It Comes in Waves

I've been told by my new friends here that homesickness comes in waves and I never doubted it for a second. I'm riding that wave today. It's Thanksgiving back at home today and I'm not there. It's not so much that I wish I could go back home but rather that I wish that home could come to me. I like it here. I like my new surroundings and my new adventure. But I do miss my family and my boyfriend. I wish they could come here and run around this place with me. Every time I see a cell phone shop I think of my little brother Jonathan. He was so excited for me to get a super futuristic cell phone. He'd geek out and whisperingly yell, "Future!" as he wiggled his fingers in front of me, as if to perform some sort of crazy robot magic trick.

I see a lot of things here that remind me of my family and friends back in L.A. I could write about all of it, or I could choose to get up and get out of my apartment and try to walk it off. I choose walk... But not before I mope a little.

Wartime Crisis? Classroom Free Speech.

If you keep up with the news, I'm sure you heard about the artillery attack that occurred yesterday, Tuesday November 23, 2010 on a small South Korean island near the North/South border. Well, apparently North Korea decided that they did not like the fact that South Korea had performed some drills recently to prepare in case of a North Korean attack, so they went ahead and attacked the small island village of Yeong Pyeong, South Korea. From what I've gathered, the village has a population of only about 1,200 people, but they were attacked because there is some sort of military base there. Apparently there were 2 South Korean military men who were killed and 13 injured. From the images I've seen, the numbers could have been worse, so as much as I feel bad for those 2 men who were killed, I'm also glad it wasn't worse.

I didn't know about any of this until about an hour after I got into work when one of the other teachers arrived late and was very obviously upset. I asked her what was wrong and she told me about the attacks and said that she was very scared. In all honesty, I thought that she might have kept her composure a little bit better since we did have kids in the school at the time and we wouldn't want to scare them. But I don't think that was at the top of their list. So when the kids started freaking out also, I had to sit them down and have a discussion with them and they wrote about why they thought the North had attacked the South. I had them write about how it made them feel and what they thought of the entire situation. I didn't think they'd be able to write much, but they did. They used the translators on their cell phones (all of them have cells) and they wrote about how angry and scared they were. One of my students, a 12 year-old girl wrote, "I'm scared because North Korea and South Korea are same race but, they [North Korea] want kill South Korea. I think they's action is not right action. I don't want unification. Because, they has bad think. They do wrong action." Her writing obviously needs some work, but she was still very clear about how she feels. I can't imagine what it's like to be a kid and have to deal with the possibility of war breaking out in your home country. Another one of my 12 year old girl students wrote, "[I'm] scared because I think my mom, dad, and me may be dead. I'm scared. North Korea are we war. Many S. Korean very scared. Me too! I don't like war. North Korea is very bad." After they had written for a while, I sat down with them and tried to calm them and tell them that everything was going to be ok and that I don't honestly think this will escalate to anything worse. They were obviously very nervous and were feeling helpless in the situation expecting the worst. It's sad that I had to do this, but I had to reassure them of all of the friends that South Korea has and that the North lacks. I had to explain to them that the North has no one to back them up and that they should not be afraid. Afterwards, one of my 11 year-old boys wrote, "North Korea have no friends. So they can't attacked before. I'm not afraid now. North Korea attacked us, we will be win."I was glad that I was able to let them express how they were feeling and that they went along with the writing exercise rather than just shut down and refuse to do anything. Maybe it's because I asked them what THEIR opinions were rather than just offering them mine and leaving it at that. I remember how much it sucked to be little and not be able to express how I was feeling about the major conflicts and problems going on around me. It sucks to feel little and not have a voice. I hope they were able to find theirs and that it's a comfort to know they have it.

Nature, Buddhism, and City Life

I've mentioned before how great the people here have been, but I don't think I've really yet captured what I'm talking about. In an attempt to do so, I'm posting this blog.

After meeting Prianka at the grocery store and finding her on the internet, she added me to a page on Facebook for people who live here and where they post social events on a regular basis. I immediately started getting welcome emails from other foreigners and getting invitations to their weekend outings. Two of those people were my new friends Ross and Nicole. They said that they were going to Gyeryongsan National Park, which is just outside of Daejeon, and that I should come along. Apparently Fall here is beautiful, which is something that I've never really experienced back in LA, so I jumped at the chance. They also said that there was a Buddhist Temple there and all of the monks are women, so that might be interesting to see. I was a little sick at this point, but I didn't want to miss out.

Well, it's a good thing that I decided to ignore my body's pleads to stay home and in bed because I met even more awesome people there and I got to see a little more of SoKo. I won't write much more than this but rather let the pictures do the talking (with minor captions for some of those pictures).

(^Daejeon Station. There was a guy dressed almost like a monk and playing come music.)

(^Old men with hats and canes quietly observing the world.)

(^New friends Sara and Amy.) :)

(^From left to right: Bart, Ross, Nicole, Sara, and Amy. All new.)

(^The infamous Durian fruit. It's supposed to taste like custardy putrid onions.)

(^Sara and her "Delicious Snack" from 7Eleven.)

(^On our way to Gyeryongsan National Park. We took a city bus.)

(^We thought this was hilarious and so I had to take a picture.)

(^If you've never seen what a traditional Korean toilet looks like, this is it. I've managed to avoid them so far.)

(^This is not really sweat in a bottle. It's a Gatorade-type drink.)

(^Mmmmm... Silk worms. Delicious... NOT!!)

(^Fall colors!!)

(^Female Buddhist Monks. I never knew that there were women monks. I thought this was awesome.)

(^I think the stones are piled neatly like this by people because if you can make the rocks balance, then your wishes come true... I may have the explanation a little off, but that's the gist of it.)

(^Pepero sticks. The people here have a holiday called Pepero Day whic is somewhat like Valentine's Day in which they give out Pepero (cookie sticks with chocolate inside or outside) to those they love.)

(^We got goofy and pretended to smoke them. I'm glad we didn't get smacked in the face because women are not allowed to smoke in SoKo. I think it's something about the movement of a stick-like object towards the mouth. I'll try to figure it out and report back on it later.)

(^Buddha)

(^Buddhist Temple)

(^I like this picture. I like the old man with the impeccable posture.)

(^More Female Buddhist Monks.)

(^We went back to the downtown area of Daejeon for dinner.)

(^Crazy trendy shopping.)

(^Fanciest Pizza Hut I've ever seen.)

(^Yay for new friends!)