My new scooter! :)

I bought a new scooter yesterday!! SO scary... ESP since when I was in the Philippines, I was legitimately freaked out riding them all the time.. Then again, I think me driving & having control of my own will be a little better... who knows?!?!

I'm excited about getting around Seoul on my own, seeing places I haven't seen, and thoroughly enjoying not dying. :) 

Some updated NeWs from SoKo...

Here's a few sites to add to my previous cultural piece:

Just found this website that additionally explains why my life was ridiculous this past year...

To quote the author:
"I believe that living in a cold climate for a certain amount of time, sets off a chain reaction. You are unable to maintain a cheery disposition for any length of time. As a result, ‘the glass is half full’ becomes ‘look at me again like that and I’ll hurl this half empty glass of water at your head’. The feeling permeates to your work, your social life and even your sleep patterns."




Yes, yes... I KNOW that I always wanted to live in cold weather... but I have learned my lesson. :) The warm weather has returned, aka my spirit/ excitement/ & personality even!! :) 
(Can't you tell I've returned?!? My Blog posts are continuing... which means I'm emerging from my cave, LOL...)




This site- you may not get- unless you've lived in Korea... but the cartoons adequately represent Foreigner-frustration.. LOL.


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Now to give you some updated news on the current SoKo/NoKo stuff that's going on: 


The latest news on Soko vs. NoKo... Basically, it's happening & it's big... but I don't hear a lotta ppl talking about it... It's kinda just like- they've been expecting something to happen & the SoKo ppl will be ready in case they go to war agnst. NoKo.. It's an interesting approach- I must say..  It kinda reminds me of the approach the USA "used" to have in regards to war... 
It's interesting also b.c. there's compulsory military service here for boys after they graduate HS.. once they get out of the "service" they are still on reserve- meaning, if SoKo ever goes to war- all the reserves go into action.. It's interesting to hear how my SoKo friends talk about "just going and fighting and defending SoKo" even if they've been outta the military for YEARS.. It's quite nationalistic and patriotic, I must say... very admirable. 

Is this REALLY Culture-shock--- Still?!?!?

Since my first year of living overseas is nearing an end, I figured I'd give some cultural analysis... 

Here's A lil website about sum culture shock that helps to explain what I've been going thru this year & what I describe below... 

When I first got here, I LOVED LOVED LOVED everything Korean... Korean food, Korean stores, Korean language, Korean MEN!!! I wanted to marry a Korean man, have adorable Korean babies, and live in Korea FOREVER!!!! (This was called, what I would later discover- THE HONEYMOON PHASE of Culture shock) 

Around November I started to miss home... I attribute this to my birthday, the Holidays... AND I hadn’t seen a familiar face in 4 whole months... 

BUT it was ok, b.c. I still had Xmas in the Philippines to look forward to and that was gonna be pretty awesome!!! 

As I returned from the Philippines, feeling as if no Holiday season had existed for me- my sadness & homesickness increased... Yet, the major HS APAC competition was keeping me quite busy AND I was SO excited b.c. I was going home in a month for my girl’s wedding so that helped January FLY by... 

Once I went home, I realized why I should have waited to return home until June- one year after my arrival... My homesickness SKYROCKETED and I experienced the RE-verse Culture shock Honeymoon phase... AMERICA!!! OH AMERICA!!! How I missed EVERYTHING AMERICAN!!!! (quite unrealistic, tbh)

On my return to Seoul, I was DE-pressed... this re-introduction to Asian culture in addition to the bitterly, unending FrIgId weather made me HATE Korea... I HATED EVERYTHING Korean.... Korean Food, Korean language, Korean MEN!!!! BLECH!!! (No more Korean babies, thas Fo SHO!) 

I continued to drag my butt to work and simply MAKE IT THROUGH this dreadful existence that was now my international life. I was working ALL the time and when I was not working, I was either sleeping or sitting around eating American food, talking to my American friends, and watching American movies... NOT GOOD!! (This is commonly referred to as THE HATRED & REJECTION PHASE... uh, ya think!??!)

Needless to say, Winter has JUST cleared up and it’s ALREADY MAY!!! I suffered a SEVERE Vitamin D deficiency and it was just NOT COOL... I have finally rediscovered my ability to enjoy hanging out with my friends (doubled by the facts that I dont work EVERY second AND the fact that I don’t hate everything NOT American anymore...Thank God!!) 

As if all this ridiculous Culture-Shock crap was not enough to deal with and go thru.... it did NOT help that my boss is a manipulative, anal retentive, control freak of a person who would not give me individuality and freedom to be my own person and be my own teacher... It has taken EVERYTHING in my power this Spring to stay in Seoul and not catch the next flight back home to Flo-Rida... 

So, if anything, this experience in Seoul has taught me a few things: 

1. I, in fact, ADORE the sun & NEED Vitamin D in order to be happy and survive... Winter is CRAP. 
2. I love Florida and I love my people... even though I am open-minded, accept other cultures, and enjoy learning first-hand about other cultures-- Dorothy said it best: There’s NOWHERE like HOME... 
3. My passion is HISTORY, NOT swimming... Even though I love swimming, it is NOTHING in comparison to the study of History and cultures and people... Oh!!! How I MISS teaching in the classroom. :( 
4. When someone is treating you ridiculously: Do not just take abuse, disrespect, and arrogance-- I am a strong, powerful, and amazing woman who deserves better, which has taught me to.... 
5. ....stand up for myself when I am being treated  so ridiculously....
6. You can NOT change the way other people are or the way they behave, you can only change the way you react to those people. (this one, I used to “think” but now, I TRULY believe it...) 
7. Although Asia is cool, it’s not the place for me long-term..... which in turn has made me realize: 
8. Relationships w/ loved ones are more important than how much money I make... 
9. Money does NOT make you happy... 
10. It’s important to make goals & dreams and then ACHIEVE those goals & dreams in order to truly understand what you are meant to do in life... IF your goals & dreams are not in fact meant for you, you can at least say “I made a goal, achieved it, and am a stronger person for it today and everyday from here on out.” 

Guam, KAIAC Tournament, & DJ Festival

April- Guam Swimvitational: 

One of my duties as HEAD Coach of THE Morning Swim Squad is “Travel Agent for all international swim meets”... now this might sound pretty amazing, and I’m sorry- not to complain- it’s pretty annoyingly hard work. 

I took a total of 3, count them 3, swimmers to Guam, USA for a fairly dinky meet.. it was ok- the important thing is that the kids enjoyed themselves, regardless of all the junk I had to do.. 

Also, It was nice to go to “America” for 2 days... It was quite interesting seeing a Shell gas station from the airplane window as we were touching down.. SO America... AND  I went to 2 movies in a movie theater, ate Sbarro, and went shopping in a MALL!!! Thank God! I never realized how therapeutic shopping and movies were to me until I no longer had them... :( 

Also- WARM WEATHER!!! It was ABOUT time... 

After Guam, there was the end of the HS KAIAC season... my asst. coach is of NO assistance, so it was rather difficult to manage 30 teenage swimmers and complete all the tasks a Head coach should... needless to say, I worked my patootie off and the end of the season was somewhat successful... 

We had the final 2 day tournament @ SFS... and I FINALLY achieved my goal of bringing some team spirit to these children- we had a shaving party & potluck pasta dinner the night before the tournament & we all went to On the Border as an “After the Tournament celebration dinner”. 

This culmination of the season made me sad to say goodbye to my HSers who I’d spent literally all year with... They are a great bunch of kids and pretty much THE reason I will return next year to SFS... 

After the completion of HS season, I got a TINY GLIMPSE of what having a life would be like... 

(As quoted from a fellow HS Swim coach from another team: “Oh yeah, you don’t get to actually SEE Korea when you’re here... not with OUR job”. Tell me about it Sam, tell me about it! :( ) 

So, my life... 

I was able to go out with my friends once again!!!!! I had forgotten their names and what they looked like during HS swim season... 

I was able to experience ONE whole weekend OFF work before more swim meets ensued... and I didn’t know WHAT to do with myself... 

I went to the World DJ Festival where I saw Fantastic Plastic Machines- my new fave J-Pop band via Frank Kang, my Korean buddy. :) It was here that I thought: “I LOVE Asia, solely for the reason of things like this....” 

Now, I did NOT enjoy losing ALL my friends, which led to me meeting a random One-eyed Jamaican man that almost kidnapped me!!! (I luckily escaped by jumping into a moving cab and fleeing homewards, despite having spent all my money..) It was NOT fun when I could not find my phone and subsequently realized it was gone for good... BUT losing one’s phone DEF beats being kidnapped, raped, and killed... :) 

Spring 2010

MArch... NO- wait.. APRIL?!?!?! (8th)

Um... wow... can’t believe it’s already April!!! I know “time flies” but time REALLY DOES fly over here... maybe it’s b.c. I’m constantly “ahead” of the actual time... 

1. January- APAC 2010 in Shanghai, China (Asia Pacific Activities Conference) Basically the HS swim team trained from November- January for this one 2-day competition...  all the big international schools throughout Asia get together and swim agnst. each other..  I met coaches from all over- mostly China... (one real hot Chinese guy that was an Olympian!!) and it was a great experience.. The kids had a great time and... well, yeah- good experience... didn’t see a lick of Shanghai, so don’t think “Man, that’s SO awesome you got to go there!!” b.c. all I saw was another international school, a pool, & an airport... 
2. February- My first trip home to the US of A!! Erica Farford was becoming Mrs. Casey Beson and of course I had to be there for my girl’s wedding! :)    It was surreal being back in the US, esp. after 7 months of living in Korea... I DEF had some reverse-culture shock: 

1. Sittin’ next to Bo-Shee-Qua on my flight from LAX to Houston & listenin’ in on all her interesting ghetto-ish stories... 
2. Telling a story at the checkout counter & the checkout girl laughing b.c. she is eavesdropping b.c. she can actually UNDERSTAND my language!! 
3. Using cars to go places?!?!?
4. Drive-thrus?!?!? 
5. Guys that actually hit on you instead of being too shy and staring @ u outta the corner of their eyes... 
6. People that hate their jobs & lives & it shows thru every second of their work...
7. I could go on and on... 

I had a GREAT time visiting w. my fam & seein my niece & nephew after SO long was a great time! :) I missed them bunches & bunches  & bunches, hope they missed me somewhat too- it def was sad realizing that I had missed the last 7 mo. of their lives and even tho that was a reality I accepted prior to going 2 Korea, I didn’t truly understand the impact that it’d have on me. :( 

I was SO glad to see my peeps that it was way too painful to return to Seoul and I did NOT want to go... I grew a much larger appreciation for home, people at home, things from home, just home in general... 

So, my return to Seoul was DEF bittersweet...(and let’s just say, I’m not really over it- even now)  :( 

3. March- KAIAC (Korean American Interscholastic Activities Conference) : The next season of HS swimming started in Feb. (there’s 2 seasons of Swimming @ SFS!!) and this one has weekly (ish) meets with international schools from around Korea.. so, I work my butt off every single Saturday, have no weekend time off & essentially have no life... but @ least the coach from the military base & I created the Dr. Pepper inside joke & now he brings Dr. Pepper to me every meet!!! :) He Rulez! :)

  

4. March- Wayne Goldsmith: my control freak of a boss decided he wanted a fellow countryman to come teach us SFSers how to “really coach” & that simply meant that I had to endure yet another annoying Aussie accent! (No offense to all you Aussies/Aussie-lovers out there... another part of my culture shock aka I-Don’t-Like-My-Boss shock)

We learned a bit from the crazy Australian “World Renowned Coach” and I will tell you I have utilized very little of what he taught me... I think this is more due to my “rebellious nature” in regards to my boss & anything swimming related b.c. I have grown to have a disdain for swimming as a result of my boss making me hate life so much... (I know, I know... I’m using rather strong words... unfortunately I am not the only one who has been negatively affected by this individual- I don’t think there’s anyone in this world that I have ever disliked so much...) Ok, enough...  I at least was able to meet Shim Min- the Olympic coach of the first Korean Gold Medalist in swimming from 2008- Park Tae-hwan.... 

5. March- My sister, Christa, came for a visit! When you live this far away from home for a prolonged time, you never see a familiar face, & can never go home- it’s pretty awesome to get a visitor from your neck of the woods! :) Christa came for the infamous Wayne G. “Coaching Clinic” & stayed to tour Seoul with me for Spring Break! :) 

1. We went to the DMZ (The Demilitarized Zone- 38th parallel- 
   
   
   
   the place where the 2 Koreas became “the 2 Koreas” and where they pushed a pause button on that Forgotten War of the 1950s- the 1st in a series of wars known as the Phony Wars fought as a part of the much larger “COLD WAR” b.n the Eastern Communist nations and the Western Democracies...) 
   
   
   
   I stood on the DMZ line, saw NoKo, & went into a tunnel the N. Koreans built in order to sneak into SoKo.. pretty cool.
1. Now, time for an interesting cultural sidenote: Asians in general like competition and being the best... Asians like to be better than other types of Asians (aka Chinese like to be better than all other Asians, Japanese like to be better than all other Asians, Koreans like to be better than all other Asians.. I think you get my gist) well now, South and North Koreans are no different... even though they don’t see themselves as “different countries” they still need to be better than each other... So, @ the DMZ- the only place that NoKo can see SoKoreans & vice versa... they gotta outdo each other... Examples:
1. NoKo built a mock “Propaganda Village” to show SoKo how awesome, neat, and organized- oh, and how “advanced” NoKo is.. 
2. SoKo built a flagpole to hang a flag from... so NoKo built a WAY larger one with a flag that’s so huge & heavy- it can’t blow in the wind even!! 
3. SoKo plucks the hottest solidiers from their ranks to serve @ the DMZ to show NoKo how awesome they are... (in my opinion, they are NOT the hottest SoKoreans... but I guess they have different taste than I do...) 

ii. Geez... They seem to be compensating for something.......... hmmm..... I wonder what ??! lol. 

1. Suwon Folk Village: we go to this “historic village” only to find an amusement park w. a tight rope walker, traditional Korean performers, & a pirate ship! Quite an interesting experience...
2. 
   
   
3. The G- Palace: The first of the Korean palaces. Built during the Joseon Dynasty (the most famous dynasty that ruled for 500ish yrs) in the 14th century.. It’s got it’s Asian influences from China, fo sho! and there were def. separate quarters for the “wife” AND all the many many concubines... my fave part, fo shiz! (altho, I’d HATE to be one of them... ugh)  
1. The most famous Korean emperor was here- his name was: King Sejong. He created the alphabet (only 24 characters, the easiest of all the Asian languages to read/understand (factual, and imo- tru!), he also did a lot for improving the use of science, &, yea- he was just awesome... 
1. Korean BBQ- Fo Shizzle!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Dog cafe: Like the Asians try to out-do each other, they really like their dogs.. so much, that we went to a cafe dedicated to dogs.. dogs just walk around while you drink coffee or beer, they come sit on your lap, walk on your table, and DEF greet you with insane excitement as you walk in... pretty neat-o... 
3. Never COULD find the ICE BAR!! :( Next time, Next time... 

The Philippines!!!

2/22/10

So many things happen that I never have time to update you (for instance, I write this blog entry 2 mo ago & I'm just now updating you, blech...)- clearly, I’m awful at this whole keeping a blog thing... also, having Facebook doesn’t help my motivation any! 

                                                                               Anyways... The Philippines!!!!  

The Philippines was AWESOME!!! (Of course!!) 

I joined Berengere in Manila on Sat. 12/19 (her birthday!)- I got in at 1am or something ridiculous like that and the taxi could not find my hostel for 3 hours thanks to the fact that the Philippines is not well known for using street signs OR numbering their buildings... So, I’m falling asleep in this cab in the middle of the most... how do I adequately describe the place? dirty? poor? scary? ghetto? Just try to picture all those combined in one place... eventually we discover the hostel tucked in the center of barred-windowed establishments and I go pass out in my bed. 

The next day B and I proceeded to check out the Chinese cemetery right next to our hostel- the Red Carabao. 

The Chinese Cemetery was a crazy burial place!! There were mansions with bathrooms & AC for deceased ppl!!! Man, those Chinese REALLY cherish their ancestors!! It was a bit freaky walking up and down the streets like we were in a ghost town but it was a pretty neat piece of culture.

Some locals invited us to “dine with them” as we were walking outta the cemetery and we chose to partake in their festivities.. We walked down this alley where they threw up a table & chairs for us... 

They were having a baptism and had all this food and alcohol that they kept shoving our way... it was more food than I’ve seen since I don’t know when. They were insanely nice and we felt like 1st rate company.. we were sad to leave them a few hours later to board our flight to Cebu (an island in the Visayas)...  but we made some great friends! :) 

We got into Cebu, took a ferry to Bohol,

                          

 and grabbed a tricycle to Panglao Island. A tricycle is one of the main forms of transportation around the Philippines- basically a motorcycle with a box around it for ppl to sit in. Each tricycle driver adorns his box with his own accouterments and there’s a buncha rosaries & religious statues since we were in one of the most Catholic countries in the world...

We get to Panglao Island, find our little lover’s cottage (lol) at Alumbung, and proceed to walk to “Alona Beach”- the hotspot. We get a little lost in the woods but eventually pop out on the edge of the beach, find a diving center (Philippine Fun Divers!!) 

, and sign up for an Open Water course! The rest of the day we drove around trying to find tampons... an EXTREMELY hard find... 

The Open Water Course was THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER!!!! Professor Ogs C. Cruz was our UH-MAZING instructor who made me feel so at ease about possibly imploding my lungs and dying while under water! ( I’ve always wanted to Scuba dive, but have always been freaked out about the going down and coming back up... and well, just so happens- those are the 2x most ppl die! well, or have issues...) 

So... naturally I was freaked out about this and Ogs wouldn’t have any of it... he was a GREAT instructor! We decided we wanted to get the course done with so after the water sessions in daylight, we finished our academic portions via alcohol @ Coca Vida- THE spot! 

(Well, Ogs’ spot... they even have a pillow for when he just passes out at the bar! lol... which he needs to use a lot more, if you ask me!) 

After gradulimicating the OWC on Christmas Eve, we decided that we’d had SUCH an amazing time with Ogs and the Philippine Fun Divers that we just couldn’t leave just yet... We rang in Christmas day drinking and dancing at Coco Vida- Hiroshi (one of our “fave” Japanese dive instructors was QUITE intoxicated and was essentially the main entertainment~) 

On Christmas day, Ogs took us to see the Tarsier monkeys- the smallest monkey in the world, the smallest primate in the world!!! 

So cute, they reminded us of mini-ewoks and can spin their heads 360degrees!!! We drove around the island of Bohol and Ogs showed us the “Chocolate HIlls” which were largely uneventful and unimpressive, despite them being Bohol’s ‘claim to fame’... I mean, they’re brown hills- whoopie! lol. 

We took the LONGEST, most PAINFUL motrobike ride that lasted 4 hours to Denali Adventure park where there was a bungee jump over a ravine... it was freaky~ I won’t lie... and I told Ogs that I couldn’t do it- this is when I truly realized my greatest fear next to cockroaches, mayonnaise, & divorce- is HeIgHtS!! ack! .... but it was motivation enough to return to him in Panglao b.c. ONE DAY... one day, I will bungee jump that ravine... :) 

So, we broke down on the way home & we stuck in some- not-even-village for Christmas night, finally got to Panglao way past dark with extremely painful asses from the plethora of dirt roads with amazing huge rocks that we had to maneuver around.... ouchie! Whew, we slept well that night... 

We finally said our tearful goodbyes the next day and headed via ferry to the next island over- Siquijor. 

Known for it’s mysterious voodoo and magic, most Filipinos won’t come here due to it’s freaky reputation.. But, naturally, it’s got great diving so we had to check it. Tata Relacion was the 2nd most awesome dive instructor we had on our trip- no one could compare to Professor Ogs- but Tata was amazingly hospitable and of course, plied us with ample amounts of alcohol AFTER diving-- 

we were starting to think that it was a diver’s thing to be given so much alcohol after diving & sitting around with your dive master drinking until the wee hours of the morn... and well, it pretty much is... 

We had a great few days with Tata and saw lotsa sea life, like sea turtles, Barracuda, Jack Fish, etc.. 

Next we hopped over to Dumaguete, the college town on Negros Island. Stayed at B’s french friend’s NICE Malatapay resort. Had a NICE massage & then hopped over to Apo Island for some New Year’s diving.. 

Apo Island had no running water, electricity was only on for a few hours a day and shut off by 9pm, and only has 2 major families that live on the tiniest island I’ve ever been on... Now, due to the remoteness, it took an hour via tiny boat

 and there’s only one place to stay.. It’s one of the best diving spots in the WORLD!! (with very few ppl, there’s no pollution or destrcution via human beings... so the reefs are to kill for and the views are oustanding..) 

We met some awesome Swedish peeps- Anja & Melker- whom we drank with and partied til New Year’s with... They were more advanced divers so you can only imagine how much we eager newbies were obsessively asking them everything about diving... 

Sad to say goodbye to our new friends, we returned to Dumaguete after a few days of Robinson Crusoe- style living and hung out with B’s french friend... Who, BTW, pays something like 500USD$$ per month for this INSANE mansion ON the beach that would cost close to 3million in the US... it’s RIDICULOUS-O!!! 

(Sidenote: it was here that we decided our new goal in life would be to save up a buncha money via our jobs in Seoul, then quit, move to the Philippines, open a bar, & dive on a regular basis... it’d be amazing and fairly cheap and easy... no one steal my idea!!) 

Well, we missed Ogs too much... We missed the Phlippine Fun Divers too much... We missed our fave dive masters... we literally sat around day-dreaming about Panglao... We HAD to go back!!! (Now, we didn’t want to look like obsessive losers but couldn’t contain ourselves and wanted to spend our last few days in the Philippines with loved ones instead of partying it up at the hot party spot- Boracay!) 

Naturally, we were welcomed with open arms from our fave PFD crew! :) 

We dove, got massages, drank at Coco Vida (of course!) AND ate a Balut (.... a fertilized duck egg that looks and sounds disgusting & scary but REALLY wasn’t that bad... it tasted pretty good actually and it was DEF a piece o culture! :) ) This Balut, btw, AND the fact that we returned to Panglao earned us the title “Ogs’ #1 fave students EVER!!” ~~ which we worked SO hard to finally obtain! :)

 

Ogs taught us to fire dance on the last night! Scary and hard... but not too bad and I was actually able to do it with some fire!!! It’s ok, Mom, I’m still alive! lol.

After another tearful goodbye... 

we promised we’d return in the future & nicely tanned but ridiculously depressed, we returned to a very snowy snowy Seoul...