The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Yesterday was full of surprises, to say the least. Below summarizes the events of a not-so-normal Wednesday. 

The Good - I applied and was accepted to the Korea Tourism Organization as a Korea Performance Supporter in March. A K-Supporter is a foreigner who travels around Korea, going to various events and performances, then blogs about them in order to promote Korean cultural experiences. WELL. It just so happens that the first event that I'll be going to is the Yeosu Expo 2012! The Yeosu Expo, with its "The Living Ocean and Coast" theme, highlights the international community's commitment to the marine sector. There are over 90 countries being showcased, each with their own section, recognizing both the individual countries' efforts and the need for international cooperation. I'll be attending on June 9th, when the Democratic Republic of Congo will be highlighted, but all countries have their booths open. It sounds like an eye-opening event! Yeosu Expo 2012 is open May 12-August 12, 2012.

The Bad - Like most Wednesday nights, I made my way to the DK gym near my apartment to take my yoga class. But this time, I decided that I wanted to use their fancy-schmancy machine that tells you things like your BMI, waist-to-height ratio and fat percentage. LORD KNOWS WHY I thought that this was a good idea. Maybe it was my amazing 6th graders or that I had slept more than my usual five hours. Anyway. Needless to say, I was not entirely thrilled with those numbers. Wah wah wah. AKA I'm attempting to change my second home from a hof (a bar) to DK. Good thing I've been training for 10ks! I'm also using the buddy system. Shout out to PB!

The Ugly - Now before I actually quote what was said to me, I'd like to preface it with a couple of facts. First of all, this person knows the word "English". Secondly, he's the head teacher of the English department, so he definitely knows the word "English". Thirdly, he's asked what other things are called in English and has questioned me accordingly. So it utterly surprised me when he pointed to his peeling skin (from a sunburn) and asked "Do you have a word for this in the white man's language?" ...I'm sorry...WHAT? The "white man's language"?  Seriously flabbergasted. I realize that Korea is known for its overall xenophobia, but come on. I most certainly had WOOSA on repeat in my mind.

In other news, we're going to the World DJ Fest 2012 is this weekend! Check out the YouTube trailer here. 

xo

Running Time of 01:05:19

Pink Campaign shirt and medal

This past Sunday was the Pink Ribbon Campaign run in Daejeon, the first run that I signed up for while in Korea; I officially completed one of my many goals when I finished my very first 10k! AND (check this out)... I didn't stop the entire time! My time? 01:05:19. That only means that my next goal is to complete a 10k within an hour. It was great being able to accomplish this with friends and I cannot wait until the Andong 10k on June 2nd. Needless to say, I'm addicted. We might even sign up for a half marathon in July (no, I'm not crazy)! Until then, the training continues!

We did it!

Showing off our medals

 For the benefits of running, click here and here.


Also, happy three month anniversary! :)


xo

If At First You Don't Succeed...

One week later and I'm a new person! I went to Serrano Salon in Daegu for a second time to torture my hair into submission. As I wrote before, I wasn't really feeling the 'semi-wavy-but-really-just-looks-slept-on' perm that I had received the first time. When I came back, I brought TEN photos (just in case) annddd after another two hours, below is the result!

The 'After the First After' Photo

Needless to say, I'm definitely pleased with the result! I felt a bit of buyer's remorse when I saw the initial tight 'curls' (unfortunately, there's no photographic evidence), but running my fingers through resulted in the above shot. Now let's see how long it takes me to complain about not having easily straight hair ;) 

Overall, I would recommend Serrano Salon (and Ji Won) for both cuts and the Magic Wave perm, but with the following advice:

• Bring photos, the more the better. Your idea of 'curly' is not their idea of curly! Confirm that you're on the same page before you start, so that you don't have to do a round two journey to Daegu!
• Make sure that you allocate plenty of time for this procedure. The whole process takes a good 2-2.5 hours (the extra 30 minutes is for a cut/trim), and you definitely don't want them to rush!
• Be a nice client! In my interpretation of this experience, I was able to knock my initial price down by 70,000 won by being friendly.

Directions to Serrano Salon - Make your way to the Banwoldang area in Daegu. Once you get to the main stage of the area, it's about a 5 minute walk to Serrano Salon. Face the center stage (where there is a McDonalds and a Burger King), as an audience member would, and make a left down that street. After a few blocks, you will see a GS 25 convenience store. Turn left down that street; once going down this street, you will see a number of street vendors. Serrano Salon will be on your left. Prepare for magic!

Magic Wave: Not a Harry Potter Spell

After a lot of deliberation and other friends taking the plunge, I decided to lose my virginity.


...


My hair virginity, you freaks!


I've always been a bit indifferent to my straight hair. While I'll admit, it is really convenient to be able to jump out of the shower, run a brush through my hair and take off, it's gotten a bit dull during the day-to-day. Seeing as how I'm looking for some change (as if moving to Korea wasn't a big enough change in my life), I made the decision to get the Magic Wave (also called a digital perm), much to my earlier hesitation of leaving my hair alone for all eternity. 


Based on many recommendations by previous GETs, I made my way to the Serrano Hair Salon in the Banwoldang area of Daegu. Let me tell you - that place is pumpin' with clients. I was greeted (in English!) by Ji Won, who turned out to be my main stylist. After figuring out what I wanted, she quoted me at 160,000 won for a bit of Magic Straight (which I ended up just 'needing' near my roots and thereby dropping the final price to the cash figure of 90,000 won), a trim and the final Magic Wave. Yes, I know that it's a lot, but I had already made up the decision in my head and was not going to back out!

Before

After engulfing my hair in a solution to make my hair soft, the shampoos and the trim (the trim took all of ten minutes!), I was hooked up to this...thing. It's a definite octopus contraption and makes me semi look like Medusa, no? Notice my face in the photos. Please note that those are 100% genuine facial expressions.

And we're just getting started

Almost done getting hooked up!

After sitting in this chair for 30ish minutes, another solution was put in my hair, I was shampooed and BAM! ...Just kidding. It was not a Princess Diaries makeover moment. In fact, I was pretty underwhelmed with the outcome. See below.

After

After, with some effort on my part

So moral of the story, I paid 90,000 won for my hair to look like it does at the end of the day after I curl it, and even that is a bit of an exaggeration to the extent of the 'wave' that my hair has. Needless to say, I was not a satisfied client. I spoke with Ji Won, who apologized that she hadn't initially clarified the amount of curl that I wanted. The thing is, I'm not really angry, as it could have turned out a lot worse (especially with the language barrier). But I'm glad that my mom taught me to use my words and speak up, because I was definitely not okay with the end result. Ji Won was really professional about it and tried to remedy the situation with multiple solutions, ending with me ultimately making an appointment this upcoming Friday. Hopefully I'll have even better photos to show you!

xo

Positivity Breeds Positivity

Bomun Lake, Gyeongju, South Korea

I've been living in Korea for just shy of three months now, the amount of time that most say people get homesick. Now, I'm not going to lie to you, dear readers. I love California. I love the city of angels. I even, gulp, love Whittier. So it goes without saying that there have been times where I find myself wishing that I could be back, even if just for a nice weekend adventure. Or, you know, a fabulous "cheers to the freaking Wednesday" Wednesday night in Santa Monica. But since that's not in any immediate future of mine and I'm on an anti-complaining kick, I've decided to turn that frown upside down! Yes, I realize that this sounds like a sorority VP of Recruitment talking about how FUN recruiting for 12+ hours a day is, but this post won't go anywhere near that. Here is my list as to why I'm fond of Korea. You really all should know the obvious reasons as to why I love CA (read: BECAUSE I'M A NORMAL HUMAN BEING, loved ones, weather, location, multiculturalism, clothing options, food options, etc), so I'm not even going to bring those up!

Oldest building in Gyeongju

Why I love Korea:

• Healthier Living - I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I'm taking better care of myself, in all sense of the word. I've signed up for a couple 10Ks (something that I had always considered doing back home, but never actually got around to doing), am enrolled in a yoga class and have changed my eating habits (only semi by choice?). I've gotten so addicted to outdoor running that I already want to sign up for a half marathon and, eventually, an actual full-blown marathon as well. Some of this definitely has to do with the fact that I always need to have some kind of control over my life (not knowing the language severely hinders my abilities to lead a normal life here), but I also know that it's a positive change that I've been wanting to start for awhile and it seemed like the perfect fresh start to do so. I'm also exploring an entirely new people, a culture completely foreign to me. It's really interesting, albeit a bit frustrating, attempting to learn a new language/people!

Bike/running trail along the river in Gyeongju

• Friends - The other waygooks (foreigners) that I've met here are kind of awesome. It was really great of EPIK to set us all up at orientation, and my groups of friends ended up finding each other rather easily. We come from different countries (US, Canada, UK, Ireland and South Africa), yet we all seem to have oddly similar personalities and general outlooks on life. It pushes us to have deeper conversations, as if we were all taking the same class in university, except that class is life. Yeah I know, that got deep really quickly. We explore new cities - both like tourists and locals, sing our hearts out at noraebangs until well past sunrise, volunteer at local philanthropies, teach Korean kids English and on top of that, we're all a really good time.

In Daegu, South Korea

Singing at one of many noraebangs

•  My Job - Since I'm assuming that most of you aren't super creeps and actually know me, you'll remember my previous employment situation. My normal 50+ hour weeks, peer immaturity debacle and my own severe lack of passion for the field were not things to brag about. This might be the closest to the opposite of that environment that I'll ever get. I'm at Bulguksa Elementary School 8:30AM-4:30PM and teach a maximum of four classes a day. I'm supposed to teach 22 hours a week, but since my school is so small, I only teach 17 hours a week; the rest of my hours are spent preparing for lessons. Yes, "preparing lessons". I teach grades 1-6 and absolutely adore them. There are some definite attitude problems (duh), but nothing that I can't handle. Plus, when you see them simultaneously learning and enjoying themselves, I feel like I could do this forever. Example: In my fourth grade classes today, kids were literally jumping to read a conversation out loud. They wanted to show off that they knew English. Warms my freaking heart. Also, I have a favorite group of sixth graders and I might take them all home with me. Yes, I know I said that I would only take the orphan of the group back. But now I want all five of them. Inside joke: step kids FTW! I'm not even going to mention that I get two weeks of vacation in summer (possibly three!), two weeks in winter and 14+ national holidays off. Yeah, definitely not even going to bring it up, because that would be cruel.

• Food - Nothing really needs to be explained here. You all know what food is. While there is a much more limited selection than in LA, there are so many Korean dishes that I'm itching to try. Live octopus is going to be in my mouth in winter, when apparently it's 'in season'. That also gives me more time to work up the courage to try it. Speaking of, I've gotten a lot braver about my food choices. I've had crab, oyster and sushi! I know you guys are proud. It doesn't hurt that Korean food is really inexpensive. I keep eating gimbap for dinner because it's only 2,500 won (about $2)!

Demolished Pohang crabs

Dakgalbi, my favorite food

• Pharmacies and Coffee Shops - You can't walk five feet in any direction without passing a pharmacy or a coffee shop, and I'm not complaining. Getting medication is lot easier to do here than it is in the states, particularly because you don't need a prescription for a good number of common pills. Now I'm not saying that you could make your fortune being a drug dealer here, but I can walk into a pharmacy, get my birth control for less than $5/month and be on my merry way. Yeah, less than five dollars. Best believe that I'll be stocking up when I leave here. The coffee shops are also adorable! While the prices are generally about the same as US Starbucks (Starbucks prices here are just too ridiculous to discuss), most have free wifi and cheaper prices for takeout.

Coffee shop in Gyeongju, South Korea

Off to my yoga class - TGIF!

xo

Semi-Update AKA Blog Tease

If you couldn't tell from the massive photo upload on Facebook, my Mac finally arrived! And isn't it pretty?! This basically now means that I'm a walking Apple ad, with me carrying around a Macbook Pro, an iPad and TWO iPhones. So obnoxious haha AND I LOVE IT.

Anyway, the below photo will pretty much sum up my weeknights while I finish my blog updates from the past couple of months. It's been a really exciting mix of exploration, adventure, nature and making really good friends, so I'll be posting photos and stories with a bit more detail. There's only so much that I can say via Facebook status updates!

xo

Food Porn

I might make it for the full year solely because of the food and all of the delicious flavors. Expect many more food porn photos in the future.