Thanksgiving has come and gone.. and it couldn't have been more perfect. About 50 of us had gathered at the Andong Church thanks to great Korean friends who helped approve the venue. Two huge turkeys were ordered in from Daegu, and everyone brought some kind of dish to contribute. I made my favorite Thanksgiving dish... mashed sweet potatoes.
Some facts on sweet potatoes (고구마 pronounced "go goo ma") in Korea:
1. They are absolutely delicious.
2. Sadly, they are not orange like in the States.
3. You can buy 호박 고구마 "hobak go goo ma." (Hobak is pumpkin. So basically- pumpkin sweet potatoes.) These have more of an orange tint to them.. but to me, taste exactly the same as regular ones.
4. Koreans LOVE their sweet potato lattes.
5. Don't forget the sweet potato pastries in every bakery.
6. Oh, and pizza is not complete without it.. and if you're really lucky.. you can order sweet potato stuffed-crust.. No comment.
My mashed sweet potatoes
Thanksgiving was a hit. Americans were elated. Koreans needed to eat way more than they did. And we all enjoyed each other's company. People made dishes from their own countries. For example, we had a traditional South African salad, a Mongolian dish, along with all the traditional American Thanksgiving sides. It's not every year you have a Thanksgiving spread with pizza, fried chicken, and egg sandwiches.
Lisa taking action!
Suzanne really enjoyed her first American Thanksgiving
My friend Scott was on leave from the Army =)
Costco Pumpkin Pie!! I wish my mom was with me at that moment I spotted it. I was elated.
I also made turkey hands with my fourth graders and had them write four things they're thankful for. I made Tom the Turkey from felt scraps. I'm pretty proud of it..
With the Holidays in full swing, I have mixed feelings..
Thanksgiving turned out to be less of a depressing time than I imagined. But Christmas, I know, will be a whole other ball game. I lived through fb stalking all my friends and their Thanksgiving Eves. I watched a video on the new floats for the Macy's Parade. I was able to call my mom that morning and talk to my brothers who were home from college before they were put to work on peeling potatoes. And my cousin captured a live stream of pictures during dinner so I could treasure them between classes the next morning. My aunt and uncle hosted a bunch of my extended family from Rockaway.
<The Rockaways were hit extremely hard during Hurricane Sandy, throwing them all out of their homes, leaving them with barely anything. They lost their cars, their belongings, and a place they used to call home. From what I have been hearing and seeing, my family has been working with diligence and optimism since day 1. My family on the island has taken some of them in- offering beds, clothes, food, warmth, and a feeling of comfort and security, while the rest of them stay in Rockaway trying to build back what was lost. Their spirits are high, and that's what will get them through it. I am anxious to get home and to help out however I can. By now, most of the basements have been gutted, first floors have been cleared out, and now it's time to rebuild or figure out what to do/where to go next. Schools re-opened about two weeks ago,this week, so the students, (including my cousins) are back on track and in school-mode, focusing their energy somewhere other than the devastation of their homes. We're never ready for these things. Life has its own game of knocking us off course, but keeping your head high and not letting fear or sadness take over is what moves us forward. I am so incredibly thankful for my family. Now more than ever. I think we are all feeling how strong we are when we come together, and I am so grateful for that.>
As I mentioned in my last post, the weather is getting colder, and so I've been coming home from school and wanting nothing more than to change into sweatpants, a hoodie and thick socks, then crawl into my blankets and read a book/watch Modern Family. (This has become my life for the past two weeks because I've been disgustingly sick. The gym was clearly out of the question. But today we started back on our grind =) Thank god. This whole sitting around thing was fun in the beginning, but got old REALLY quick.
Next holiday up: Christmas.
Even though a good percentage of Koreans are Christian, Christmas is not as big as it is in America, and other parts of the world. Schools and mos businesses are off Christmas Day, but that's it. Unfortunately there's not a lot of talk of Christmas, nor are there many decorations floating around town. Some coffee shops decorated, and that puts a smile on all of our faces. You'll see "Christmasy" things here and there but it's nothing like at home, so you kind of have to deal with that. I've been making it a point to take pictures of almost every Christmas-related thing I see, just to keep my sanity.
Fun Polar Bear
Mammoth Bakery in Andong
This is a Korean winter cabbage arrangement found on many streets.
To celebrate here, we are doing a Secret Santa with my friends in Andong, and having a Christmas Eve dinner and a huge Christmas lunch. If you know me or my family, Christmas Eve has always been more of a big deal to me than Christmas. Christmas Day is spent in Rockaway, with my enormous extended family. I compare it to our big NY weddings, because when the end of the night comes, you realize that you wanted to talk with so many more people than you actually did. It is lovely seeing everyone under one roof when we barely get to see each other all year long, but it's a lot of people, and it's like you have to time your conversations to make the rounds. Haha I love them all nonetheless.
My mom has hosted Christmas Eve as long as I can remember, and it consists of my immediate family, and my maternal aunts, uncles, cousins, and our closest family friends. Even then, it comes to about total of 35-40 people. It's a more personal, more cozy, and more intimate night.
This past Saturday we took a 5:45am bus to Seoul to attend the Christmas Market. We started the day with Butterfingers, a very popular breakfast joint in Gangnam. I recommend it to anyone who is missing their American breakfasts. We then made our way to Insadong for some Christmas shopping, then over to the European Christmas Market near Hansung University. It was very small, but still had plenty of Christmas cheer going around. There was a tree, lights, kids writing letters to Santa, and a Mexican band playing Christmas music. The European countries who were represented were serving traditional foods. We ended our day in Myeongdong to continue our shopping. There, I found a great new sweater for an equivalent of $2.00. Awesome find.
Oh yes, it's 5:45am
Me and Angel at the Christmas Market
Those are my gingerbread pecan pancakes and blueberries I'm enjoying =) Heavenly.
Having fun at 9am.
Mexican Band
Not quite Macy's but I'll take it =)
Not quite Rockefeller, but I'll take it =)
Lovely tree in Insadong
Wasn't the biggest fan of Gluehweine (hot spiced wine)
Tom, Leandi, Suzanne, and Myself
I've never spent a Christmas away from my family before, so this year and next will test how I cope. Nevertheless, I am excited to spend the holidays with my six close friends here. The seven of us have grown into a family away from home. We have bonded incredibly well, and though we all come from different parts of the world, (South Africa, UK, and the States) even though we speak different dialects, even though we come from different family dynamics, we all bond over something so huge, that it brought us all the way to Korea. Curiosity. We live for new knowledge of cultures, exploring different countries, ways of doing things, why things are the way they are, how we are different, how we are the same..Our desire is with gaining knowledge of the world. This is something I don't really share with many friends back home. This urge to travel and seek out new experiences bring our conversations and actions to life here. Of course teaching in Korea and the struggles that come with it is something that has also so greatly bonded us together. These people here are my family, and I truly believe you make the best out of what you have. So if this amazing opportunity is taking me away from my mom, brothers and the people I love most in this world during Christmas, I might as well spend it with my other family here. The people who make me laugh and smile on a daily basis. Pair it with some wine.. and we've got ourselves a nice looking Christmas.
My Andong family =) Leozanda, Leandi, Lisa, Suzanne, Tom, and Angel
On July 25th, my mom and Dennis flew the 14 hours direct from New York to South Korea. This trip had been in the works for months, and the anticipation was eating us up! So as I traveled my 4 hours to Incheon Airport, I stood in front of the international arrivals gate like a little girl on her tippy toes, craning my neck to scan every person who walked through the doors. Finally, I spotted them and couldn't even believe that they were standing in front of me. Face to face. Not behind a computer screen. The tears rolled of course, and the excitement and giddiness took over. We were all at a little loss for words, trying to take in the reality of it all.
First Korean meal
That night we traveled to our hotel at Hotel Prince in Myeongdong. GREAT hotel by the way, if anyone is looking for an affordable, somewhat high end, clean, kind staffed hotel. Right in the middle of it all in the shopping district. http://www.princeseoul.co.kr/. We had a low key night to aid the jetlag. We walked around Myeongdong, where they had their fist Korean meal. None other than samgyupsal! We spent the next day and a half in Seoul. Traveling to Insadong (traditional part of Seoul, filled with traditional type souvenirs, great food, and famous temples), Namdaemun Market (another hotspot for traditional souvenirs), and Itaewon (foreigner hotspot. I wanted to give them a taste of where I usually end up when in Seoul including the bars I frequent and of course the best brunch spot in Korea- The Flying Pan!) We also attended Nanta. A cooking, musical show that's really popular in Korea right now. AMAZING and so talented! I recommend it to anyone who comes here. Before returning to Andong, we traveled to Gangnam (a richer area of Seoul) to scout out Kukkiwon- The World Taekwando Academy. Dennis' family had studied taekwando and wanted some type of something from it, however it was harder to get to than we thought and it didn't quite work out unfortunately. But at least we tried! Sorry Lodato family! =/
At Gyeongbukgong Palace
Taking in Insadong
Namdaemun Market
Itaewon- Of course they spotted all the Irish pubs. A Hundred Thousand Welcomes
So late Friday afternoon, we made our way back to Andong via bus. They were pleasantly surprised that Korean buses are far from Greyhound buses, and were able to catch up on some sleep. They had great accommodations in Andong, which was relieving. We had Shabu Shabu for dinner, a popular Vietnamese dish that is extremely popular here in Korea and one of my favorites. It's not surprising that it became my mom's favorite dish as well.
The next morning I made them breakfast in my apartment. Breakfast spots are very hard to come by in Korea. I took them downtown and we hung out in my favorite coffee shop, Zelkova. We made a very impromptu trip to Pohang that night. They had a huge international fireworks show, and since most of my friends would be there, it was perfect timing for my mom and Dennis to meet them. It was a bit chaotic that night, with hotel mix-ups, the amount of people at the show, and the fact that all of my friends kept losing each other (typical with our big group.) The lack of taxis in that area, resulted in the three of us walking for about an hour before we actually found one. He took us to Bukbo Beach, where we had a really late dinner, but a delicious one at that. I took them to Tilt, the bar that we often end up while in Pohang, where they met a bunch of my friends and had a few drinks before going back to their hotel. Despite the craziness of that night and a minor meltdown on my part, the night turned out grand, as it always does. We spent the next day on the beach until the heat became overwhelming. I give those two a lot of credit for putting up with this Korean heat. It really has been out of control. My co-teacher even reassured us that it is unnaturally hot this year. We arrived back in Andong that night and had Dakgalbi. This dinner was very comical, for my mom was kindly offered a fork when she dropped her chopstick, and the restaurant was much more intimate than they had been used to, so it was a bit intimidating at first. But our waitress was the kindest woman, our other waiter took a picture of us, and we were welcomed with open arms. And my mom, if you were wondering, accepted the fork, but never used it. Her chopstick talent was on par by the end of the trip! Good job Mom!
Escaping from the heat
Bibimbap and mandu to-go
Dakgalbi
As they kept saying, my city, being the small city it is, was probably thinking "what the F is this family doing in Andong?" We have a good amount of foreigners here, but it's still a small city, so when Koreans see this foreign family hanging out, walking into restaurants where they have no English whatsoever-- well there are probably a lot of questions going through their heads. And I say this because I see the confused looks on their faces; even more so when they see me, one young foreigner, walking through town. The next morning, we went up to my school, and I was overjoyed when I saw a bunch of my students playing soccer, including some of my favorites, Chang Hun and Do Yeup.. (Yes, I allow myself to have favorites here. Though I adore them all.) All of the boys were so excited to see my mom and Dennis. Dennis who became Opa for the day, since there was no point in explaining that relationship haha was told he was handsome by one of them. They were able to see my office and most of my classroom, being that my school is in the middle of construction. It was wonderful that they got to see where I spend most of my hours and meet some of my students. It gave them a little sense of what I do here five days a week. We did some shopping downtown and went for Andong Jjimdak, Andong's famous dish, which became Dennis' favorite of the trip. After, we visited my co-teacher's apartment, where she prepared fruit, pastries and tea. Despite our struggles and differences, she couldn't have been more welcoming.
The next day, we were on rapid speed, getting last minute souvenirs and packing. We made our way down to the river where we went into the small Hahoe Mask Museum we have there. I can honestly say this was the most hysterical part of their trip. My mom and Dennis, being who they are, bought out almost an entire wall of framed masks. The sweet little ahjumma didn't now what to do with herself with these three foreigners completely erasing her inventory hahaha. She called up her daughter who arrived minutes later to help her mother wrap up all of our frames. I offered them some almonds I had in my bag, and after the kind ahjumma snuggled up to me on the couch, taking it on herself to stick her hand in the bag and taking more almonds, I left the bag with her. Funniest sight. Figured she was enjoying them way too much. We took a bunch of pictures with the countless statues we have near the Hahoe Mask Festival venue which is always a good time.
We had one last dinner of shabu shabu, per their request, and took our last cab ride together to the bus terminal. I was leaving for Gyeongju that night, to depart for Japan the next morning, and they were heading back up to Seoul, as they had an early flight as well. Of course, it was a quick goodbye, but as my mom said, it was better than a long dragged out one. I didn't know how much the tears would roll until it came time to hug them goodbye. I am my mother's daughter in almost every way. Her cries are contagious, so it was a hard goodbye to say the least. I caught a glimpse of a middle-aged Korean woman shoot us a smile. We may speak different languages, live in different countries, come from different cultures, but cries and smiles are universal, and she understood what was going on. I appreciated her empathy. It was a nice moment. Of course I am trying to describe how it felt to have them here with me, but it really is indescribable to captivate what it was like having the most important people in your life fly halfway across the world, to take part in where and how I have been living for the past 5 months. They stepped into this new life I have embarked on, and I couldn't be more grateful. This was a big trip for them, leaving the other important people in our lives behind, but they did it. And I love them both for that. They assimilated into this country as much as they could for seven days. They were accepting, willing, open-minded and intrigued in every way. I will forever remember their time here, and there are as always, countless pictures to remember these memories and share them for years to come. Thank you you two! You truly are amazing.
Within the past week, everything has been going really smoothly, and I have a new sense of comfort living in this country I now call home. A lot has happened.. some fun, some meaningful, some not so important, but all worth mentioning. For instance, bus schedules between cities have been working out to my advantage, I found my own new way to Shinae (downtown) and back. (Only a 15 min walk from my apt. Score!) I changed my phone plan to unlimited data, one of my students sought me out at the market and I met his parents; I am now a millionaire (aka I got paid), I got an amazing package from my mom, including the works (the best two parts being Irish soda bread and my heels.)
Daegu
First stop- Berkeley Bar and Restaurant
Today marks the sixth week I've been in this country. I have been living in Andong for five of those weeks, and in that time I have traveled to three different cities. Daegu was the first. Daegu is one of the three major metropolitan cities in South Korea. I call it the city of "quick sand," in a good way. It was a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Andong, and we spent the day at a bar called, Berkeley. We then had dinner down the road where we ate samgyupsal (pork belly, that's grilled by the customers.) Delicious. Then ended up at a few of the popular foreigner bars and clubs in the city. The next morning we went to a Mexican restaurant for brunch and wound up staying there until 8pm.. We consumed strawberry daiquiris, vodka tonics as well as a complimentary round of tequila shots from the owner. In the afternoon, my friend Dayna and I ventured out to do what we do best... clothes shopping. We were in search of Korean womens' fashion..Just in case you were wondering, we were very successful. That night was a bit crazy for me. There were no late trains back to Andong, and the bus back was sold out (even though I got there an hour before.) Thanks to a great new friend I was able to stay the night at her place in Daegu and get the 6:40am bus back. I arrived in Andong at 8am, took a cab back to my apt, quickly changed, grabbed my bag, and walked to school, walking in the front doors at 8:29am. (I have to be there at 8:30). It was chaos.. but one hell of a story. Yes, we love Daegu.
Cocktails-in-a-bag
Traveler's Bar & Grill
Sunday Morning Madness
Seoul
Me, Simon, and Dara at Wolfhound Bar
The next weekend, my travels landed me in none other than the capital of this amazing country, and the most traveled-to destination by tourists in SK... Seoul. When I was figuring out my transportation to there, I quickly realized that Andong's train system is unfortunately not very practical. It's double the price of the bus and takes twice as long because 90% of the trains go to Dongdaegu station first and then transfer to other cities. So for example, when traveling to Seoul, if you look at a map, Dongdaegu (Daegu) station is 2 hours south of Andong, and Seoul is all the way on the northwestern corner of SK. The train would travel all the way to Dongdaegu and then all the way back up to Seoul. Plain ridiculous, so because of this I have been taking the bus when I travel. These buses are NOT at all like a Greyhound. They are roomy, and comfortable and easy to fall asleep in, which is very important =) So back to Seoul. The bus was 3 hours and I arrived there on Friday evening. The bus terminal I came into was the Express Bus Terminal which is connected to the subway, (like Penn Station.. for my New Yorkers.) Now being a New Yorker (even though I'm not from Manhattan), I have experience with the subway system, especially in the last two years. Spending a lot of time there... you would think my experiences would give me an advantage when arriving in Seoul's subway. For lack of a better expression. HELL NO. New Yorkers use uptown and downtown to determine which direction you should take the train. This does not exist here. You need to know what station is at the end of the line, so you know which train to take. Yes, there are English signs, but it's still Korea, so most things ARE in Korean! Thank god for two things. My friend Marc and my smartphone. He told me to download the Jihachul app. It's an app that has an interactive map of the Seoul Subway system. I can simply tap what station I am at, tap where I need to go, and it tells me what line to get on, the times, and the transfers. It was magical. Before I even got onto the train however, I needed to buy a ticket. I was so overwhelmed that I completely overlooked the button where it said, English. With my broken-Korean, I asked two Korean girls my age how to buy one. They understood somewhat, but I spotted a foreigner and literally flagged him down like you would a cab. He was my saviour at that moment. I made it on to the correct train and met up with Marc when I got off. It took us multiple cab drivers and multiple kick-outs of cabs to FINALLY find a driver who understood where our hostel was. (That was accomplished by getting in touch with our friend who was already at the hostel, who put the owner on the phone to tell our driver where to go.) We arrived at the hostel to meet up with the rest of our friends... and the night began. Our hostel was in Hongdae (a popular foreigner hotspot), but we took the subway back to Itaewon (American military and foreigner filled area) to go out to the bars. We spent a good part of the night at Wolfhound Bar (an Irish pub) that played Irish songs all night. (It was the night before St. Paddy's.) Of course, me and my Irish friends (Dara, Clodagh, Angela, and Conor) were taking over every song.
Foreigners galore at the Festival
Me and Jaceon at the Irish Festival
When we woke up, we all went out to get bibimbap (probably one of the most famous dishes in Korea, and we all love it.) It's basically a rice dish, with beef, egg, beansprouts, spinach, seaweed, zucchini, and a bunch of other vegetables that I don't know the names of. It's a very pretty dish, for there are so many vibrant colors from all of the ingredients. When it is served to you, you need to mix it all up with red pepper paste. We then traveled to Itaweon yet again for the Irish Festival. There were Korean Irish Step Dancers (who admittedly weren't the best but still made me happy because it reminded me of home.) I made Dayna do the Siege of Ennis with me; there was Irish song after Irish song, and I was eating it up. It did make me miss home, thinking of family parties blasting Paddy Reilly. Our friend Haelim met up with us here (She was our TA during orientation and lives in Seoul.. we love her! She's awesome!) The festival gave us all a similar feeling of not being in Korea anymore, because there was such an abundant amount of foreigners there. Now remember the open container policy in Korea.. well, there is none. lol So please just picture this next part in your head. We all took turns going on beer runs to Home Plus, basically an E-Mart (an enormous grocery store, clothing store all-in-one shopping center.) We walked in and there were hundreds of foreigners stocking up on soju, mekju (beer) and mixers. We walked in there drinking a beer (at the door, the employee put a sticker on them, as a sign that we brought them in from outside and were not stealing.) It was quite a sight. And it was quite a day. Dayna and I bought coats later on that night. We bargained with them for a lower price and won. Pretty great. We ended up at a bar, with a bunch of foreigners wearing way too much green. I won't get in to how we got home that night, but let's just say the subway stops running at midnight and smartphones here die very quickly (the hostel's address and phone number were saved on them.)
Me and the Irish, Dara and Conor
Korean Irish Step Dancers
Me, Haelim, and Dayna
Some Korean girls dressed in hanbok.. they were hysterical
On Sunday, five of us hopped on the train to Insadong. Insadong is a cultural market, holding many little shops that sell traditional art, food, and gifts. We stopped in a nice little cafe for coffee and then walked over to a Buddhist temple, where I sat in on a Buddhist meditation for twenty minutes. It was beyond anything I've ever experienced. I had no idea what was being said, but I stared in front of me, periodically gazing at the beautiful and intricate interior walls and ceiling. I walked out of there feeling relaxed, stress-free and light in a way. It was an interesting and new experience, and I know for a fact that won't be my last visit to a Buddhist temple. From there we walked ten minutes over to Gyeongbokgung Palace ("The Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven.") This is probably the most well known in all of Korea. It's construction was completed in 1395, but torn down during the Japanese invasion in 1592. 270 years later in 1867, is when the Palace was reconstructed only to be torn down again during the Japanese occupation from 1910-1945. 1990 started the ongoing restoration of the Palace and its surrounding buildings. It is a fascinating place, full of history, culture, and beauty, and a must for anyone visiting Korea.
The main Buddhist Temple (I went into the temple next to this one.. this one was packed to the max)
At the entrance of the Palace
Seoul is a wonderful place, but I am also thankful that I did not get placed there. On one hand I would be broke in a matter of weeks with the amount of shopping that is available. But on a more serious note, Seoul is very westernized and I feel there is not as much culture there as there is in other parts of Korea. I am thankful that I live in Andong, for it contains the more traditional and conservative side of this country. But it's a comfort to know that if I need to get away and surround myself with fellow foreigners, a Starbucks, and western-sized clothes, that Seoul is only a three hour bus ride away.
Pohang
Now we come to the third city- Pohang. Pohang is way down south, right on the eastern coast.. hence beach! This was only a short two hour bus ride. I met up with Dayna, Charles, Richard, Joe, and Westley. We all met very early on in orientation and became an awesome little group. Joe and Richard live there, so they showed us around. We went down to Jukdo Market, which is the famous market in Pohang, known for their seafood. So many fish, so many seafood I have never seen nor heard of before.
Charles with the King Octopus at Jukdo Market
We had lunch at a crab restaurant. We picked out our own crab (still alive) and waited for them to cook them fresh. Delicious and filling! We went down to Bukbo Beach (even though it was quite chilly that weekend), and it was beautiful. It again made me miss home a little bit. My whole life I've been a 20 min car ride form a beach.. so clearly Pohang and Busan are going to consume my weekends here in the summer =) We went out that night and met up with a few other friends from orientation who live in Pohang. Another beautiful city.
Jukdo Market (the commotion at the end is because one of the huge fish unexpectedly jumped almost clear out of its bucket..
Delicious crab
Joe at dinner at a samgyupsal restaurant
Me, Travis, and Dayna
Me and Dayna
Joe, Westley, Richard, Dayna, and me
Traveling to these different cities every weekend is something I look forward to all week. My city of Andong is awesome and the people here are great, but I want to see all of Korea and there is SO MUCH to see. The friends I made during orientation are awesome, and we became very close, so the fact that it is so easy to travel in this country and to see each other almost every weekend is really great. As a foreigner here, I am engulfing myself in this culture and reaching out to meet and speak with Koreans. However all of us foreigners found out very quickly that we need each other to get through this year. This was a life-changing decision for all of us, to move ourselves to a country who's culture is so unlike our own. We go through some tough times here, trying to teach these children and communicate our simplest needs and even our opinions to our co-teachers. We are all going through the same things so talking to each other helps tremendously. Every city we go to, we meet more and more Koreans who are so interested in speaking English with us, and vice-versa. I always say it's so funny, because all we want to do is speak Korean and learn Korean from them, but all they want to do is speak English with us. hah.
This is the perfect point to bring up my friend Scott. I met him the first week I was here in Andong, and he is leaving for the military in two days. (It is required of all Korean men to join the military.) We had a going away party for him this weekend at his uncle's makkoli restaurant, which was fabulous. Scott is a great person, always hanging out with us foreigners in Andong, trying to improve his English, even though he's amazing at it, and clearly fluent. He has studied it hard and we are all sad to see him go. He has helped me out incredibly with my Korean and has become a true friend here. Scott, you're awesome, good luck with everything and I will see you in NY!
