Pepero Day

Happy Pepero Day! For everyone who isn't out there celebrating Pepero Day get with the program please. In all seriousness Pepero Day is celebrated every year by giving your friends but more importantly your girl/boyfriend Pepero. What is Pepero?...Pepero is a long thin bread stick similar to a pretzel dipped in chocolate and can be topped with an assortment of other goodies. Being the curious cat that I am I started asking around to find out more behind this day of chocolate sticks. I heard a few different reasons including one that explained Pepero day as a day to wish for young girls to grow up tall and thin. I guess its just wishful thinking on the Koreans part but I knew that this was shit and I went searching for a more logical explanation. It didn't take long as one of the women that I tutor explained that it always occurs on 11.11 since the date resembles the 과자 (that's snack for all you idiots who don't know Korean.) This then led into foreseen explanation of how the Pepero companies formed this holiday as a ploy to push thousands of chocolate sticks down the throats of all Korean men, women, and children. You gotta love that good ole' American Capitalistic spirit!

Side note: I can't imagine what next year will be like...11.11.11 spells PEPERO HEAVEN!!!

Scatter brain

I was going to try and write a Halloween inspired article but I decided that was too much work so instead I am just going to shoot from the hip and mention a few note worthy things from the past week or so.

First of all I am still enjoying every minute of every day here even though I have become increasingly busy with teaching, tutoring, and taking Korean classes. This is good and bad, I like the fact that I am structured and staying busy but at the same time it'd be nice to able to have some more free time every once in awhile. Also I am starting to learn how to save some serious money here which is awesome.

Lastly I just want to say that with another month gone and the US holidays approaching quickly it has crossed my mind as to how different this holiday season will really be. Even here in Korea I am reminded sometimes of how lonely life can be around the holidays. Korean culture is a very group oriented culture which calls for close relationships and lots of emotions being displayed. It is such an inviting culture and it just makes you just want to go and hug everyone, I love it, but at times it is bittersweet, especially during the holidays.

Another day in the Gu

It's Sunday night here and I've been doing some extra work that I was suckered into but thought I'd take a quick break and write a short post.

October has come and is almost gone, I don't know what it is about living here but everything seems like its in fast forward. I guess partly because I am a day ahead of everyone at home so it gives me the illusion of it being faster or maybe its just the fact that since I'm in a new place it has that same feeling you get when you travel...that wow it's going by so fast that "I feel like I'm not going to get to do or see everything I want" kind of feeling. Regardless I guess this feeling is good compared to it being a slow dragging process that I felt like I had to claw my way through.

With October comes the amazing weather. The weather here is great in the fall and it also offers some of the clearest skies and most beautiful days of the year. Hopefully this weather will continue into mid to late November before a cold winter sets in. I am afraid that winter will eventually give me a lot less desire to want to be out and about so I need to soak it all in over this next month before I go into hibernation.

I have also started taking Korean classes on Saturdays. I have been learning through friends and co-workers for the first couple of months but for me to really conquer the language I sought out some real professional help. The classes are offered for free and are small in size to guaranty the one on one time that you need. Also the classes are held at Korea University which surprisingly enough looks like a typical American University with all of its beautiful Gothic architecture done in stone. Just being on the campus makes me happy and gives me that itch just wishing I was back in school.

In closing I'd have to say it's been another good week and I look forward to the next but all in all it's just another day in the Gu.

falling behind

I know that I have been lacking in the blogging department and I know how much everyone craves to read my next blog so I apologize a million times. It's just so hard to blog when you're busy shaping the leaders of tomorrow. But I guess it is only fair for me to take a few minutes to feed the masses with my beautiful literature.

Since my last post about Chuseok, I have been getting busy. I have been starting to gather some early Christmas presents for my friends and family, if you're reading this you're probably not going to get anything, which has been really fun. I love going to the different markets and seeing what hidden treasures I can find for everyone, maybe now I am starting to really get the feel for the whole "it's better to give than receive" thing. I have also decided to shave my head and become a Buddhist monk. I will not be returning to America ever, nice knowing all of you.

No I'm just kidding, I think it would be wild and an incredible journey of enlightenment but I for one don't think I have the patience to do so much inner evaluation. But on a serious note I did get to check out some pretty cool stuff last Saturday. I went to the HiSeoulfest, this festival is put on a few times a year and brings together all people from Seoul to experience non verbal performing arts from different cultures around the world. And even though it rained most of the afternoon I still got to see some pretty amazing stuff and I plan on catching the closing ceremony on Sunday. Be sure to check out the pics on facebook they'll be hot fo' sho'.

I also went to a pretty serious alt party this past weekend. I was invited by a friend of mine and I met him down under a bridge where they had set up lots of indie stuff. We're talking abstract art, graffiti, eccentric music, and skin tight jeans. I felt like I was in Brooklyn. All joking aside it was actually a pretty fun party, I met some cool people and got to see some of the underground scene that you might only be able to experience in a big city like Seoul. I will totally be interested in going to another one of these shindigs in future.

In closing I guess I will briefly reflect on my time here and just reiterate how much I have enjoyed living here. Even though things are slowing down and I have found myself settling into a routine there is always some new right around the corner, be it new people, new experiences, or just a new way to look at things. Can't believe I'm already two months through. Until next time...

p.s. that picture is from my rooftop and I thought it was a pretty badass view.

평하

Best Chuseok Ever! part 2

So after getting back from Seoraksan I had a day to rest up before I had my first visitors...I have a friend named Emilie who I was introduced to before I came to Korea because she was coming over at the same time. Emilie lives in Gwangju which is about 4 and 1/2 hours south of Seoul and since her and her friend Laura had nothing better to do they decided to come check it out.

They arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning and after getting a little sleep we headed out to meet my friend Ahyoung. Ahyoung is a college student who works at the old OLA campus and we have kept in touch ever since. She was nice enough to show us some of the hidden gems of the city but the weather had other plans, raining us out completely and making us take cover within the COEX. The COEX is the largest underground shopping center in Asia and also houses a start of the art convention center. The G20 summit will be held there in November and none other than Obama is making an appearance.

Luckily Wednesday's weather held in check and we were able to venture out and participate in some traditional Chuseok festivities. First we watched a traditional Korean Musical performance that was out of this world. Then we worked our way over to the National Palace where we got to see lots of traditional games and arts & crafts. I even made a box with traditional Korean rice paper patterns. After that we popped some silk worm pupa and headed to Itaewon for some long awaited Mexican food. After almost two months of Korean food some wanna be Mexican was pretty badass.

This Chuseok holiday was great, I had a chance to get out of the city and see some amazing landscape, I enjoyed the company of a familiar face, and I got to take in some of the traditional aspects that Chuseok has to offer.

One more thing I got from Chuseok was that feeling of family even though mine is half way around the World. Just being out and seeing all the families spending time together, some looking anxious to get away and play with friends while others embraced the short times that had together it reminded me of something familiar even if it is only September. Happy Chuseok everyone!

Best Chuseok Ever! part 1

Sorry I haven't really done a good job the last week or so with keeping up on the blog. Even though I tend to have a good amount of down time for some reason it still seems like I never find time to write and it doesn't help when most of my week is pretty repetitive with work. This week I have lots to talk about though because it was Chuseok. For those of you who aren't up to date on your Korean holidays, Chuseok is viewed as an equivalent to Thanksgiving. We got Monday-Thursday off and I made tried to make the most of it.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to travel anywhere really exotic for the holiday, mostly because I had such a short window of opportunity to plan a trip and traveling during the holidays is a real pain. So I decided to get out of the city for a bit and took a weekend trip up to Seoraksan National Park. This was my first travelling experience in Korea and I did it solo. There were a few minor bumps along the road but everything worked out fine and I had an amazing time there. Seoraksan turned out to be even more exotic than I could have ever dreamed. It could very well be the most beautiful place I have ever seen, the mountains are outrageous and the valleys and streams just multiply it tenfold. On top of all that there are a few Buddhist temples and villages scattered throughout the park which made it that much more mesmerizing.

I even hiked up one of the peaks and crawled into a cave where Buddhist monks come to meditate. After almost dying from the hike and backing out due to some of the super sketchy trails that seemed to lead you to your death I reached my destination. Being up about 5,000 ft, sitting in a cave that has been used for centuries as a place of worship and looking over the mountain range can be pretty humbling and breathtaking. Even for someone who knows practically nothing about their religion it is not hard to see why they search for peace in these mountains.

I am so happy that I decided to go and push myself to make that journey to the top. It was definitely a once in a lifetime kind of experience. Hopefully I can make it out to Seoraksan again this winter and get another opportunity to have one of those moments that you will never forget or regret.

Address

I have had a couple of requests for my address so below is the address to my school. I think it is the safest bet because that way I won't have to worry about being present to sign. Also if anyone does decide to send me anything from a letter to a care package just know that if you do it via US Postal Service that once it crosses international borders the tracking number doesn't mean anything and if lost it might never be found. FedEx and UPS both ship here and can be tracked all the way to my door. One more thing it takes about 10 working days to send stuff so please not send live pets.

Taylor Southerland

Ian building 5th floor 563-16

Mangu-dong Jungnang-gu Seoul

S.Korea

131-810

If you are confused by this address please write it down exactly as you see it and they can help you at the store.