Addendum to the Day 1 “Imprisonment”

After being imprisoned in the hotel room all day, Hasnian (our Agra-Intrepid guide) picked us up & took us to the “Baby Taj” early in the evening. J We were super happy to be released from the cage. J

This was not on our original tour BUT since we couldn’t do anything today, Intrepid took pity on us & wanted to please us.

 “Baby Taj” is named so very appropriately. It’s still VERY impressive with all the intricate Muslim architecture & it’s well-placed location right on the bank of the sister river to the Ganges- The Yamuna. It was the first white marble building built by the Mughals in India.

The “Baby Taj” was built for I-Timad-ud-Daulah, the grandfather to Mumtaz. (The woman whom the Big Taj Mahal was built for) Both of them are mausoleums for the important Muslim-Mughals who emigrated from Iran & therefore had an amazing influence on Indian culture.

 I-Timad-ud-Daulah came as an educated teacher and adviser to Akbar the Great in the late 16^th century (the same time as Elizabeth I was reigning in England). He was so influential to the illiterate & uneducated Akbar that his son, Jahangir, made I-Timad-ud-Daulah the most important man in the country- the Prime Minister. Having made the Indian subcontinent more powerful, more popular, and more important throughout the world- the Baby Taj was built for him when he died in 1622.

It took 6 years and 5,000 people to build. It’s built in traditional Muslim architecture: Marble In-lay Art—where you can’t draw pictures of people or objects, etc.. so they focus on Geometric shapes to express their artistic sides. Each shape was made individually with rare gems (including, but not limited to: Lapus lazuli, sandstone)

  “The Art of Inlay is brought to India by the Mughals in the 17 th century especially in Agra city. Thus, Inlays Art first introduced in India by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan during his regime, which had become very popular in  architecture as well as in sculpture at that time. They constructed monuments in  white Marble and huge Inlay Art were done on these monuments. From that time, Inlays Art has become a very popular Art in India”

The inside of the mausoleum was also very intricately done. However, when the Mughals fell out of power and India was raided- most of Muslim architecture was defamed—therefore, even though it was very impressive- it was not as it would have been years ago.

 The Ceilings-- REAL Impressive!!!

 Surrounding the main building were gardens and walkways. On each side of the high walls were 4 exactly identical gateway arches that led into the mausoleum garden. There are 4 because of the sense of evenness, stability, & balance.

We saw lotsa monkeys around in the garden, which I thought pretty funny.. at first glance you think, “Man, there’s a lotta wild cats here”… but then you realize, def not cats but monkeys.

 

The HOLI festival halts plans…

After joining with my tour group (Thank goodness!) we drove to Agra, one of the Mughal capitals aka where the Taj is. We left EARLY. got here EARLY. 

Now, there are lotsa festivals in India, due to the many various religions all throughout. I’m in northern India, which is mostly Hindu (like most of India) and there’s 2 MAJOR ones for Hindus: Holi (in Feb/March) and something else (in Nov). Just my luck, the day my tour is to begin is HOLI.. meaning, I can’t do my tour..

Basically the story is:

There was this king. He demanded that his son worship him. His son refused. He son instead worshipped Krishna. This pissed the king off so he decided to burn his son to death. His son and daughter, Holika. Well, while Holika burned to death, the son miraculously survived! (basically sayin’ “boo’ya- Krishna’s the man” to his dad)

So now, the Hindus in Northern India celebrate the sacrifice of Holika by painting their faces, dancing & drinking heavily in the streets; throwing color dyes at people—and sometimes their own feces (aka poop)!!

 So…

We left our hotels for Agra extra early to avoid the color dyes/feces/traffic… get to the hotel in Agra at 830am and we’re like:

“K, let’s go see the Taj!”

“um… no. you can’t today. Must stay inside”

“what?! We paid for a tour, we want to tour”

“you don’t understand, you can’t go outside. They will attack you”

“Pshah. No they won’t… let’s at least go walk around a bit..”

“No! You can’t!! They will throw their feces at you!”

(weird….)

The 2 Venezuelan ladies I’m on the tour with wanted to at least walk around the corner. As long as I was with THEM, not alone, then fine.

We get about 20 feet when naked toddlers start begging us for food from their tents on the side of the road.

A man standing in the middle of the road lurks around & curiously is digging inside his pants for, what I fear, some feces to throw our way. And I get yellow dye chucked at me. We walk back to the hotel.

So, now all these foreigners are locked inside our hotel, being safely protected and guarded from the pooh & color paint.

Hopefully we get to travel around tomorrow…. 

Spring Break-2011- INDIA

For my last Spring break in Korea I decide: I’m going to INDIA!! It’s one of the places I MUST see before I die and the likelihood of me going there after I move away from Asia is slim..

(ALSO- Important note: this is not PG-Mom... even though I know you'll read it, I'm just giving you the disclaimer :) ) 

Now, lesson #1: Do your research WAY in advance!!

Example 1: Going by myself, naturally I went through a tour agency (Intrepid) so that I wouldn’t be a solo young Western female wandering around India by myself. J It was a HUGE hassle to get my travel visa—I didn’t do my research PRIOR to booking the trip and discovered shortly afterwards that I needed a travel visa!! (well, those take FOREVER! L ) I LUCKILY had SFS’s travel agent rush to get the visa for me, getting the visa the afternoon prior to my departure for India. J Whew. Thankfully.

So, I left Sat. morning, flew to Guangzhou, China (3.5 hours) for my layover. I forgot that I’ve gotten a bit sick of China & it’s food… and so for the 4 hours while in the airport I was utterly bored.. Finally got onto the flight to India, where I was the only Caucasian female on the whole plane! You’d think it wouldn’t be a long flight.. but it was close to 7 hours!! That’s a flight from America to Europe! Again, hadn’t researched it, so I was a bit antsy b.c. didn’t know it’d take THAT long..  (Example #2)

Ex. # 3: Now, I read the India travel book on the plane, that’s when I finally had time.. well it tells of single foreign women travelling in India- how we need to be super super careful.. well I’m like “Pshah, whatever, they are just being cautious”.. BUT then they go into detail about ESP with cabs from the airport- 1) you need to avoid them altogether and should get your hotel to pick you up.. well of course, didn’t do my research in enough time & thought it’d be alright to get a cab… 2) if you MUST get a cab, you need to get a prepaid one, with the specific location detailed, and don’t let another man in the cab with you and the cabbie.. reason being:

A few years ago, a solo foreign woman was killed on her way in from the airport by her cabbie! It’s not common or anything.. it’s just that they take advantage of you…

So, needless to say, I’ve done my research ON the plane and am now getting rather nervous about getting to my hotel hoping I won’t be killed or raped.

I get off the plane, which btw- first time I’ve seen people not wait til you’re parked at the gate to start trampling over you to get to the airplane door! We landed and everyone got up and started for the door, very strange. So anyways, get off the plane, find the prepaid station, pay my money, am escourted to the special prepaid cabs, get in with my “nice” non-rapist cabbie, & start for the center of the city: Connaught Place.

Example #4: Well… this is when things start to really make me nervous & uncomfortable…

They warn you, go straight to the hotel, don’t’ stop, don’t let the cabbie convince you your hotel is shut down/burnt, etc.. he wants to take you to a place HE knows and get commission from them… well, I thought prepaid cab would make that not happen.  (they say it’s common with Metered cabs..) L nope.

We get close to my place, he’s looking at my information “Blue Hotel” and he’s like:

 “I can’t find it! I can’t find it!” … he stops at an information center.

I’m like “oh, shit, I’m gonna die” He asks the information guy to find out where the Blue Hotel’s located and dude picks up the phone, has a 1 second convo, hangs up and says:

“the system is down, we can’t find address”.

I’m like: “uh, no… you need to get on the internet. I’ll find directions”;

“No, the internet is down. Won’t be up til morning”;

“uh… no, you don’t understand. I’ve already paid for a room. Take me there now.”; “we can’t, system is down”;

 “UGH!!!” (I’m going to Die, I’m going to Die! Everything I feared is happening!)

I try again, and again. No luck.

Well, I’m so flustered at this point and want to just be in a room and away from these guys that I say:

“FinE!! Take me somewhere cheap. UGH!”

Cabbie drives me thru the slums to this one place. No rooms.

“Well, what about this hotel next door?!”, I ask.

“No, No good. Not good place”

(Hmmm… that’s b.c. you don’t know them and therefore won’t make a big fat commission from them. Jerk)

Takes me to another hotel. Voila! There’s a room. RIGHT next to the front desk. I’m thinking: “Is this a 1 room hotel?! I don’t even see an upstairs!!!” (Omg, I’m going to die!)

Meanwhile, I’m pissed b.c. cabbie has basically ignored my directions to the hotel I’d already paid for, there was nothing I could do, and he’s taken me to a hotel that he KNOWS so that when I pay an outrageous amount, he get’s a commission. He goes to leave, and asks for a tip. I want to get rid of him so bad I hand him 10Rupee.. he yells at me:

“TEN RUPEES?!? TEN RUPEES WOMAN!?!?”

(Whoa… take 20 jerk and get outta my face!)

He does. J

“May I please get on the internet?!”

“No, system is down. In the morning”

“You don’t understand… My tour group is picking me up at 6 AM tomorrow morning from Blue hotel, how do I get there?”

“Wake up, get on internet at 530. Then you go”

“Well, why can’t I get on internet now?”

“Internet is down”

“Fine, give me my room”

I walk into the room, shut the door, can’t find the lock, and sit down trying to figure out what’s gonna happen next.

I look through my papers (see, I actually HAD prepared for the trip, making a nice little book of ALL my docs with plastic page protectors and all… I just hadn’t done the #1 important thing: get my hotel to pick me up at the airport. ) I find the tour agency emergency #! (Thank God!)

I call.

THANKFULLY, the woman just changed my hotel pick-up info for the next morning and LUCKILY the 2 other members of my group were staying right around the corner from this new mystery hotel. Whew.

BUT, there was still the issue of trying to sleep. I was a bit freaked out by these people. They were all men, and I’m not gonna lie, skeezy and scary.

I find a lock at the top of the door & immediately lock it.

(Who knows if there’s some secret lock for them? [ I realize I’ve gotten a bit paranoid, but who could blame me?] At least I’m not dead. J )

I lay down, wallets & passport underneath my pillow.

5 am. Next morning, wake up- get on the internet! Wow, it’s WORKING!!

(Hmmm… I think it was working last night too…)

Send a quick email to let mom & Chris know I’m alive.

My driver arrives!!!!!!!!!

THANK GOD! I’m OUTTA here. J

HOLLA!

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.


____________________________________________________________________________________________
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... :)