Dr. Fish

There is a little thing here called Dr. Fish. It's considered somewhat of a "spa treatment" as it deals with the cleaning of your feet. Still confused? Don't worry. You're not alone.

Last Friday I went with some girlfriends to pay a visit to Dr. Fish. We arrived at a cafe, ordered some coffee, and ate some complimentary bread. Then we went to a higher level in the cafe to experience what is known as Dr. Fish. See what you do is rinse off your feet and then stick them into these rectangular pools...full of little fish.

The fish swarm to your feet and eat the dead skin. So essentially you relax and they get a full meal. In my head I didn't think it would be that bad but I've never freaked out more in my life. I froze. I simply couldn't do it. After about 10 minutes passed, I finally said to myself you're in Korea, just do it - you'll never do it again.

So I stuck my feet in the pool for the next 15 minutes and as every minute passed, I hated it more and more. My teeth were clenched, my hands were tight, and my legs and feet were like statues in the water. Everyone kept saying it would get easier and you would eventually stop noticing it as much. But I certainly did not. I just made Jee keep talking to me and I stared out of the window onto the busy streets of Gagnam waiting for it to all be over with. I couldn't bear to look down and see all the fish with their mouths opening and closing and nipping at my feet. After the timer went off, I jumped out of the pool and swore I would take everyone there to experience it. I still hated it, but it's just one of those things you have to try.

Those fish might have got the best of me, but I walked out of there with clean feet!

Two songs that sum up my Summer

I don't care by 2NE1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ski6gelc8E

and Tell me your wish by Girls Generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZpHBlmvGGI

There are plenty of others, but I could listen to these songs non-stop. And I pretty much have been for the last few months. ^^

Jane Anne

Sarah: "Everyone was talking about how Jon had a week long going away party. But Jane's good-bye events have been going on for the last three weeks. I think she's winning!"

As true as this may be, we'll miss you Jane. Good luck with the job hunt and see you soon at our "Korea Reunion!"

The Korean I left behind in the USA

Saturday, October 3rd was my good friend Laurie Anne Fitzpatrick's big wedding day. And of all places, I was stuck here unable to attend. These are the things that kill me about being so far away. The holidays, family reunions, big birthdays, and weddings I'm giving up to be here in Korea-Town. Missing big celebrations is unfortunately not something new to me as I've lived away at college and then out of state for the past few years. But for some reason or another, missing Laurie's wedding is really hitting me hard. I know she understands, but I still hate that I missed such a milestone in her life. I'm sure there will be more special occasions I will miss down the road for one reason or another, but I truly hope I can still find a way to be there for those I love.

Congratulations Bill and Laurie. I wish you all the best!

8 months cable free

Since my arrival in Korea, I have not had the Internet in my home or any channels on my T.V. I have however had a DVD player with a select few DVDs that I brought from home - most of the collection being what I like to call "the bible": the complete set of Sex and the City DVDs. The past eight months of Carrie Bradshaw and the gang has been great, but I'm ready for some different background noise. So yes folks, I have buckled down and installed 70 Korean channels in my home. The best part is this cable package is only costing 5,000 won per month. Most of the channels are in Korean, but there are 7 or 8 English-speaking channels that I find very entertaining. Now you may be wondering why I waited so long. To tell you the truth, I decided early on that I didn't move all the way to Korea to stay in my house and watch television. But lately as close friends are starting to leave and my time is running out, I'm kind of looking at it as something to:

A. Keep me busy.
B. Keep me from drinking myself into a drunken stupor at the bars.
and C. As an effort to save some money before I leave.

Plus, now that I've been watching TV the last few days, I feel like I'm experiencing a whole new side of Korean culture. Before you know it, I'm going to know all of the choreography to every popular music video and be able to jump right in with the Koreans when they have their random dance outbreaks. I know you're picturing it now. Me, home alone in my makeshift living room/bedroom, dancing and singing away to my own television set. Well believe it because this is what my life has come down to. And quite frankly, I see nothing wrong with it.

Si turns 25 and Aaron says Goodbye

Si's mom, Simone, was gracious enough to get Si a hotel room for her birthday and so the three of us packed up our overnight bags and headed for the Marriott Courtyard. The hotel was somewhat new and modern and it actually reminded me a lot of the Sheraton Downtown in Phoenix. The room was beautiful and fitted with a great view of the city and more importantly, a full shower. I think each of us took a full 30 minute rotation and then we started drinking and getting ready for the theme of the night: Korean F.O.B. Now I had never heard this term before so for those who are sitting there banging your head against the keyboard, it stands for Fresh Off the Boat. We busted out our best Korean attire to reflect only what we see on a regular basis and the breakdown was as follows:

*Paulina sported a full ivory ballerina skirt, black racer tank top, gold bling, and gladiator sandals. Her finishing touch was a sports cap with black curls cascading down her back.

*Sionna played the cute card with a giant silver sequence bow on her head, a green ruffly top, black shorts, and high black socks. She was a gem.

*I wore a black bedazzled long sleeve shirt (which I like to call my ice skater shirt), a vest, the shortest mini skirt I could find, and black socks that went past my knees. The final detail was the non-matching yellow flower hair band around my wrist.

We hit up the Hongdae scene which was nearby and met up with the Incheon crew as it was also Aaron's going away party. We drank and danced well into the early morning, I "fell" out of a window, bought many sticks of chicken - "Hana not spicy juseyo!", and we said our last goodbyes to Aaron as he heads back to Brooklyn in a few days. I do regret not spending enough time with him, but it was damn fun while it lasted. I'm already looking forward to hitting him up in his hood someday soon! Overall, it was another great night!

Tonight's Ganna be a Good Night

The hit single performed by the Black Eyed Peas has become somewhat of an anthem for the girls and I. It doesn't matter what mood any of us are in. You play that song and we all know we're in for a good time. Since Si's discovery of the catchy pop tune a few months back, we have listened to it before every night out on the town. The catchy lyrics and hip rhythmic beats somehow always manage to lift our spirits and give us a new found energy and great state of mind. It's funny how songs can do that for us. They tend to act as small reminders when we get too caught up in our own lives.

Click on the link and have a listen. I've gatta feelin' you're ganna love it! ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_2rrxONlLo

Christmas in September?

I mean, I've heard of the occasional Christmas in July and of course the national holiday in the month of December. But Christmas in the fall is something new to even me, the avid Christmas lover/fanatic.

While staying at the Marriott for Sionna's birthday in an up and coming neighborhood, we were baffled by the sounds of Christmas music as we walked out of a newly opened shopping district called Times Square. Not only did we hear the brassy sound of trumpets in the distance, but it was also snowing! I know...it all sounds crazy but its true. Although it was fake snow shooting from the rooftop out onto the courtyard, it was indeed snowing.

As we made our way around the corner, the music grew louder and a marching band came into sight. It was a vision. A small band of young, wafer thin Korean girls holding up giant instruments, which weighed more than them, dressed in little "Sexy Santa" numbers playing Christmas tunes. The girls and I just stood there with our jaws to the floor in shock of what we were witnessing. Then it hit us. We're in Korea. Nothing ever makes sense. It's funny how at this point, we have to remind ourselves.

Later we learned it was the mall's grand opening so they were doing all of these promotions to draw attention. Well succeed they did. And I must admit, I couldn't be more excited for Christmas especially this year as I'll be spending it with my brother in Korea. Even more so, I'm excited to begin Christmas shopping! They win again!

The Quest for a Nigerian

The afternoon of Sionna's birthday arrived and with it, the urge for straight hair. So we ventured all the way to Itaewon in search of a "proper" straightening. After wandering around and asking a few African women for their recommendations, we ended up at "Ethiopian Row" (as Sionna calls it) where Si found a nice Nigerian to do the job for a good price. Si felt comfortable at the shop as it was the same shop where Paulina had previously connected with her inner-blackness and bought nice black-spiral weave.

An hour passed by and the Nigerian woman thought she was finished. I wish you could have seen the look of disgust on not only Si's face but on the faces of Paulina and myself as her "do" fell way under par. The woman continued to work on what became known as the "beast" for another hour, continuously burning Si's scalp and adding ghetto grease. As the end of hour two drew near, I'm afraid the Nigerian was unsuccessful at taming the "beast". On the bright side, the three of us made friends with a nice girl named Juliet from Uganda who was getting her hair re-braided!

We left the shop and Si felt disappointed with the final look. Paulie and I insisted we could fix it but Si wasn't having it. Later on that evening, or should I say the next morning, I recall Si talking with her mother on the phone from the taxi saying, "All I had today was a schwarma and a hack job from a Nigerian."

Who would have thought a black woman couldn't do a fellow black girl's hair? Things aren't always what they seem...

Out with the old and in with the under age

Is it bad that I want to just kick back and hang out with my new students? Over the past month, I was given a class of spectacular kids who are not only cool but brilliant. Almost all of them have lived abroad to study English and each one of them have great personalities, especially my new student Brian. Brian is one of those 15 year old kids who has everything going for him. He's very outgoing and quite popular among the students. I hate to admit it again, but if Brian were about 15 years older, I would marry him in a heart beat. [And I'm pretty certain he has a crush on me too ;) ] So yes, he has taken over Denny's spot as my new crush. Sorry buddy!

...This is exactly why I could never be a teacher in real life.

The Hills are Alive...

In Seoraksan that is. I don't recall ever seeing such beautiful mountains in my life. The many boulders and rock formations were mixed among lush green trees in the Seoraksan National Park. The hundreds of winding hiking trails led us to many various sites such as a Buddha temple, a giant Buddha statue, caves with monks inside, a rolling river bed, and of course different peaks and valleys where you could also get a glimpse of the ocean in the distance.

Our journey started on a Saturday morning where Andrew decided to oversleep and hold up the bus we rented just for our crew. Around 10am, 14 close friends set off to Seoraksan, which is located on the east coast for Jane's goodbye weekend celebration. We arrived four hours later to the National Park, a couple of soju bottles deep, paid our entrance fee, and headed straight for the cable cars heading up the mountain. We cheated our way up to the top, snapped what seemed like a million pictures of the breathtaking view, and took a two hour nature hike along the river bed. Some of us were a little disappointed the leaves had not transformed into their fall splendor, but we did manage to see a tree here and there with sprigs of red and orange beaming through the green.

As dusk grew near, we headed back to the park entrance to grab some dinner. We originally intended on cooking our own feast, but by the late hour, everyone was ready to be served. We set forth to the coast in search of a fresh raw fish restaurant. We found a little place right on the beach that served us their catch of the day. We had fresh, uncooked squid, octopus, and steamed prawns for the first course, two kinds of raw fish for the second course, and a spicy seafood soup with all of the leftover parts of the fish (like the head, tail, and fins) for the final course. It was all incredibly delicious and accompanied by many shots of soju and Cass beer.

After dinner, we stopped at a market next door and bought more beer and soju, as well as sparklers and fireworks, where we then headed to the ocean just a few feet away. After we had our fun, we called our driver to pick us up and we drove off to the pension we booked. The pension was beautiful and we had more than enough space. Everyone picked their room and the drinking and gaming began. We played jenga, dominoes, cards, kings, asshole (thanks to Jon for leaving them behind) and I introduced the infamous soju kettles to everyone. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to drink four bottles of soju, which is never smart, and I passed out early. Which apparently was the same time all the girls decided to go to bed as well. I heard the guys had a "bro-deo" until about 4am where Dan ended up puking and breaking bottles somewhere in the distance. So typical.

Most everyone woke up pretty hungover, some more than others (aka me winning the most hungover award) and we laid out by the pool with the mountains as our backdrop. Around 2pm, the bus arrived and took us to get lunch. Unfortunately for everyone else, I threw up on the bus almost as soon as it started moving.

After lunch, we went to the beach and relaxed all dressed in swim suits and hoodies. Some played chess, some played soccer and frisbee, and some even slept. No one went in the water and no one got a tan because it was far to cold and cloudy. However, some of the girls went on a quick speed boat ride through the waves. After a few hours, we hopped back on the bus and headed back to Bundang. It was so good to be home, but I'm going to miss that place!

You could say the hills were alive that weekend. Alive with drunken shouts from the Bundang crew. As for the sound of music, I imagine the locals were happy to see us go.