the place which opens well in the eye

Last night at a New Jersey-themed party I discovered the identity of the man who, several nights previously, I had tried to help a friend avoid on the dance floor. He became the first person to address me in Korean in the United States and we had my second most satisfying conversation of [...]

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Chal mogoseumnida

The office organized a dinner outing to a Korean restaurant around the block with reputedly good bibimbap.  As we were seated, the boss asked “Is it authentic so far?”
“No,” I said.  “We’re not sitting on the floor and we still have our shoes on.”
I orded the kimchi jjigae, though it tasted to me like a [...]

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My now former students retain the ability to rock my world.

teacher Hello!! heheheMy Hallim Girl’s Middle School
My class is first
Myname is yang,hyae seon .
teacher I want to see you .
uhmuhm
Come to Korea ASAP. I look forward to seeing you
Myteacher
I want to see you .
ByeBye

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Emails from Ji Yeon

The first:
Hi sara~! I am 지연^^
How was you? I’m fine
I’m so happy now. Because I will go on vacation and my term-end examination was over!!^0^
My parents and my all family are miss you.
we went my cousin’s house.
Because yesterday is the first day of the luner month.
so we had to perform a relifious service for my [...]

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Kimchi!

And at my dental cleaning, the hygienist actually scrawls “study in Korea” in the top margin of my medical history form, says “Do you like my Korean calendar?”  A family friend, one Cornelius Chang, commissions a Korean impressionist painter to put out a church calendar.  “They’re not always the same,” she’s explaining as she gets [...]

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Unexpected call from Korea

Someone calls the house late while I am clearing my floor so that some dude can measure for new carpet in the morning. We wonder who it could be. Mom comes up the stairs: “All I understood was ‘Se-ra? Se-ra?’”
It’s Ji Yeon. She won’t tell me how her final exams went [...]

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Aaaand, the mighty fall.

I walked to my last class as a foreign English teacher at Hallim Girls’ Middle school. A few kids were scouts in the hall, which is not so unusual, but this time as I entered the room someone called out “shija!” and the class shouted in unison “LOOK UNDER THE DESK!” I stumbled [...]

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Thunder bolt of lighting, very very frighting…

I venture to say that at this moment we are experiencing the heaviest monsoon rain of the monsoon season thus far. The front coutryard became a lake in like 7 minutes. Of course, this is the time I would be trying to fly out.

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마지막

This note was pretty touching too: “When I grow I up I will find you.  Wait for me.”

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Last day at the gym.

I thought, “Sara, you’re being overly sentimental;” I wasn’t going to go –I didn’t really need to run today and my belongings surround me, inside of suitcases and out, and seem hopeless.  But I wanted to say goodbye to the people at the gym who have come to expect me there.  When I stepped onto [...]

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Stoicism begins to crumble.

The letter that is making me lose my poker face: “Sara, I promise you I will be a good student.  Sara, Although you are not here, I will study all the subjects and be active in class.”

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Today’s reading material:

From students’ essays for an essay competition:
My revered person is Tyra Banks. She is a black However she is a world famous model. She made her way in the world and she is always dignified. I want to have a dignified attitude like Tyra Banks I want to be a [...]

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Not a good holiday to be abroad for.

The worst holidays to be abroad for are the ones whose celebrations are essentially about eating.
Last fourth of July was the day before I left for Korea. I went to a party on Mount Washington with sort of an eclectic mixture of friends, acquaintences, and total strangers, grilled on the balcony, and watched the [...]

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Forgive me, grandfather

I ask what kind of tree this is, the tree of God at the halmandang, the place of grandmother spirit worship. Pengnamu –a Chinese nettle tree. Every leaf on the tree seems to have been ravaged by caterpillars so that if you look up, sunlight filters appealingly through them, sieve-like. I finger [...]

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The last pain in my ass of the semester

I wrote a role play for our school to do at the speech contest next September.  A spoof of the dating game in which islands vie to be the vacation destination of Ms. California Girl.  Guess whom she chooses.  So, it may not be the wittiest piece of work, but there are only a few [...]

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Don’t remind me.

I’m putzing through the news and read:
Mr Buffett, who runs the investment group Berkshire Hathaway and is widely regarded as the world’s most successful investor, said that he was a Democrat because Republicans are more likely to think: “I’m making $80 million a year – God must have intended me to have a lower [...]

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Man, I hope it wasn’t the wrong decision.

Ordered a cellphone and plan. Hoping for the best. Probably nothing could satisfy me, coming back from the most wireless country in the world, repleat with slide phones, where you can ask your waiter at a restaurant to charge it for you and all incoming calls are free.
I particularly enjoyed this item of [...]

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I can’t believe I’m getting sentimental over this.

I’m writing the captain a letter, since he likes reading English so much and can understand so much more if it’s given in writing. It’s the only thing I can think of to make this bottle of Johnny Walker a gift that actually says “So long and thanks for everything. Really –thanks. [...]

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October-Motel-Golf

The principal and I sit for morning coffee.  He beings to ask me about the dolhareubang –what do I know about the stone grandfather statues that are the icon of Jeju Island?  In the Chosun dynasty, he says, they stood outside the 문, the gate, of the 성, the castle.  There are, in fact, three [...]

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3-0 Korea

Sarah and I are admiring the Iraqi defense and Korea’s annoying inability, once they’ve got the ball in the box, to come anywhere near an actual goal. At one point we become so frustrated that we start rooting for Iraq because dammit, this is ridiculous. Someone score! Problem is, every time Iraq [...]

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Why are notes the most precious thing ever?

Even when it is a Korean message I can only vaguely interpret as “I hope we meet again,” or “Please don’t forget me or my school because your good memories are here.”

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She says she says

My coteacher held a meeting just before the after-lunch class with all the kids who will be in the English contest on Saturday, so as a class we waited outside.  One of my 1-2 favorites, a truly funny individual with a scar on her upper lip who, rock bottom English notwithstanding, is extremely social, tried [...]

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I have to admit I will kind of miss this.

The other day I was writing in my notebook.  I think a lot about a person’s relationship to place, was thinking about my relationship to all the places I’ve been.  I wrote:
“Every place that I am sorry to leave is a place I rooted in.  It feels like stealing –growing in people’s kindness to a [...]

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Life is like a box of chocolates.

People talked yesterday about crying at school on their last days with classes.  I thought “good thing I’m here for another week so I don’t have to think about trying not to cry yet.”
But had last morning class with 1st graders.  Started getting gifts –little bags of Hershey Kisses, a tiny  box with red flowers [...]

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Counting down.

Picked up some new glasses –stylish Korean style frames.  About  $50 a pair, including lenses, no insurance necessary, 25 minute wait.  Some things I wish I could export home.
Then farewell drinks at the rooftop restaurant of the KAL Hotel.  Screaming orgasm really should not be the name of a drink.  How is one supposed to [...]

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Headache

Was asked to edit the MC script for the English speech contest.  Became almost instantly enraged out of all proportion with reason.  You cannot “edit” Korean sentences put through an internet translator.  That requires “rewriting” and the more I read, the more I wanted to scream.  This is not English!  There is no verb!  There [...]

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Return Itinerary

I fly out of Jeju the evening of July 7th, will bus myself and my loads of crap from Gimpo to Incheon, get picked up by an airport-hostel, sleep, and return to Incheon in the morning to leave Korea July 8th at 10am. I arrive in Chicago around 12pm the same day. Love [...]

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No end of excitement.

So I saw a naked man-butt today, which I hadn’t been expecting.
I went running –I don’t know how I frickin’ did that 10 minute mile because since then I’ve only been able to come in just under 11 and after that I’m *done* with the running. I thought, crazily, about trying to run two [...]

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An awww moment.

Da Hee is particularly hung up on this Sara Teacher leaving business.  Her table partner, Eun I asks, “New teacher?” and Da Hee says, “No,” shaking her head; they have a little exchange in Korean.  I hate when they do this because sometimes I think I hear things like “A new teacher would be hard” [...]

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I’ve started to tell them when I’m leaving.

Da Hee with a jump rope slung over her shoulder: “Teacher, I miss you.”
“You miss me?”  It’s only been two periods since I cheated and showed the Gilmore Girls to their extra class with no accompanying listening activity, since they got so into the pilot episode this week.  Skipped to the one where Rory gets [...]

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Will the speaking tests never end?

How is it possible that on the day before the official first day of the rainy season, the air is clear and only slightly overcast, and then on *the* official first day of the rainy season there is a threatening wind that blows the plastic keyboard cover off my keyboard and a dark line of [...]

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