Greetings and Salutations!
I hope everyone is in good spirits and recovered from inauguration-related fiestas that I only had the pleasure of reading about from afar :) Due to Facebook updates and e-mails from friends in the District, the Latino Gala held in Union Station looked entirely delightful. Heck, J. Lo, Marc Anthony and an array of other spectacular Latinos under one roof sounded like heaven to me, this adopted Latina, shivering in the relentless Korean wind.
Anyway, everything is going very well on my side of the pond. An entire four-day weekend awaits me as the Lunar (or Chinese) New Year is a significant holiday in Eastern cultures. I hope to finish a book I am reading, which is entitled The Geography of Thought, by Richard E. Nisbett. My friend, Won, gave it to me for Christmas, most likely because I ask him why Koreans do what they do. The main idea of the book is that Easterners have a more cyclical method of thought and believe that everything is interconnected. Westerners are seen as making the assumption that we are ultimately in charge of our own destiny and oftentimes do not tie occurances to pre-cursors, for we categorize single events. This book has given me much more insight of Korean culture and helps me understand specific differences between our ways of thinking and perception.
At work (or school), all of the kindergarten students dressed up in their Hanbok, which is traditional Korean clothing. My little Korean babies were so cute in their traditional garb! I
seriously need to get a life because even when I am not at work and hanging out with my friends (fellow teachers....which may be part of the problem), we only talk about our students. We discuss what their future professions will be, how they treat other students, who the popular ones are, who has crushes on who and we even pinpoint random Koreans on the metro as future "Mickeys," "Kevins," or "Jinas." Even as I sit at my desk right now, I am able to count five stickers on my clothes from the day's events. In not too long, I am to go out and meet a friend for a glass of wine and thank goodness I caught my animae character, pink cupcake, fuzzy penguin, "Coffee Break," blue fish stickers on my cardigan sweater and a rice particle in my hair. If my neighborhood crowd (I live in a trendy, university area) caught me traipsing out in such a state, I would certainly be shunned and sent back to the local chapter for Soccer Moms.
The weather eased up a bit during this week, but temperatures plummeted yet again today. Yesterday felt so close to spring and then as it always does, reality socked me in the face and caught me on the day I did not wear my gloves to warm my little dedos (fingers). The fellow inhabitants of my apartment building (three other teachers) all had sky high gas bills this month for the increased usage of heat. Oddly enough, my bill has remained at a zero balance ever since I have lived in Korea. I must say that I do shower, heat my apartment and whip up the occassional quesadilla and so I zip my lips avoid all eye contact when the subject arises.
Our building manager is probably my favorite character in all of Korea. He and I have an amiable relationship and if it is that which has been affected my gas bill, so be it, it is survival of the fittest my friends. Mr. Chu is such a bubbly man and he speaks English, so by default, we hit if off. By friends, he is referred to merely as "Chu," and by fellow teachers and myself, "Dragon Breath." After Chu was fixing Greg from Toronto's sink, Greg bestowed upon Chu a bottle of soju (Korean liquor) in grattitude. Immediately after seventy-year-old Chu received the gift, he opened it and took a five-second swig. Ever since this instance, when I run into Chu, he wreaks of soju. That being said, our dear building manager has been coined "Dragon Breath."
I would like to end this entry on a positive note, so I have added a piece of work by my little songbirds, their latest version of Nobody by the Wonder Girls. (The actual video may be found at http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=YpcxPS-JWv0). We are still tweaking our altos and sopranos, but I wanted to give you all a glimpse of what we do at lunch time.
I hope everyone has a tremendous weekend!
I hope everyone is in good spirits and recovered from inauguration-related fiestas that I only had the pleasure of reading about from afar :) Due to Facebook updates and e-mails from friends in the District, the Latino Gala held in Union Station looked entirely delightful. Heck, J. Lo, Marc Anthony and an array of other spectacular Latinos under one roof sounded like heaven to me, this adopted Latina, shivering in the relentless Korean wind.
Anyway, everything is going very well on my side of the pond. An entire four-day weekend awaits me as the Lunar (or Chinese) New Year is a significant holiday in Eastern cultures. I hope to finish a book I am reading, which is entitled The Geography of Thought, by Richard E. Nisbett. My friend, Won, gave it to me for Christmas, most likely because I ask him why Koreans do what they do. The main idea of the book is that Easterners have a more cyclical method of thought and believe that everything is interconnected. Westerners are seen as making the assumption that we are ultimately in charge of our own destiny and oftentimes do not tie occurances to pre-cursors, for we categorize single events. This book has given me much more insight of Korean culture and helps me understand specific differences between our ways of thinking and perception.
At work (or school), all of the kindergarten students dressed up in their Hanbok, which is traditional Korean clothing. My little Korean babies were so cute in their traditional garb! I
seriously need to get a life because even when I am not at work and hanging out with my friends (fellow teachers....which may be part of the problem), we only talk about our students. We discuss what their future professions will be, how they treat other students, who the popular ones are, who has crushes on who and we even pinpoint random Koreans on the metro as future "Mickeys," "Kevins," or "Jinas." Even as I sit at my desk right now, I am able to count five stickers on my clothes from the day's events. In not too long, I am to go out and meet a friend for a glass of wine and thank goodness I caught my animae character, pink cupcake, fuzzy penguin, "Coffee Break," blue fish stickers on my cardigan sweater and a rice particle in my hair. If my neighborhood crowd (I live in a trendy, university area) caught me traipsing out in such a state, I would certainly be shunned and sent back to the local chapter for Soccer Moms.
The weather eased up a bit during this week, but temperatures plummeted yet again today. Yesterday felt so close to spring and then as it always does, reality socked me in the face and caught me on the day I did not wear my gloves to warm my little dedos (fingers). The fellow inhabitants of my apartment building (three other teachers) all had sky high gas bills this month for the increased usage of heat. Oddly enough, my bill has remained at a zero balance ever since I have lived in Korea. I must say that I do shower, heat my apartment and whip up the occassional quesadilla and so I zip my lips avoid all eye contact when the subject arises.
Our building manager is probably my favorite character in all of Korea. He and I have an amiable relationship and if it is that which has been affected my gas bill, so be it, it is survival of the fittest my friends. Mr. Chu is such a bubbly man and he speaks English, so by default, we hit if off. By friends, he is referred to merely as "Chu," and by fellow teachers and myself, "Dragon Breath." After Chu was fixing Greg from Toronto's sink, Greg bestowed upon Chu a bottle of soju (Korean liquor) in grattitude. Immediately after seventy-year-old Chu received the gift, he opened it and took a five-second swig. Ever since this instance, when I run into Chu, he wreaks of soju. That being said, our dear building manager has been coined "Dragon Breath."
I would like to end this entry on a positive note, so I have added a piece of work by my little songbirds, their latest version of Nobody by the Wonder Girls. (The actual video may be found at http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=YpcxPS-JWv0). We are still tweaking our altos and sopranos, but I wanted to give you all a glimpse of what we do at lunch time.
I hope everyone has a tremendous weekend!
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