really into it (so did the teachers).  Then there was a giant bonfire (which we feared would explode because they doused the wood with so much gasoline).  As the bonfire was doing its thing, some music was played in the background and three other teachers and myself started a dance party.  Yes, my friends, I helped start a dance party.  I think it was one of my proudest moments.  The rest of the night we danced, hung out, and played.  So fun.

These are me and some of my best friends in Korea, Kim and Laura.  

The next day at the retreat was pretty low key and we got back home Sunday evening, just in time to start preparing for school the next day! 

A taste of what's to come

Here is a taste of what is to come from our high school retreat this past weekend.

Out for the weekend

Well Bonnie and I volunteered to help chaperon our High School retreat this weekend. We will take a 3 hour bus ride with around 130 students and 14 teachers to a retreat center here in Korea. Hopefully we will have some things to blog about when we get back. Life has been pleasantly uneventful recently. It is about to get crazy with Finals and the end of the year approaching.

1 month

It is officially one month from the day we leave to come back to the USA for the summer. We are super pumped to wrap up the school year and get a chance to see friends and family. We can't wait!

Beautiful Sunday

Finally we have some nice weather rolling into Korea, 73 and sunny today. The forecast for the next week is almost all 70's. I think the shorts may come out soon. In honor of the newly beautiful weather Bonnie and I finished up the little bit of school work we had in the morning and then headed out to a park/outdoor amphitheater for the afternoon. It was great to lay around and talk and read. Here are some pictures of our time.Koreans love these outdoor "blankets." They are mats made of some sort of foam substance. We bought one to fit in. The grass also needs to green up a bit but the clear sky made for a beautiful day.

May is here!

It is May 1st, which means we have a couple of things to note.

1. We have 5 weeks left of school.
2. My birthday month is here (May 20th!!!).
3. It's May and I still can't wear shorts yet.  This country is chilly. Boo.
4.  May 1st is a cool day for Tom and I because we started dating on May 1, 2004.  We have officially been a couple for 6 years.  Dang. 
5.  Tom and I had this horrible habit when we were dating of accidentally wearing similar clothes.  We would show up separately to hang out somewhere and then realize we were wearing the same (mostly YL or MU) shirt and/or the same color clothing.  Despite the fact that Korean couples love wearing "couple clothes," Tom and I do not intentionally try to dress the same.  Yet even now that we're married we'll both get dressed and then realize we're matching.  Case and point this afternoon:

You would think we'd realize what was going on before we were both fully dressed, but there are many times we walk out of the bedroom and have a delayed response of, *sigh* "we did it again. we look alike."  Tom, being the great husband that he is, usually changes, which he did right after we took this picture. 
6. We just saw Iron Man 2.  It came out in Korea this weekend (a week before America) so we got to see it in theaters.  It was great entertainment (Tom especially loved it).  Make sure you stay until after all the credits for some extra footage.