A little bit of daily life

My neighborhood in Mokdong

Went ice skating with a couple students

Some boys I work with at their home

Those first set of pictures are a couple shots in my neighborhood.  The top one is some apartments and office buildings.  Those tall buildings really funnel the wind, making Mokdong one of the colder areas of Seoul during winter.  The bottom one is on my walk home from the institute; they've left the lights up from christmas time.

Korea just celebrated the Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year you may know it as.  I got a long weekend, but stayed around Seoul as it is one of the busiest travel times in the country.  One day I went ice skating with a couple of my students, there's an indoor rink within a 10 minute walk from my home.  I skated pretty well (never falling being my standard of a good skater).  I was the only white guy there, so I didn't draw too much attention.  It's tough to convey sarcasm through written word, so I'll elaborate.  Foreigners are still a novelty here, so when I, or other foreigners go places it draws attention.

The bottom set of pictures are of two boys I work with.  The other two pictures are of his bedroom; those are just some of the books in the house for him. I go there Fridays, and another teacher goes Mondays and Wednesdays.  He also has an art teacher visit on Saturdays, and I'm sure his Tuesdays and Thursdays are booked too.  NO he's not home schooled, this is in addition to school.  This isn't an exception either, this is typically the norm.  Especially in the area of Seoul I live, and one other area; they go to extremes for education.  They work harder on English alone than I probably worked on all my subjects combined.

Something about your face...

This gym I've joined has been generating a lot of buzz here.  So I thought I'd share a quick anecdote about my motivation to lift once I get to the gym.  There's a guy that usually comes around the same time as me, and I don't know what it is, but something about his face really irks me.  He's a Korean guy, and I'm sure he's nice, and he's there lifting and making himself healthier.  It's not like this is the Catalina Wine Mixer, but if you're coming to my gym to lift during my time....
Well anyway, if I could say it better myself I would, but the link to this video pretty much sums up how I feel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3lGKMXYOG8

New Year's Resolution...blog more

"I'm Buff, and I'm the stuff"-Buff Bagwell

Seoul Lantern Festival 

Quick pose to show proper form to the kids

Christmas and New Years 

I joined a gym about two months ago.  I'm really trying to gain that weight back, but it's coming along really slowly.  My students, especially the females, are getting tired of me complaining about how I can't gain weight.  Notice in the top left picture all the Korean gym members are on the treadmills.  Muscles are not considered attractive here, so you rarely see people working with heavy weights.

The second set of pictures is from the Seoul Lantern Festival.  It was held during late fall.  They have themes each year, and this year was Korea.  They are paper lanterns constructed with fine detail, representing people or places, etc. from Korea's past and present.

Right before the new years I had a long weekend and a Korean ajumma (lady or housewife), Nira, invited me to go skiing with her and her son.  She has also volunteered to help teach me some Korean language on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  She has become like my "Korean mom" or older sister if she asks.  I hadn't skied in over 10 years, but picked it up like it had only been 10 days.  I guess it's that natural Murphy athleticism, though I think I'm the only family member to possess this gift.  Next time I go out I'll try to snowboard, but Nira and her son talked me out of it this time.

The last set of pictures is just some quick shots of Christmas and New Years.  Neither are very big holidays in Korea, so the season passed by rather uneventfully.  Christmas here is a time to celebrate with friends, and New Years eve and day are usually spent with family.  I went to a New Years Eve celebration in the Seoul equivalent of Times Square.  There were lots of people, but not worth going back to.  There are also two videos from New Years Eve: the first is of the crowd right after the countdown, and the second is of a group of traditional Korean drummers.

What I've been up to

SaRang Church

Studying

Understanding

I've found a good church that I enjoy going to, and also made a friend there that I meet every Sunday.  They have a Korean service that provides English translation in the main hall, and an English language service in a near by building.  I actually enjoy the Korean service more.  I've also been working a little harder at trying to learn the language so I can learn to say simple things when I'm out in public.  I let my students know I appreciate their dedication and ability even more after I've tried studying.  My head usually starts hurting after 10 minutes of studying.  The video (my apologies that it's sideways) is a World Fireworks Festival that Seoul hosts every year.  I went with a friend, and this year the participating countries were Korea, Japan, and Portugal.  It was a good show, and attracted a lot of spectators.

Some more food....

Jja-jang-myeon
or in English, black noodle

tang-su-yuk
some fried pork

L to R: odeng, tteok-pokki, fried foods

This post is mostly for mom to let her know I'm still eating....a lot.  I'm trying to gain weight back, but it's been tough.  That top picture, black noodle, is becoming one of my favorite dishes.  I've been told it's Chinese food, but there are others who will argue it's Korean.  I don't really care, I just know it tastes good.  The second picture is some fried pork coated in some sort of sweet sauce.  This is also debated to be Chinese or Korean.....tsk tsk, so petty, let's just all enjoy and get along.  The last picture is some odeng (fish cake, accepted as Japanese food), tteok-pokki (rice cake. Korean food), and some random fried foods that included squid, egg, pork, and other unknown things.

I'll add some more food pictures later I'm sure, but these are some of the things I've been enjoying lately.

Sam-gyeop-sal

Sam-gyeop-sal and side dishes

Wrap it in lettuce with rice and enjoy

Feeling pretty good after that delicious meal

5 minutes later...not felling as good

Sam-gyeop-sal is fried pork and we can cook it right at the table.  It's a popular food among Koreans and foreigners alike.  You get some spicy soup, kimchi, rice, and other side dishes to eat with the meat. This has become my favorite meal here in Korea.  Mom, and a few others, had mentioned I looked a little thin lately, so on this particular night (9/25) I decided to eat everything in front of me.

At one point I had reached my limit, but there was still some pork left so I forged ahead.  I regretted that decision soon after.  By the progression of the pictures you can see how I went from happy, to a state of food coma.  The feeling got worse before it got better.  Next time I'm stopping when I feel full (sorry mom, skinnier Gavin may be around for a bit).  I felt like John Candy in "The Great Outdoors" after that meal, I even ate the gristle (I didn't get a t-shirt though).  Next time I'm wearing sweat pants.

fu manwho?

Move over Uncle Ken, there's a new best mustache in the family!

:^{   (fu manchu face copyright and trademark of Jason Elzen)

This was the result from a combination of boredom and a desire to show my support for the Packers!  Inspired by Aaron Rodgers, I decided to give this a try on Saturday (9/24)!  I was a little nervous for the Bears game, so the fu manchu was my solution.  It worked, the Packers won...so I may have to bring it back every weekend!

I kept the look for about 12 hours, and got some mixed reviews.  It was my first mustache experience...baby steps.  Next time I'll shoot for a full 24 hours.