Part deux…Fish heads…

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by in Cuisine, Strange Customs

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I don’t know about this blog thing.  I guess I ran out of space back there?  In any case, here’s a few pics of our trek while walking through a little shopping spot. 

These are actually whole fish, I think, and I’m all about ‘when in Rome’ but I will not. be. eating. that. 

In other news, classes start tomorrow.  I am ready and excited to get going.  (Hey, that reminds me, did you know the World Championship Track and Field Event is coming up?  In Daegu!  This is THE year to be here!  We’ll see if we can’t catch a fleeting glimpse of Usain Bolt – this tiny camera might not be up for the challenge.)

Sacred Grounds and Fish Heads in a Jar

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by in Cuisine, Strange Customs

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Today we took a little hike through beautiful lolling hills which were lush, green and slightly wet after an early rain.  But the sun had returned, and near the summit of our walk, we had stunning views of our city, which looked serene from way up there.

 Turns out, the “lolling” part, literally mounds of hillside maybe 12-15 feet high, are family burial plots of powerful people who ruled during the 5th and 6th centuries.  I wasn’t counting, but I saw the #20 on one of them – it could have been more.  In their well-chosen,  acreage on the hill they still ruled.  Of course, there was probably not a city below as there is now, but it did make me wonder, what was there and how many people were a part of it?  Also, did they mean for the Korean military to use this land as a training facility?  Because right out there on this little hike were, say 10-12 soldiers setting up tents, laying down wire, you know, army stuff- all in full gear, rifles included.  At first, they smiled and said “hello, how are you, good vacation, good time” and those kinds of nice things.  We asked to take pictures but they declined.  No biggy.

However…in a little bit, four of them came up to us to ask if we would pose with them and have our pictures taken.  This took awhile to figure out, but when we finally did, Guy and I stood pretending to chit chat while they posed around us.  Wah-eird!  Then, Guy went ahead and snapped a picture of one of them while he tried to sort of hide his weapon of small destruction.  And on their merry way they went.  Oops, nope, back they came, wanting to see the picture Guy took and asking him (telling him, really, but ever so nicely) not to “Tweet” the picture or otherwise put it online because their work is “secret.”  So, my friends, you’re just going to have to take my word for it that we had a cool run-in with the Korean army today. 

Here’s a pic of the rolling hillside just to prove we were there! 

Isn’t it pretty?

And the view from the top.

Also, we made our way into a part of the city where there are shops and homes.  Here’s a couple of those pics for you. 

 

 

 

 

It’s Gettin’ Kinda Hectic

17 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by in Common Sense, Out in the Big World/Travel

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I think I have an inkling of what it’s like to be illiterate.  My days are managed by making common sense connections (oh, that sign must say “stop” since there’s a city bus barrelling at me.  Oooh, that one says “restaurant” – see the pictures of shrimp on the sign?!)  But it’s an illiteracy having once been able to read, you see.  It’s kind of like when the power goes off during a winter storm in Maine.  I still walk room to room and flick on the lightswitch, with genuine surprise the light doesn’t come on.  When you’re reading Korean, the lights don’t come on either, but I keep expecting them to.

I can read it...but what does it say?

So I’m thinking about my students and how difficult it must be for those who either A.) hardly understand English – for there are a few;  from India, from China or B.) still translate the language in their heads, as in, it’s still not automatic to think/answer/write in English.  Oh my.  Their reading lists include classic American Literature (consider the colloquialisms of Huck Finn!), Shakespeare and Chekov, to name a few.  I think I may have planned for more than I can accomplish.  Or hey, maybe not.  I’m in Korea, for crying out loud, I’ve accomplished more than I ever planned.  Maybe these kids can, too.

Guy is picking up the language like a child.  He’s already speaking to the cafeteria staff, albeit in broken sentences.  He’ll say “thank you. breakfast,” in Korean, with a bow.  The ladies delight at this giant smiling American.  “Oh, yes, breakfast.  Wow!”  It’s been 7 days, it’s still a challenge for me – not only to pick up Korean, but to understand a Korean when he/she speaks English.  The same lady, our cafeteria manager, actually, was trying to figure out if we were supposed to be there at all, and I swear she was saying “tomatowi?”  I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.  Try again.”  She repeated “tomatowi?”  This went on with me getting flustered, her turning bright red, both of us smiling and trying really hard.  Guy walks over “yes, dormitory!  We live here.”  Sigh.

This, by the way, has all happened here on campus or down the street at the mall.  We haven’t had time to venture out into the ‘real’ Korea, but I saw an open market yesterday that I’m dying to get to.  I saw peaches the size of cantalopes.  Yum!  Stay tuned.