South Korea is the new Japan (con't)

December 31th:

Woke up hot from the heat of the bathhouse. The sleeping room was like a sauna. Spent the day on a tour bus to see the famous sites of this tourist town.

Korean pyramids from the Silla period:

Oldest observatory in Asia:
Seokguram Grotto with famous Buddha (a truly impressive sight):

After the grand tour, Juliana and I met up with Juiliana's friend's friends and went to a sushi buffet. I had been sour because of the cold but warmed quite well in the restaurant and ate everyone under the table. Afterward, Juliana and I had to go to the restroom but only the men's was available to we fought over who got the toliet and who was stuck with the urinal. Dinner was followed by donuts and then we headed over to another Korean bathhouse, this one quite nicer. We managed to snag coves in which to sleep which gave us more privacy than the last place where were were stuck in a room full of women on the floor.

I saw a teenage boy walking by with a towel on his head wrapped in a fashionable manner and was determined to copy it. After pathetic attempts, the Korean man we were with (the friend's friend) hailed the boy over to show me. Afterward I proudly made hats for the three of us. As I did so, a Korean girl was watching with interest. I hailed her over and with gestures communicated that I was going to make her a hat as well. She was adorable.

If that wasn't enough, a mother and her two/three year old daughter came over and she asked the Korean man if I wouldn't make her baby girl a hat too? Of course I complied, showing off my newly-aquired skill: the Ram hat. I promptly fell asleep as the New Year rang in.

January 1st:

The gang. Doesn't Juliana look cozy?

I woke up in the tunnel and drank freshly-squeezed kiwi juice. We met up with the other friend's friend and the friend herself (finally!). We had a traditional Korean brunch and headed off for a day of crafts. We made traditional paper and pottery crafts. We also went and carved a tea set. Then came gift shopping and we received delicious bread as a parting gift. Juliana and I quarrel in the car and end up not speaking for the rest of the night. The trip was over and I was tired of the same face every waking moment.

January 2nd:Us at Incheon International Airport, voted best in the world. We seem to have made up.

South Korea is the new Japan

December 26th:

Took a bus to Matsuyama (2 hours) then another to the airport. It was Juliana's 4th flight in life and she can't handle take offs. I was stuck in the middle seat. It was funny because we were in the emergency exit row and we couldn't read how to save the plane in case of disaster. We land at Incheon airport, #1 rated in the world, and take a bus to our all-female hostel in Seoul (the capital). We get into a small fight and Juliana later tells me just how "Puerto Rican" I am when I'm angry. We went out with another ALT who happened to be in S. Korea as well. We retreat back to the hostel early and Juliana hits her head on the ceiling 3 times because we'er both stuck on the top bunk.

December 27th:

Wake up to a warm room and heated floors. Korean technology is amazing. At 10am we met up with our tour guide Kim Tae Woo, the brother of her friend from college. He showed up with his girlfriend, Kim Eun Mi. She was adorable. We went to Itaewon Market (famous foreign market), Seoul Tower, and a traditional Korean market. Lunch was traditional Korea food with free kimchi. Highlight: on one of my subway rides, a Korean woman sat down and tried to teach me about Jesus.



December 28th:

10am we only met with Kim Eun Mi. Apparently the boyfriend was sleeping in. We headed to Gyeongbokgung Palace. We were able dress in traditional Korean clothing:

Then the National Palace Museum of Korea. There we met Kim Tae Woo. Deoksugung Palace:


Art Museum. Lunch was a horrifying experience of octopus chopped up in front of us. COEX - largest mall in South Korea. There I bought my first CHANEL lipstick! We walked around that night and ate kimchi for dinner at a stall. Met some old disney friends...


December 29th:

Wake up and realize that it sucks to room with all women with one bathroom. The woman took a shower until 5 girls had to use the toilet. Went to visit the April 19th Memorial. Myeongdong shopping district. Bought me some snazzy sunglasses and shoes from Converse. I told the clerk size 7. He brought me size 5. I was like, "I wanted a 7." He replied that a 7 for women equals a 5 in Converse shoes. I shook my head and told him I was a size 9 in women's. The look on his face... it plummeted right to my feet.

December 30th:

Went to the DMZ. Demilitarized Zone. The border between North and South Korea. Very dangerous. No photographs in certain places and South Koreans cannot visit the DMZ without 6 month notice. Quirky English translator with surprisingly good English. Saw Freedom Brige and Peace Bell. Walked through part of the 3rd Tunnel . The afternoon was spent on a 5 HOUR busride to Gyeongju. Met up with Juliana's Korean friend's friends. Had a late dinner and spent the night in a Korean Bathhouse.


to be continued...

Christmas in Nippon

Some sweet children singing in a nursing home:

My friend Jinno dancing as Santa:



Japanese Christmas Carol:

Memoirs of a Geisha

One of the oldest and most respected Japanese arts is that of the tea ceremony. The spirit of the tea ceremony is 'ichigo-ichie' or once-in-a-lifetime encounter. It means that the chance to serve a guest at a tea ceremony happens only once and that person must be treated with respect. In my city there is a group of volunteer Japanese women who give tours to foreigners. On the 24th of November, they hosted a kimono party and tea ceremony.

The director of the program chose the red kimono just for me. Apparently it's highly coveted and I felt special that the kimono was set aside with my name on it. There were several ladies there to help with the dressing. I got a lady who was very skilled in her movements and didn't need to undress me and start again like others. After getting dressed came hair. The hair dresser was delighted that my hair could achieve such volume with a little teasing. I was just delighted.

Juliana and I took many photographs with the girls before the ceremony began:Sitting the traditional Japanese way while receiving tea and eating sweets (feet tucked under the bottom) nearly killed me, but each time I would shift to the side the front of my kimono would split open and I would go from elegant maiko (apprentice geisha) to wonton brothel maiden)...you know me...

Then some of the ladies taught tea ceremony. I wanted to join but some of the Japanese women asked to take pictures with me so I showed up late as usual.

As the event came to a close and the kimono were returned, the girls felt a pang of sadness at becoming uncouth foreigners once again and so struck a compromise: return the clothes, keep the hairstyle. Me...not so much. I preferred a Japanese gangster chick look:











Afterward, we trekked to an Italian restaurant/pizzeria and ate delicious food.

Epic Birthday Party

It started out as a simple invitation.

Allee dearest was turning 22, a fine age for a young woman coming into her own in Japan.

She wished to host a birthday party for herself, so she decided to invite all of her friends to her house for a modest celebration.

The only problem...she lives on an island in the middle of NO WHERE.

...

I mean it. Her assigned city is made up of four islands. Hers, which manages to host the only high school, has only one main road which circumnavigates the entire island. There are no bridges, just ferries by the hour.

I know I would never visit such a crazy place.
So I R.S.V.P.ed "yes".

The party was potluck, with Allee providing the main course of "NABE", a Japanese stew in a cloudy broth. It's popular in winter to host NABE parties where friends/family gather around the nabe pot and drink alcohol and chat it up.

I decided to bake cookies (from scratch!).

As I was baking, minding the time since I had to bike to the train station to take a train to catch a taxi to a ferry port in which to catch the ferry to her hidden island to walk to her house (PHEW!), I received a txt message from a JET I had met in NYC. He was in the neighboring prefecture but since my city was on the way to the ferry port, Would I like a ride?

Of course I did. That's when the trouble began...

He showed up and I was ready (of course). We got in the car and began our cross-island journey with me navigating with my poor Japanese since his is non-existent.

Really, we only got off-track once before we ended up in the proper city. Once there, we had no idea where the port was so I asked for directions at the convenience store. The brilliant part is that the last ferry for Allee's island was at 6:30PM and we were counting seconds as we managed to hit EVERY RED LIGHT. We got to the ferry port just in time to realize that we had not a minute to spare. Stephen threw me out of the car with the intention of me stopping the ferry while he parked. I bolted in time to watch the ferry pull out of the dock I screamed in frustration, promptly scaring a young Japanese couple making out.

I called Allee to tell her the news and she said that we could start crossing the Great Seto Bridge (瀬戸大橋, ), or Seto-Ohashi Bridge. At 13.1 km long, it ranks as the world's longest two-tiered bridge system, going from Shikoku to the main island of Honshuu, and from there catch a different ferry. We had three hour before the last ferry.

NOW GO.



we just sound lost...

Safe to say we made it safely with only a few distractions...(Stephen needing to go to the bathroom...directions...and dinner - we were running a few hours late by that point). We caught a ferry where we met another foreigner on his way to the party. Once on the island of obscurity, Allee's directions were, "turn left. Stop when you see the foreigners in the road."

Of course we drove "too fast" for them to get to the road and ended up half way up the island's mountain before we decided to call and scream at her. We could only image how the guy following behind up felt.

After turning and finding her, we were escorted to her rather spacious apartment where I met the other foreigners from the neighboring islands that made up her city. By then I was hungry again and excited for my first NABE pot.

...Allee, bless her heart, can't cook.


What we got was sludge. No really...it's not suppose to be yellow. Or look alive.


I was scared. Stephen politely refused to eat.

And then the toilet broke just when everyone needed it.

Giving Thanks the Canadian Way

Even in college, I have never met such a diverse group of people than on this island full of Japanese people. Though the least changed of the four islands, I have come in contact with people from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, South Africa, Jamaica, Germany, and Romania to name a few. And I am being introduced to new holidays and traditions such as Canadian Thanksgiving.

And here I was worried I would miss a home-cooked meal.

There was no turkey (trying to find one is nearly impossible with these supermarkets) but the roast chicken was quite tasty. Sadly, no stuffing or Spanish rice (I miss my grandma's rice) but I managed to make mashed potatoes from scratch. Trying to eat Japanese food everyday inspires me to learn to cook from scratch since instant Hamburger Helper is lacking.

Anyway, there were some surprising dishes such as salad with hidden pilaf and broccoli/cauliflower cheese casserole. Dessert was an amazing angel food cake purchased from a bakery and pumpkin tarts I dared not touch.


Then we played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit and as the only American, I did our country poorly. Seriously, every other question was about baseball. I did manage to shine in the pop culture/history/science categories.

I was thankful to be invited. :)

Fright Night: Halloween in Japan

Okay.

Japan does not go Trick-or-Treating.

In fact, my students tended to be surprised when I described this Celtic born holiday and its American ways. However, they did understand the concept of Jack-o-lanterns, witches, and candy.

I volunteered to work at a neighboring (by that I mean 3hrs. by train) city's elementary students Halloween Party on the 18th. I dressed as a school girl, borrowing the junior high school uniform from a high school girl I befriended. The party was super cute, with around 500 kids in two shifts of 1.5 hours. They came in various degrees of holiday dress. I first helped out at the bean-bag toss but got bored after an hour and went outside for a break. There I discovered other kids waiting to attend the later half of the party. I ended up playing "Simon Says" with them and they called me "Sailor Moon", a popular anime/manga in Japan.


Though wearing a girl's uniform was fun, my friend Dansby and I really wanted to have a gender-bender JHS partner costume. Wearing the male uniform was hilarious and since he has long hair, Dansby made a pretty good Japanese school girl. A;; I did was darken my eyebrows and gel my bangs but I really looked like a boy:

Girls kept approaching me and asking me to pose with them. We went to a lounge bar that was hosting a party and won best couple costume. Afterward, we headed to the biggest city in our prefecture and danced all night. The ride home at 6 in the morning was something else. I was completely sober (as usual) but everyone else (driver excluded of course) was drunk/tired and completely ridiculous.

Me and my prize:Too bad I didn't drink it :P