Fall Catch Up

Hey! Long time no see! Or should I say, long time no blog! Sorry for the long hiatus from the blog, but it has been a very busy fall. Now, it's time to get caught up.

This school year is off to a good start. I am really enjoying being in my second year at PICS. Things are always so much easier the second year around--you are familiar with the school, the students, the curriculum, and the area. One of the biggest challenges that we have is that we do not have an administrator this year. We have no director and no principal. As you can imagine, that makes some things very interesting. All the teachers have had to take on extra roles to make sure the school still runs smoothly. We have an elementary and a high school lead teacher that are part of an administrative team. This team is the administration for the current school year. Thankfully, we are part of a larger network of schools that allows us to get support from the home office during this time. There is some good news in all of this, however. We have hired a director for next year! He can't start until next school year because he is currently the director at one of the other schools in the network, but he has already been so supportive of our school and teachers. He may not be physically in Korea right now, but he's been great already. He should be really good for the school. But, in the meantime, pray for the endurance and strength of the teachers this year, especially as the school year goes on. It's a lot of extra work not having a director, and I know that by the time June rolls around we will be absolutely exhausted.

In September we had Chusok break, which is Korean Thanksgiving. We had three days off, and I spent the time relaxing and taking a break, as well as visiting one of the palaces in Seoul. I went with some friends to see Changgyeonggung Palace, also known as the Queen's Palace. It is called the Queen's Palace because it is the palace where the queens traditionally lived. It is one of the smaller palaces in Seoul, but it is still very beautiful. Because it doesn't have anything really "special" about it, it is not as big of a tourist attraction as some of the other palaces. However, that meant that it was not crowded, which made it even more enjoyable to visit. My favorite part was the pond in the back that was surrounded by trees. It was a really beautiful area.

September also brought the return of Kids Quest, the children's church program at the church I attend. I have been heading up the program since last spring. Right now we're trying out some different curriculum options that other churches have posted online. They have different videos and some skits or dialogue as part of the lesson to keep the kids interested. We've had just a couple weeks of trying one curriculum, and the kids seem to really like it so far.

October brought the end of the 1st quarter and parent teacher conferences. It also brought the beginning (or should I say return) of another ministry--Awana! That's right, I have started helping with Awana again. If you know my family and our involvement in Awana at all, you're probably not surprised that I would find a way to help with Awana even in another country. The Awana program I have started helping with is through the chapel on Osan Air Base. It is held at the elementary school on base on Wednesday nights. Because it is on base and I don't have base access, I have to get someone to sign me on every week. It's a little bit of a hassle, but it's been working out so far. Because it is sponsored by the chapel on base, they have to be really careful about the ratio of kids to adults. Sometimes they have to turn kids away because they don't have enough adults working with that particular age group. If you want to guarantee that your kids have a spot in Awana, as a parent, you volunteer to help with their group. Because of ratios and the number of parent volunteers, they are always looking for volunteers, especially ones that have previous experience with Awana. Everyone was really excited when I started helping. First of all, I am not a parent with children attending Awana; I'm just an extra volunteer. Second of all, I have Awana experience, especially with T&T, the age group I am helping with (3rd-6th grade). The T&T director even asks me questions to make sure that they are doing things correctly. I am really enjoying helping with Awana again. It's nice to put on the uniform on Wednesday nights and listen to verses and have a child explain yet again "why God gave us the Bible."

I have also been busy studying for and taking two different GRE tests. At the end of September I took the GRE subject test in Literature in English. While this test is not necessarily required for all grad schools, some require it for admission, and it may help me get into others, even if they don't require it. I had to do a lot of studying for that test because it could test anything in English or American literature, as well as some topics in world or European literature. The scope for the test was just massive! The most challenging thing about the test was that it would give you a passage to read and, just by reading this paragraph or two, you were supposed to be able to identify the author and approximately when it was written and even sometimes what work it was. All by reading this one random excerpt from one random work of the authors. And the test makers were not big on giving hints in the excerpts, like names or something like that. It was one of those tests where you're not expected to know everything. At the end of the day, I walked away from the test feeling comfortable with what I did not know. I did not know everything, but I was comfortable with the amount of material I did know. And, it paid off. I got a good score that should help me get into grad school. At the end of October I took the general GRE test, the one that everyone has to take if they want to pursue grad school. Again, the test went well, and I walked away with some really good scores that should help me get into grad school.

All of that leads up to a couple weeks ago when we received our invitations to come back next year. These aren't contracts (we sign those in the spring) but an opportunity to communicate to administration what are plans are for next year and whether we want to stay at the school in our current position, stay at the school in a new position, leave the school but transfer to another NICS school, or just leave the school and the network all together. We have to respond with our intentions for next year by the end of November. This year, they are due the day before Thanksgiving. I can almost guarantee that the decision of what to do next year (and what others are doing) is not far from the front of all the teachers' minds right now.

But, it is something I have been thinking less about recently because I have made my decision. (insert drumroll here) I have decided to stay in Korea at PICS for another year. I am very excited about this decision and how God is going to work through me while I'm here for another year. This does not mean grad school is out of the question; it just means that for now, God is calling me to remain in Pyeongtaek. He still has things He wants me to do here, and I can't wait to find out what that is. Grad school is still an option for the future, and something that I will probably revisit again next year. But, for now, I'm staying in Korea!

And So It Begins...

It's that time of year again! Back to school! This has always been one of my favorite times of the year, and this year is no exception. I am now starting my fourth year of teaching, and my second year here in Korea. Today was our first day of school, and I will be teaching five different classes this year—American Literature, British Literature, World Literature, 9th Literature and Composition, and Speech/Drama—as well as directing the spring play. But before all the new adventures of the school year happen, I wanted to make sure I caught everyone up on what I did this summer.

I spent about six weeks back in Iowa this summer. It was a great chance to catch up with family and friends. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my family, which was really good since it will be a while until I see them again.

Three days after I arrived in Iowa, I was able to have carpal tunnel release surgery on my right hand. Surgery went fine, as has recovery. My arm was in a brace for the first two weeks after surgery, which meant I had to pretty much everything with my left hand. That wasn't fun, but since the brace has come off, I haven't had any problems with my left hand. I'm still having some pain, especially when I write or type for too long. However, the pain doesn't linger, which makes it a whole lot better than it was before. The pain should continue to lessen as my wrist heals more.

I also had a travel with my family to the Northeast for a week on vacation. We were only able to hit the highlights, spending a day or two in Philadelphia, New York City, Maine, and Boston before returning to the Midwest. It was a great opportunity to be together as a family since we've all been in about a thousand different directions over the past year.

I've been back in Korea for about two weeks now, and I've settled back in quite comfortably. After spending so long in the States it has taken me a little while to adjust back to Korea, but I am doing better each day. It once again feels like home.

As the new school year starts, I would ask for your prayers in the following things:
1. I would be an effective and engaging teacher
2. I can clearly articulate the Gospel to my students
3. Students would have a desire to learn and work hard
4. Students would be open to God's Word and grow in their knowledge of God, including finding salvation
5. Wisdom for what to do next year

If #5 sounds like a strange prayer request for the beginning of the school year, let me explain. I have to decide by the end of November if I want to return for next year. If I decided to return, it would be a one year contract as opposed to a two year contract. But, it is still a lot to consider. At this point, I have no idea what I am going to do. I am considering going to graduate school sometime in the future, with an eye towards getting my Ph.D. in English to then teach at the college level. But I still love Korea and teaching at PICS, and it would be really hard to step away. If you ask me on any given day which way I am leaning, I will probably give you a different answer than the day before. The only thing I do know right now is that if I want to even consider applying to grad schools this fall, I have to take the GRE General Test and the GRE Subject Test in English within the next couple months. It's a lot to take in and consider, which is why I would greatly appreciate your prayers, even at this early stage in the school year.

I'm so glad I have people all over the world supporting me and praying for me. Thanks for partnering in my ministry in South Korea!

Spring Planting

Well, I'm back in Iowa for the summer amidst the corn fields and bean fields. Seeing these fields is making me think about the rice paddies in Korea, which reminds me that I haven't shared how they plant the rice.

First, they start by preparing the fields. This, as you might imagine, it includes plowing. The only difference between plowing fields in Korea and in Iowa is the size of the machine that they use. All farm machinery and equipment is smaller in Korea.

Once all the fields are plowed, it is time to flood the fields. While it is common knowledge that rice is grown in standing water, it may not be common knowledge that the rice is not planted until after the fields have already been flooded. Even after the fields have been flooded, the farmers still do more plowing to get the soil ready before they actually plant the rice.

Now it is finally time to plant the rice. However, they don't plant seeds. They plant seedlings. The rice plants have already started to grow before they are planted. The rice plants start growing inside a greenhouse or elsewhere off site before they are transplanted to the fields. They then use a special machine which takes the blocks of rice plants, separates them, and then plants them individually in the fields. The process is quite fascinating to watch.

And basically, that's it. Planting the rice in the water helps with pests and weeds. Over the next several months the plants will continue to grow. When I get back to Korea in August, the rice will be tall enough so that you will longer be able to see the water in the rice paddies, even though it is still there.

Spring

Whew! It has been a very busy spring. I'm sorry I haven't posted a blog update since spring break, but with my many responsibilities and the end of the school year, I simply haven't had time. Let's see if I can go back and remember everything that has happened since April.

I took on a new position at Mission Baptist Church. I became the person in charge of Kids Quest. Kids Quest is a program for kindergarten through fifth graders during the main worship service. Before that time, I been helping is a small group leader, but the person who was leading needed to step into different responsibilities. I felt God calling me to step up and take over the ministry and be the one in charge. As a result, I had to prepare a lesson each week based on the main sermon topic, and I had to prepare games and activities and coordinate volunteers. It was definitely a lot of work. The program is still going on this summer, but in a little different format since I will not be in Korea.

Throughout April and into May, I continued to work on preparing for the school's spring musical. One of the classes I was teaching this semester was drama, so I was therefore the director of the musical. I worked alongside the music teacher (naturally) on My Fair Lady. Most of the cast consisted of the drama and choir classes; however, some other students helped us out as well. In the end, we had a total of 30 students helping us, which is three quarters of the ninth through 12th graders. That's a lot of kids!

At the end of April, we started after school rehearsals once soccer season was over. Previously, we had only been able to practice during our class time because students were at soccer practice after school. But once soccer season was over, we were able to start practicing for two hours after school three times a week. That's when my schedule really got crazy. Between school, the musical, and Kids Quest, I had no time for anything else. Not to mention that this is all happening in May, which any teacher can tell you is the busiest month of the year.

Eventually, the date of the play came. Because we do not have any facilities of our own, we had to rent a theater in Pyeongtaek. Because we were renting a theater, we were not able to get in there until the day of the play. Yikes! That means we were not able to finalize sets, finalize prop placement, finalize some blocking (where the characters stand on stage and how they move), finalize lights and sound, or entrances and exits until the day of the play. Because of our limited practice time, it was also the first time that we were going to be able to run through the musical from start to finish. This was especially a big deal because we had to figure out how we were moving things around on stage and how the timing of set changes was all going to work. Let's just say it was crazy, insane, very stressful day. Oh, did I also mention exhausting? I pushed the kids really hard that day. I had been pushing them really hard for a month with all our extra practices. I had been pushing myself really hard for month, and I definitely pushed myself on that day. Let's just say I didn't sit down very much that day; I was always running around making sure everything was taking care.

But they did it! My Fair Lady was a smashing success! The kids simply did a fantastic job. All of their hard work paid off. I am very proud of all that they accomplished with the production this year.

I don't have the video of the musical to share. It ended up being almost 3 hours long, and so we may not be able to put it online this year. But, I should have the video on DVD that I will be bringing back with me this summer. If you really want to see it, just let me know when you can borrow it. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the play.















Once the play was over, it was just normal end of the school year stuff. You know, graduation, finals, cleaning up classroom, stuff like that. But school is over now for the summer and I finally get a chance to relax and take a bit of a break. To that end, I am heading to Busan tomorrow with my roommates to spend a few days sightseeing and hanging out at the beach. We get back on Wednesday, which will give me a couple days to pack up before I head back to the States on Friday.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the rice has been planted. But more about that another blog post.

Spring Break in Thailand

Greetings from South Korea! I made it back safely from my trip to Thailand last week. My roommates (Kari and Jennifer) and I went to three different cities in Thailand, and we never had any transportation or other issues. Considering how much traveling around we did, I'm pretty amazed at how well it went. Well, I guess we did have one issue, but that was before we even left Korea. You see, we take a public bus up to the airport. Normally, there are no problems on this bus; however, he managed to get a bus accident on our way there. The bus stops in another city, called Osan, about 20 minutes down the road before heading up to the airport. As we were pulling out of the Osan bus station, we clipped another bus. We managed to have our only transportation issue only 20 minutes from home. It was pretty funny. Neither bus was damaged very much and no one was hurt, so we were able to get back underway in just a few minutes. The accident also gave us a funny line that we kept revisiting all week. Before we had even left Songtan, we had been talking to other people in line for the bus, including another American. He ended up sitting in the back of the bus on the side that hit the other one. Discussing the accident, someone on the other side of the back row mentioned that the bus driver had about 6 inches on that side. The other gentleman replied, "He had less than that on this side." As we heard this from our seats a few rows up, Kari and I just burst out laughing. It was so obvious, which made it so hilarious. For the rest of the trip, especially when we got in close traffic situations, we always came back to that comment and tried to figure out if they had less than 6 inches.

Perhaps I should back up and give you an overview of our trip before getting into any more specifics. We left South Korea on Saturday, March 23 and returned a week later. Well, we left a week later, but it was an overnight flight that landed Sunday morning (Easter morning) at 6 AM. We were all very sleepy at church that day.



We started in Bangkok, where Kari taught for three years before moving to Korea. We were in Bangkok, we spent a lot of time with people that Kari knew from school. Our flight landed in Bangkok late Saturday night, so we didn't get to our hotel until about midnight. On Sunday morning we got up and went to church at Bangna Christian Fellowship, the church that Kari had attended when she was living in Thailand. After church, we went to a little Thai restaurant near the school, and then we headed out to a market to do some shopping. We went to Chatuchak Market in downtown Bangkok. It was a fairly typical outdoor market, with lots of stalls close together and all different kinds of products available. This was the place where we did our main souvenir shopping for the week. In Thailand, it is traditional to bargain for the price. Kari is an old pro at this, since she lived in Thailand for so long. I think I managed to do okay, though I probably paid more for some items that I should have. My roommate Jennifer, however, was hilarious to watch. She is a very nice sweet girl, which is wonderful most of the time; however, it doesn't work out so well when you have to barter. With a little coaching, she got better and we were always watching out for her. Sunday night we had dinner with Kari's mentor teacher and her family. It was a good opportunity to meet other people from the school and learn more about life in Thailand.

Monday morning, Kari headed out bright and early to the school so that she could catch up with some of her former students. Jennifer and I chose to sleep in. When Kari got back to the hotel, we headed out to do some sightseeing. Our goal for the day was to go to the Grand Palace, the most elaborate and most famous of the Royal palaces in Bangkok. To get there, we took the skytrain from our hotel to downtown Bangkok. Once downtown, we hopped on a water taxi to take us to the palace. That was an amazing experience. After getting a quick lunch on the street, we headed into the palace. The Grand Palace is a combination of a palace and a Buddhist temple. Our admission included both the palace and the temple, so we had a chance to see everything up close. About 95% of the population of Thailand is Buddhist. As a result, most of the Thai people who were visiting the temple were burning incense and worshiping the Buddha. It was a heartbreaking sight, and we made sure to take a few minutes to pray for the people of Thailand. Only about .5% of the population is Christian. For the most part, those who aren't Buddhist are Muslim. It is a country locked in spiritual darkness.



After spending most of the afternoon outside in the 90+ degree heat, it was a relief to go to the mall food court and have dinner with some of Kari's friends. Of course, we only went to the mall after we had explored a downtown park to see the water monitors. These are strange looking lizards that are very common in Thailand. While they are not actually poisonous, the bacteria in their mouth is so strong that if you get bitten you will get a terrible infection that you will probably die from. Therefore, if you ever get bitten by a water monitor, head directly to the hospital. We got close enough to take some pictures, but we kept our distance.



Tuesday found us splitting ways. Kari headed up north to visit the child she sponsors. Jennifer and I went to the beach at Hua Hin, a city about three hours south of Bangkok. To get to Hua Hin, we took a mini-bus (basically a 15 passenger van) from downtown Bangkok. Hua Hin was the vacation within a vacation. We just relaxed the entire time. We didn't really have a schedule or anything we wanted to do, so we just hung out by the pool and at the beach reading a lot of books. It was wonderful! And, as a big accomplishment, I did not get sunburned at the beach. If you have ever been with me in a tropical climate, or seen the pictures of when I was in one, then you know that I am pale and easily sunburned. I can be outside for just an hour and manage to turn bright red. However, I made sure to apply plenty of sunscreen several times throughout the day, and it worked.



The beach at Hua Hin was gorgeous. The beach where we were was nice and clear, not a lot of people or other things, not even a lot of pollution or trash, and the water was a wonderful clear blue. Overall, I thought the Thai countryside was beautiful with lots of green plants including trees and fields. The flowers were all sorts of beautiful colors, purples and pinks and yellows and whites and blues and reds. Bangkok wasn't always that pretty to look at, with its urban sprawl and construction everywhere, but our last city, Chiang Mai, was beautiful.

We headed up to Chiang Mai on Thursday to join Kari. We took the mini-bus back to Bangkok and then caught an hour long flight to Chiang Mai. When we got there Thursday evening, we dropped our stop at the hotel and then went exploring. The historic part of Chiang Mai includes the old walled city. Most of the wall is gone now, but a few parts still remain. There is now a moat that is where the wall used to be. Our hotel was right across the street from the moat, so we had a really good location. After walking around for a little bit, we got some supper and then went to a night market to finish up our souvenir shopping.



The next day, we did elephant training. This was probably one of the things that all three of us were most looking forward to on the trip. While it is fairly common for tourists to ride elephants while in Thailand, our experience was a little different. You see, most tourists riding in a basket on the back of the elephant. By doing the elephant training, we actually got to drive the elephant. In order to do that, you don't sit on its back but rather on its neck. From that position, you use your legs and knees to get the elephant to move and help it turn. You also have a little stick that helps you turn and stop the elephant. Driving the elephant was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I only wish that this once-in-a-lifetime experience didn't also coincide with my carpal tunnel. I could not hold the stick with the right firmness and pressure or move the elephant's head like I needed to as long as I was wearing my wrist brace. And to take off my wrist brace meant a lot of pain and numbness. As a result, I only drove the elephant for probably about 10 minutes during the little training part of the day. Later, when we went for a little trek up the mountainside, I rode on the back of an elephant while Kari drove. While this was once again a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it was not a pain-free one. I had a rope to hold onto, but it hurt my wrist to hold on too tightly, which I unfortunately needed to do going up and down the mountain. Also, I was on the back of the elephant without any sort of basket. I was riding the elephant bareback. Let's just say that an elephant's spinal cord is not very comfortable. Also, our elephant was stubborn and didn't want to move more than a few steps at a time. Occasionally, in protest of being forced to move, the elephant would spit at us. Kari and I got hit with elephant spit and snot probably about 10 times in the course of trek. I was very thankful during this time that the training camp had provided us with clothes to wear so it wasn't my actual clothes that were getting all dirty and gross. In the afternoon, we also had an opportunity to wash the elephants. All you simply did was ride the elephant into little pond and the elephant and its trainers would splash water up onto its body and you would get to scrub. Because my wrist was really hurting at this time, I elected to watch this process. However, I still managed to get a good laugh. Kari's elephant splashed her with mud from head to toe. Jennifer squirmed and squealed every time she got hit with water. While the day definitely did not go as I had originally planned, it was still a good experience. It was a great opportunity to feed and ride and bathe the elephants. If you're ever in Thailand or get the opportunity to do anything like this, I would highly recommend it, provided that you don't have carpal tunnel. While definitely more touristy, a basket with have been much better for me this time around.





All of this brings us to Saturday morning. We spent the morning exploring a Royal botanical park just outside Chiang Mai. We were only able to stay for a little over an hour because we had to get back to Chiang Mai to catch a flight to Bangkok to then catch a flight to Korea. The grounds were gorgeous and well kept and included some buildings with traditional Thai architecture as well as some international gardens. One of the first international gardens we saw was the one from South Korea. It looked like a mini Korean palace. We looked inside to see what was being in the Korean garden, we discovered that the only thing there were kimchi pots. Once again, we could only laugh. Another thing that made us laugh was when a couple of guys asked if they could take their picture with me. It is not uncommon for Thai people to want their picture with Westerners, but this situation was especially funny because one of them was a Buddhist monk. A Buddhist monk becomes ceremonially unclean if he touches a woman or takes something from her, so the fact that he wanted a picture with me was hilarious.

All in all, I had a wonderful trip to Thailand. It was a bit of a surreal experience it first, as it reminded me simultaneously of Latin America and Asia all rolled into one. Latin America because it was so hot and some of the attitudes of the people were the same, and Asia because all the architecture and food was typically Asian. If you ever get the opportunity, I would recommend a visit to Thailand. It is a beautiful country. And on that trip, you should definitely make it up to Chiang Mai. Yes, go and see Bangkok, but you need to also go to Chiang Mai. In my opinion, Chiang Mai is a nicer and more historical feeling city than Bangkok. I like the feel of Chiang Mai much better than Bangkok. If I ever get back to Thailand, seeing more of Chiang Mai is definitely on my list of things to do, along with spending more than two days at the beach.

Life Update

Well, it has been a while since I have posted on this blog. I know in my last couple blogs I have promised things about Korean literature; however, this post is still not about that. Instead, I thought I would give you an update of my last few weeks and what is coming up for me.

The past couple weeks have really been a test of my endurance and patience. My wrist has been hurting again. However, this time, the pain is more than it has ever been before. The past 10 days especially has been more pain that I have experienced. As a result, it has been very tiring and frustrating. I have not been able to get as much work done because of the pain. In fact, this past week I was only able to do schoolwork two out of five days because the last three days of the week the pain was just too intense. Instead, I had to have other teachers and some students help me type. Thankfully, I have wonderful colleagues and students who are more than willing to help me when I need it. That doesn't make it any easier pain wise at least, but it is nice to know that they are willing to be a blessing to me.

The good news is that I have scheduled a doctor's appointment for when I will be back in Iowa in June. This doctor's appointment will hopefully be the appointment where the doctor says, "You can have surgery." When I made the appointment, I checked how soon after the appointment I would be able to schedule surgery. Based on what the nurse said, I should be able to schedule surgery within the next week or so. That time frame will allow me to have surgery and two follow-up appointments before returning to Korea in August. If I do need physical therapy after surgery, there is a good possibility that I will be able to do it by myself. I would still be recovering from surgery when I got back to Korea; however, it will be a lot better than it is right now. And, I know that I will have plenty of people willing to help me since I will just be recovering from surgery.

In the meantime, I am taking some steps to try to reduce the pain I am in right now. I have switched medications to one that is possibly stronger and lasts for longer. Hopefully, this will make a difference in the pain. I have also bought a new computer software that will type whatever I speak. It is called Dragon Speech Recognition software, and I am using it to compose this blog post. My blog posts may not come with any greater frequency; however, my excuse will no longer be wrist pain.

My prayer request in the midst of all of this is for strength and endurance until June. There are only three months until my doctor's appointment; however, it feels like these next three months will last forever. The last three months of the school year always fly by, and I'm sure that this year will be no exception. Until the end of the school year comes, though, I have a lot of work to get done. The English teacher always has plenty of typing and writing to do. While some of the changes I am making will certainly help reduce the stress on my wrist, there are still some things that I will have to do by myself. But more than just praying that the pain would go away, I want you to pray that I will be able to get through the pain with a good attitude and stay focused on God. Pray that I will learn what God wants me to learn through this experience, and that I will stay focused on him and not on my pain. The pain really walloped me this week, and part of it was because I had a hard time staying focused on Him. If I can stay focused on God, then that will make things better, even if pain does not go away. More than anything else, I want God to be glorified through this trial and struggle in my life. I want people to look at my life and say, "She is handling this trial with grace, and I hope that I can handle trials like that in the future." If that happens, then I will feel like God has used this for a good purpose.

On a brighter note, my spring break is coming up next week. For spring break, I am heading to Thailand with my two roommates. It should be a fun, grand, and glorious time! Don't worry; there will be a blog post and pictures coming afterwards.

Lunar New Year

Well, as you can see, I didn't quite get to my post about Lunar New Year over the weekend. I was originally going to have a nice quiet weekend at home, just me, grading papers and watching movies. The perfect time to update my blog. The plans changed on Friday afternoon. I ended up going into Seoul on Saturday with friends from church. We went to Itaewon, which is a very "American" neighborhood with lots of American restaurants and shopping geared for foreigners. We also went to Times Square in Seoul, which is basically a big shopping mall. We needed to escape the cold after being outside for several hours. It was a great time with friends, but I was tired by the time I got back to my apartment. And I still had grading to do on Sunday! It's a good thing my blog readers will forgive a few days tardiness.

Itaewon:


Times Square:



Inside Times Square:






Now, on to Lunar New Year. This is the major holiday in the Korean calendar. This holiday goes back centuries to when Korea (like China) followed a lunar calendar. It is the same holiday as Chinese New Year, but the two countries celebrate it differently. While the Chinese holiday lasts for a couple weeks and is filled with fireworks and parties, the Korean version is shorter more sedate. The holiday lasts three days; the day in the middle is the actual holiday and the two days on each side are travel days. That's right, they set aside days specifically for travel. That also means that it is a horrible time to travel around Korea, as most of the country is on the roads at that time. You see, most Koreans travel to see family for Lunar New Year. As a result, sons and daughters (with their own families) are descending on their parents' house. The travel problem is exacerbated by the fact that Korea is such a small country. With 48 million people squeezed into a country the size of Indiana, you will run into travel problems whenever a large percentage decides to travel at the same time. The holiday just exaggerates that trouble, making it difficult to go anywhere in a car during the prime holiday travel hours. On the Saturday of Lunar New Year weekend (the first travel day), I was riding with some friends to go out to eat, and it took us about twice as long to get to the restaurant as it normally would have, and the drive normally only takes about 10 minutes. It was craziness, and we never even left our neighborhood!

Anyway, Lunar New Year is a big holiday for family, kind of like Christmas and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. There are special Korean dishes that they eat for the new year. Traditionally, there are also sacrifices to the gods, but that was before Christianity arrived in the country. Some parts of the traditional Lunar New Year celebration still cater to that tradition, but it has lost most of the religious aspect. Another traditional component to Lunar New Year is that the grandparents give money to the children, which is something that all the kids look forward to. I had some students wish they were going to their grandparents' house so they could get money. While there are other details about the holiday (some of which I'm not even sure about), the important thing about the holiday is that families get together to celebrate the start of the new year.