Merry Christmas Eve!

This is what Christmas Eve looks like for us.  We're celebrating our third Christmas in Korea, and it doesn't feel strange but saying it out loud is surreal.  Sending love to our families and friends in the States and hoping to spend the holidays with you next year....

It snowed last night and we're hoping it sticks around for a white Christmas.

Andrew working on a video montage gift to our friends in our festive apartment.

Merry Christmas!

Raymond and Morgan's Visit

The day after Thanksgiving, Andrew was driving like a madman on the highway shoulder yet again, this time on the way to pick up Morgan and Raymond at Incheon Airport.  They were the perfect guests: already liked spicy food and adept with chopsticks, always up for sharing a beer (including a large pitcher), excited to see the sights by foot, and also cool to relax at home while great conversation is intermingled with Words with Friends games on iPads (opponents all in the same room).

I'll let the pictures stand as evidence of the fun we had, but I'll say that the time went too fast and after Ray and Morgan left, I was lonely for longtime friends.  As much as we love living in Korea, there's no substitute for the companionship of friends since high school jazz band or GU freshman orientation.

Palaces Schmalaces.

In front of the Pyeongtaek Train Station and Mall.

Reunification of Korea by the People the World Needs Most.

South Side! (At the DMZ, gray building is in North Korea)

Wait, is this something we smile in front of? Or serious faces?

The Ultimate Souvenir

My sister always jokes that adopting a baby would be the ultimate souvenir from your travels.  Andrew and I are not planning to adopt a Korean baby, although they are so incredibly adorable and nearly irresistable!  I read an article from the Chosun Ilbo that says Korea is the largest exporter of babies for adoption to the U.S and 40% of Korean adoptions are to overseas parents, meaning only 60% stay in country.

 

More interesting tidbits from the article:

• According to the 2011 Annual Adoption Report to Congress released Friday, out of the total of 2,047 foreign-born children adopted by U.S. families from October 2010 to September 2011, 734 or 36 percent were from Korea.  (The Philippines was a distant second with 216, Uganda third with 196, India fourth with 168, and Ethiopia fifth with 126.) 
• Worldwide, China was the birthplace of most children adopted overseas. Next came Ethiopia with 1,727 and Russia with 970. Korea ranked fourth with 736.
• Korea still remains as a major exporter of babies due to child protection laws and public aversion to adoption.  I've heard that Koreans are "family clan oriented" and sometimes aren't interested in introducing a child with an unknown background into their family.
• Also, there is still a strong stigma against single mothers in Korea. No "16 and Pregnant" tv shows here!

Seorak

We had a great Veteran's Day getaway weekend to Mt. Seorak, a three-hour road trip northeast from where we live.  Being out of sight of rice paddies and in the mountains for a change made us miss the States.

Seoraksan means "White Craggy Mountains" and the crags were gorgeous although we were too late for fall's peak colors (but thankfully too early for icy roads).  The Seoraksan National Park is very close to Korea's east coast so we stayed at the beach and were surprised to see all but the most touristy beaches lined with barbed wire.  Referencing our guide book, we learned since we were so close to North Korea they're worried for an invasion.  During the nighttime, lights shine in the water to attract squid to eat and lights shine on the beach to discourage invaders.  Nuts!

Andrew and Mark at the park's entrance.

Andrew at the Temple's Buddha. We were disappointed to find it's only been there since 1997.

Big Buddha, Big Buddha, Big Buddha.  Oh yeah? Big Buddha!

On top of the cable car, overlooking crag after crag.

Jess and me at Dakgalbi Street in Chuncheon, a street full of my favorite Korean food: spicy grilled chicken and cabbage. The perfect road trip rest stop.

Gingko

Fall is in full color here in Korea, and the highlights are the Gingko Biloba trees (see Google's stock photos like these).  They're such a vibrant yellow and I'm surprised how common Gingko trees are being as I never noticed them in other shades.  There are a few trees like this in the States and Europe but not nearly as widespread as Asia.  Beautiful!  I'm happy the weather conditions this year are just right for the leaves to change and drop slowly. 

 

This weekend for Veteran's Day we're headed to Mt. Seorak, a northeastern national park known for its fall colors.  Pictures coming!

 

Fashion

I've been commuting to work in Seoul lately, which makes for a long day but some fantastic people watching.  I never get tired of watching the fashion here.  Even Andrew enjoys watching what people wear.  It's been said that since Korea is such a tiny country, what is "in" catches on with the whole population very quickly (much quicker than the U.S./Europe) so it becomes mainstream instantly and the fashionistas move right on to the next thing.  I could never dream of being fashionable in the States, so doing it here in Korea is comical.... And some of their trends are comical in my opinion.

One is shown in the picture here: jean shorts with black tights.  Works with a hooded sweatshirt and sneakers or with a lacy sweater and high heels apparently.  While it seems practical for this semi-Fall weather we've been having, I just can't get excited about the look.  Last winter I saw a lot of dressy wool shorts with tights and that made much more sense to me, but the jean shorts.... hmmmm.  In fact, I don't know if I saw any Koreans wearing jean shorts at all (without tights) this summer.

So I got onto Google Images to find a picture to use on this blog, and who was the first person who popped up modeling this trend? Katie Holmes!  And I saw more Americans and Europeans than Koreans sporting the look.... (Full disclosure, the woman in the photo is from Tokyo actually.)

Guess I'm even more fashion challenged than I thought!  I can't even successfully pick out a ridiculous trend that's unique to Korea.

Some of my other "favorite" Korean fashion trends:

• Jean shorts with black tights, but the shorts are so short that the line for the control top hose shows.
• Eyeglasses with no lenses, only rims.
• Men in suits made of fabric with a very noticeable sheen; we call them shiny suits.
• Men's ties in pastel colors with a ton of rhinestones on them.  Very bedazzled!
• The more lacy and frilly and floral a woman's clothes are, the better.  I'd hate to be a tomboy here!
• Disney characters, especially Mickey Mouse, on everything adult.
• Couples wearing matching outfits.

How Korean Stay Slim

The secret to how Koreans stay thin is in the message of this sign at Jeju's Chocolate Museum.

 

The takeaway is this: if you're slim, you can eat chocolate.  If you're fat, first get skinny and then you can have a little chocolate.

 

Why didn't I think of that?  Oh yeah, because chocolate is irresistable.

Korean Columbus Day

Today is a Korean holiday: Gaecheonjeol (translated into English as National Foundation Day).  I asked a co-worker what the holiday was all about and he said it was like Columbus Day, so I looked it up on the internet.  This holiday celebrates the creation of the state of ancient Korea..... in 2333 BC. 

 

A little more legit than Columbus Day!  And for as much grief as I give Koreans about being so in-your-face patriotic, considering how old their country is and how rough its history has been with occupation after occupation, I think they have good cause to celebrate today.

 

***

 

We're back to our "home" in Korea after two blissful weeks in the States.  We refilled our family and friends buckets and now we're ready to round third base and make our way back to our real home.

Jeju

We had a fun time on our Jeju vacation: perfect weather and perfect company.  It was a welcome change to do domestic travel- it seemed so easy.... aside from having to drive on the shoulder of the highway to make our flight in time!

Seeing the island by scooter was definitely the way to go.

The view from the Eastern-most portion of the Island, sunrise crater.  We couldn't bring ourselves to get there by sunrise though.

Harubang: the stone grandfathers.  We saw these statues carved from lava rock everywhere.

The crater on top of Hallasan, the peak of Jeju and the highest point in Korea.  We hiked 9.8km each way for this view.

Squid hanging up along the coast to dry.  Koreans eat dried squid like we'd eat beef jerky.

Samgyetang: young chicken soup stuffed with ginseng, green onions, and rice. 

The girls wearing complementary aprons at the Samgyetang restaurant. 

The boys in aprons too.  Andrew in gingham on gingham.

Realizing the dessert we ordered was canned peaches on ice.  With cherry tomatoes. 

The Cheonjiyeong Waterfall.

Bein' Korean and hiding from the sun.

The Jeju Crew.

The inside of a bathroom stall.  It was a regular toilet (not a squatty potty) and the picture instructions want to be sure you know how to use it!

Great Expectations

This weekend, mostly just because but also to celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we're going to the island of Jeju off the southern coast of South Korea.

Every Korean who talks about Jeju Island describes it as the "Hawaii of Korea," but when a friend visited recently she reminded me that it's still Korea.  Her point was well taken, and since she didn't get the idyllic beach vacation she imagined, she booked a trip to the real Hawaii a few months later.

This sort of thing happens all the time to me here.  More often than not, I've found that Koreans oversell their resources.  Probably because they're a very proud people and will fiercely defend Korea's assets.  True, they have bustling cities, lush mountains, and sandy beaches like the States, but it's not a fair comparison to say every ski resort is like Aspen.  Because it's not!  The basic bare-bones facts are true (snow, a slope, hot cocoa in the lodge) but it'd be more accurate to say the ski resorts here are like the smallest ski hills in Wisconsin.  Nothing to complain about, but grossly underwhelming when you're expecting Olympic quality skiing.  Speaking of which, Pyeongchang 2018 will be great- Koreans know how to build! 

I'm not intending to dog on Korea because I truly enjoy living here. I just need to temper my expectations when I get recommendations from Koreans, because everything in this country is just a little off.... but that's half the fun!  It's a great place for a pair of optimists like us.

Civil Defense Drill

Yesterday the U.S. Embassy sent out this notification:

"On Thursday, August 18, at approximately 2:00 p.m. an air-raid siren will sound for one minute to signal the start of a nationwide civil defense drill.  Pedestrians in open and public areas should seek shelter in nearby buildings or subway stations.  All drivers/vehicles on the road must pull over and come to a complete stop. At approximately 2:15 p.m. a second siren will sound, signaling the conclusion of the drill.  Local authorities will give further instructions if necessary."

I'm thinking any tourists who didn't get the notification are going to be panicking!  The U.S. military bases do drills frequently, but to be on the streets of Seoul and watch everyone rush down to the subway where cabinets of gas masks are stored.....

When does the U.S. do drills like these for non-natural disasters?  Granted, Canada doesn't have a deranged dictator for a leader, but there were Cold War threats, anthrax scares.....  It makes me want to ask my parents and grandparents more about air-raid sirens and other similar drills that have happened in the States.  Time to brush up on my history.   

Losing Steam

We've begun our third and final year in Korea and it's amazing how quickly the past two years have flown.  I feel like I'm running out of blog topics and losing steam because we're very settled into a routine and the strange aspects of living in this foreign land have become normal somehow.  I want to keep the blog going though -assuming at least one person hasn't given up on it yet- so I'll dig deep.

 

It looks like this will be our last August in Korea.... and August is not among the many things I'll miss.  Last August almost broke me and this one is shaping up no differently.  I keep hearing how it's cooler than last year or how it's not as bad as the Alabama summers, but I've been spoiled by Northwest summers for too long I guess. 

 

In fact, this post's title "losing steam" is a misnomer because the air around us seems to be getting steamier each day.  91% humidity when I checked this morning at 5am.  Gross!  I had sweat through my shirt before I even began the warmup in spin class this morning.  The temperature has been hovering around 85 for the high (overcast) and 80 for the low with over 80% humidity for a few weeks now and it probably won't let up until the end of September.  My hair is a frizzy mess, I continually have a sweat 'stache, and it takes effort to peel myself off the leather couch.

 

Complaining about the weather gets old, because there always seems to be something to complain about.  But the biggest reason August's steaminess gets my goat is the mold that comes along with it.  Black mold is a huge problem in Korea and obviously a major health concern.  I've heard horror stories about apartments overridden with black mold, wardrobes ruined, babies very sick. In June we had one black mold incident around a window after a leak following a particularly rainy spell, but luckily the apartment owners were proactive about treating it and it hasn't been back.... yet. 

 

Instead of black mold though, we have its unwelcome cousin: white fluffy mold.  This mold grows on natural fibers so our leather belts, wool coats, and certain other fabrics are in peril.  I've combated the mold with vinegar, gloves, and a doctor's mask more times than I can count and it keeps coming back during this damp season.  I can't seem to figure out where it will sprout up next, so I'm always unnerved when I open a closet or grab some not-often-worn shoes and it's there, mocking me to say "you missed a spot."  Still, I think it's manageable with a large dry cleaning load at the end of the season, the DampRid pouches that Joanie sent, and a glass or two of wine before I go on my mold killing spree. 

 

Quick note about air conditioning: our apartment has one refrigerator sized air conditioner in the corner of the living room that has a hard time not freezing out that room while still pumping out enough cold air to cool the remote parts of the apartment.  It's also prohibitively expensive to run it all the time (which is what it would take to stop the mold altogether).  Our upstairs neighbors run their AC continuously and have a monthly energy bill of $2,500!  That's in addition to the rent of $1,500 and other utility bills.  Nuts!  Although as a former power company employee, I appreciate the Korean utility's stepped rates for power consumption: the more you use, the more you pay per kwh.  Our bill is more like $30.

 

Well I'm feeling better after venting about the mold.  Enjoy your cool breezes and be glad you didn't come visit in August.  Still 11 months to go for visitors though!  The rest of the year it's lovely here... I promise.

Hot Garb

A long overdue post about a staple here in Korea: hot garb.  It's an assortment of fried foods sold on the street that our friend Mark very aptly named hot garb; first because if you buy enough it's served in a steaming garbage bag and secondly because after eating it you feel like garbage the next day.  Eating hot garb is not recommended if it's before 9pm or if you've had less than two beers, as evidenced below:

Mrs. Kim's Stand, where the frying oil has likely not been changed since she last changed her hairstyle. 

Zoomed in on the menu.  We stick to a strict order of tots, mozz sticks and chicken nuggs..

These bins of previously frozen fare sit outside all hours of the day and night.  But once fried I'm sure they're the epitome of fresh and healthful food, right?  And don't forget your dixie cup full of ketchup!

Virtual Grocery Shopping

Thanks to Kate for sending me this video and keeping me informed about weird and cool things about Asia.

Hong Kong

Andrew and I spent an extended Memorial Day weekend in Hong Kong with good friends Mark and Jess. We toured Hong Kong for a day, Kowloon for a day, and Macau for a day with some travel time on each end. Kate was able to play remote travel agent and tour guide for us after living on the mainland of China right near Hong Kong for a year (in Shenzhen).  The flight from Seoul to Hong Kong was a 3.5 hour direct flight- not bad!

 

Highlights:

1. The hands-down favorite mode of transportation was the double-decker trolley.  We boarded across the street from our hotel and rode to our tourist destinations for 25 cents a ride.  It was fun to see the scenery change from very Western to very Chinese in a stop or two.
2. The history of Hong Kong fascinates me but it's not a very old city as far as world cities go (not settled by the British until the 1840s).  Still, it felt much older than Seoul- likely because Koreans tend to like new buildings and tear down anything older than 20 years.  
3. Victoria's Peak at the top of Hong Kong Island provided a good perspective of Hong Kong and the harbor.  We rode the funicular to the top.... way too muggy for a hike.
4. There is a nightly light show of Hong Kong's skyscrapers that's best viewed from across the harbor in Kowloon. 
5. Macau is the Asian gambling mecca and similar to Vegas with huge casinos like the Wynn and the Venetian.  We were disappointed by the gaming atmosphere though because it was less of a party than Vegas.  And the tables were way out of our price range!  Still, Macau with its Portuguese influence was pretty and since it was only an hour's ferry ride away it was worth the visit.  Note to future Macau visitors: bring your passport!  We had to scramble back to our hotel to retrieve ours before we could board the ferry.

  

Photo highlights:  (sorry but technical difficulties mixed with laziness mean some pictures are rotated the wrong way....use your imagination!)

  



The Hong Kong double-decker trolley. I was surprised by how skinny it was.



Enjoying some Dim Sum and Tsingtao for a mid-afternoon snack.



The breakfast menu.  Meat and noodle soup for breakfast was a surprisingly good way to start the day. 



The structure on top of Hong Kong, Victoria's Peak. What restaurant was at the top? Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.



The travel buddies stopped for another happy hour.... yes that was a trend of the trip!



Hong Kong light show.



"Pirates" boat and the Hong Kong lights in the background.



The big casinos of Macau.



Macau's Portuguese charm.



May Days

May was a spectacular month for me because I got to go HOME for the first time in almost two years.  An opportunity came up for a week long training for work so I pounced on it and also took a week's leave beforehand to spend some quality time with my high-quality family.  I got home just in time for Mother's Day with my mom and Courtney's first Mother's Day and birthday celebration where we took this picture.  (Sidenote: I'd appreciate anyone with serious skills to Photoshop Andrew into the photo too.)  I was giddy and ecstatic to be at home!  Best of all was meeting my niece Stella, Mike and Courtney's five-month-old angel.  I had a glorious 24 hours with Joanie & Darwin in Salem, I bought everything I could get my  hands on, I enjoyed some delicious food (even Korean for one meal), and I even brushed up on my electrical engineering knowledge.  After two weeks I returned to my true home in Korea with Andrew, feeling rejuvenated and looking forward to our last 14 or so months here before god-willing we return to that country we love and nearer to those families we cherish.

 

More posts are pending, most notably a post about our trip to Hong Kong over Memorial Day.  I had to return from the States in time for another vacation- what a rough life!

Yellow Dust

Forgive me for not remembering if I've already written about the yellow dust (aka yellow sand or Asian dust), but I recall complaining frequently about the air quality here in Korea.  Seoul is cleaning up its act as a polluted city and the air quality is improving, but in the farmlands where we live we can't escape the field burning in Spring and Fall.  Despite what it's doing to the air quality I'm not completely bothered by field burning because I love the smell of camp fire- I think I'd wear it as a perfume!  Yellow dust is a major bother though and a health risk for some.

Here's a modified Wikipedia article on what yellow dust is:

Asian Dust is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon which affects much of East Asia sporadically during the springtime months. The dust originates in the deserts of China and Mongolia where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles. These clouds are then carried eastward by prevailing winds and pass over China, Korea, and Japan. Sometimes, the airborne particulates are carried much further, in significant concentrations which affect air quality as far east as the U.S.

In the last decade or so, it has become a serious problem due to the increase of industrial pollutants contained in the dust and intensified desertification (deforestation) in China causing longer and more frequent occurrences.

Areas affected by the dust experience decreased visibility and the dust is known to cause a variety of health problems, not limited to sore throat and asthma in otherwise healthy people. Often, people are advised to avoid or minimize outdoor activities, depending on severity of storms.

The dust storms also affect wildlife particularly hard, destroying crops, habitat, and toxic metals interfering with reproduction.  Coral are hit particularly hard. Toxic metals propagate up the food chain, i.e. from fish to higher mammals. Air visibility is reduced, including canceled flights, ground travel, outdoor activities, and can be correlated to significant loss of economic activity. Japan has reported washed clothes stained yellow.  Korea Times has reported it costing 3 million won (US $3,000), 6000 gallons of water, and 6 hours to simply clean one jumbo jet.

I just read a report about how this Spring the yellow dust levels are forecast to be the worst in decades due to severe droughts in the Gobi desert and surrounding areas.  We watch the yellow sand levels periodically but so far this Spring we've only had a few instances of  "moderate hazard" storms and no "high hazards".  If we have a particularly bad yellow dust storm I'll take some pictures to share- from last years' experience I would describe it as being an extremely polluted haze and the sky really does have a yellow tint, although on the plus side it makes for spectacular sunrises and sunsets.  Makes me really miss the fresh air in the Northwest!

Cheery Cherry Blossoms

Last weekend I took a little jaunt to the area of Seoul called Yeouido, along the Han River, to see the cherry blossoms in bloom.  There's a huge cherry blossom festival on the South coast of Korea in a city called Chinhae but I wasn't willing to ride a bus for five hours each way to see the trees.  Still, the cherry blossom-lined streets I drive on every day didn't quite satisfy me, so going to Seoul was the compromise.

The city closed down a few streets behind the National Assembly building along the Han River so I took a stroll in the sunshine.... with 3/4 of the people of Seoul it seemed.  As always I'm disappointed by my photography skills but you get the idea- it was a lovely day to be outside.

Street vendors were selling treats like cotton candy and meat on a stick- who would choose these dried, pressed, stinky squid jerky cakes instead?  No thanks!

Smoke Break

Every day outside the gates of the Army Corps of Engineers Compound in Seoul, I gawk at the people at the National Medical Center across the street.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, the patients go outside for walks around the block or for smoke breaks.  The patients all wear their white hospital pajamas outside and frequently drag their IVs along with them.  Today was the funniest sight yet:  two patients smoking while doing the Asian squat and five other patients (some in wheelchairs) loitering around smoking too.  I didn't have my camera at the time but it would have been the perfect shot.... instead here are some pictures I've tried to take discreetly at other times.  Oh, Korea!