Reconnected AT LAST!!!

Confucius say: Man running behind automobile become exhausted. Man running before automobile become tired.

Okay, time to play catch-up, as I’ve been swamped with the logistics of settling in and the whole nesting thing, and since we haven’t had internet access for the first week at English Village, posting hasn’t been possible, anyway.

A note on weather: Osan was pretty much like NYC/Greenwich on a nice day—unusually mild while I was there, but similar to unusually mild at home. Paju is significantly colder—I need to figure out how many kilometers north (about a 115-minute, when hassle-free, drive) and whether we’re at a higher altitude (watch out for the fog), but I think we’re just that many notches closer to the Siberian winds. I’m told to expect a lovely spring and fall and a sweltery summer, capped off with a very rainy monsoon season. Full-fledged winter will be c-c-c-cold.

Saturday: slept in a little, although I’m still a little off schedule, then went to the Osan AF base for lunch and some shopping. Unbelievable the mini America that is created on base. The whole military-abroad thing would make an amazing sociological study, which I’m sure has been done, but it’s fascinating to experience. I hung out in Don’s apartment while he took care of official Hash House Harrier (drinkers with a running problem) duties, then met up with him and his crew at a local bar. After a bit of warm-up drinking, we set out on the Hash run (following markings on the streets--some false leads, some beverage stops, some silly activity mandates—to the ultimate eating/drinking/ritual destination). I had the honor of arriving dead last, as I got all excited about being speedy and am not practiced in spotting the markings…and the trail was set in various colors—not always immediately distinguishable from those of the previous week’s hash. Good fun, and wonderfully bizarre to watch old friend Don in this role. He is truly well-loved by his peers (as well he should be)! We went back home to shower and change before bar hopping (my poor liver is so out of practice). Similar to Friday night’s activities, just more places and more locations. I even have an autographed t-shirt to show for the day’s festivities. Whew!

On Sunday morning; we loaded up the ol’ Hyundai and headed off to Paju, which we found with only minimal difficulty (less than expected) and via one Korean rest-stop (not all that different from ours. BAD coffee…). We’d be instructed to look for an observatory as a landmark, but we were skeptical that we’d be sure to spot it. Well, you just can’t miss the thing. Very impressive…Star Trek-esque. I can’t wait to check it out—the point of the thing is to be able to see North Korea. Wow. We’re just outside the city of Paju, and there are some serious mountains in the area. Quite beautiful, and surely will become more so as spring sets in. It is a trafficked area, though; it’ll be interesting finding the less-beaten paths for cycling. Hill repeats, anyone?

Fortunately, the guy at the EV gatehouse wasn’t very interested in dealing with us (I’d been told that no non-staff would be allowed onsite, as construction is extensive and ongoing), so Don was able to drive me onsite—great b/c he could see the place after driving all that way and b/c I didn’t have to transfer my stuff to another vehicle to get to my building. And this place is UNDER CONSTRUCTION. No WAY we’d be allowed on, let alone to live here, in the US, as it’s multiple lawsuits waiting to happen. A layer of dust had settled on everything, and we’ve all cleaned thoroughly and been vacuuming regularly since moving in. Much of the outdoor lighting has yet to be installed or juiced, so walking around at night amidst the piles of bricks and random, non-cordoned off ditches, is a test of no small proportions. Pity the jetlagged. Not totally crazy dangerous, but I can’t believe there hasn’t been a twisted ankle or some such injury.

Back to arrival: after helping to unload my stuff, Don headed back home, and I set out to City Hall (less than a 5-minute walk), whence a tour of the site would begin. Not all that much touring happened, though, as we’re…UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I can’t stop wondering how on earth they’ll be ready in time for the soft openings (mid-March), let alone the real one in the beginning of April—but hey, it ain’t my problem. English Village Paju is set up…er, sorta like an English village. Some Greco-Roman architecture has crept in, but it’s otherwise pretty English, right down to the 7 mini Stonehenges at the front gate. No joke. All I can think about is Spinal Tap. The buildings are named after planets and Unicef-sponsored countries—I’m in/on Mars (they’ve wisely excluded Uranus). Fortunately, I’ve been awarded senior staff status, and have an apartment that’s a step up from the basic level, in a building with other senior staffers (usually less noisy), on the edge of campus (same). I’ve got a 1-BR, and I can only guess what it would go for in NYC ($2500? At least?). I’ve got a kitchen w/a washer (no oven and no dryer, typical for Korea) on one end of a room with a sofa, TV, desk, coffee table and cabinets, and a small bathroom (traditional Korean…a teeny tub w/shower, no curtain, drain in floor for all the splashing). More closet space than I can fill with my 2 suitcases’ worth of stuff!

So, we tromped around on this tour, getting ourselves good and dusty (I have been and will primarily be wearing my hiking boots for a while), and then many of us got cabs (vans—cheap) to go to E-mart, which is basically a Korean Walmart-type place, but not so cheap (groceries in Korea are EXPENSIVE. $5 for a box of cereal, or a jar of PB, produce is pricey; I haven’t ventured into meat yet. Even the rice costs more than at home. At least the tofu is cheap!). Pretty uninteresting, but I don’t need my detergent and toilet paper to be all that exciting…we’ll save the decorative and souvenir items for somewhere else. Suffice it to say that buying the basics when all the labels are Korean brands with Hangul writing takes more time than shopping for your regular items at home. Trips will be ongoing for sure. We got our necessaries in terms of food and toiletries, came home and then immediately back to City Hall for a meet-and-greet-buffet-mixer-welcome event. I left early to head home and nest after collecting my temporary bedding, as the real stuff hadn’t arrived yet (just as well, while the dust is still settling. The pillow was a hilariously huge rock-hard, lumpy unusable mess!). I stayed up ‘til past midnight getting part-way organized, then hit the hay. My refrigerator wasn’t working, but that was nothing compared to the lack of heat or standing water in flooded bathrooms that other people were experiencing. The interiors (I’m no expert on the exterior and haven’t had time to investigate) were clearly done on the cheap, and while they are serviceable, they are hardly glamorous. The mistakes that were shoddily patched over, if at all, are everywhere—according to Don, this is pretty typical, as he’d pointed that out to me in his own apartment. So there are problems. It turns out that my fridge is in a compartment where there is no outlet, so, in the panel that divides it and the washer there is a little section cut out to the outlet just on the other side. Of course, the section that is cut away isn’t nearly large enough for the plug to pass through, and since officially reporting the problem (and the assessed, simple solution), no one has shown up with a utility knife to fix it. Fortunately (hah!) the hallways are cold enough to refrigerate (typical here, I believe, not to heat that space), so some of my groceries are in my neighbor’s apartment, and some are outside my door. I’m just happy to have heat and no flooding… All of this seems to be the result of this being such a new and HUGE undertaking, and, well, Korean-ness. In the US, they’d be taking advantage of us, but here there’s a little more flexibility before we can go demanding hotel rooms. I’m glad I don’t have respiratory issues, because those people must be bummin’. Another problem is that the tile floors are FREEZING, as there is no heat in the hallways—ironic (dontcha think) because any typical Korean housing would have ondol heating—under the floors—so they’re nice and toasty. DOH! Our heat, which comes from the ceiling, doesn’t quite make it all the way to the floor, so lying down on the floor to stretch is a much chillier activity than, say, standing on a table. I don’t know if they’ll be able to resolve this…I’ll be looking into a pair of slippers and a rug for the main room.

Monday—day one: got up a little early for a quick run (I found a HUGE, beautiful cemetery that I knew wasn’t totally traditional because the graves weren’t the randomly spaced mounds that I’d seen elsewhere—turns out it’s for North Koreans who can’t be buried in their homeland), then went to the Cafeteria for our first day of meetings. Unfortunately, the heat wasn’t working there, so at our first break we all went back to our rooms for extra layers, as there was no other ready large meeting space available. Since that morning, we’ve been at a space in City Hall which is (somewhat) warmer but an acoustic nightmare. (A favorite, if corny expression, is that something may seem impossible, but it isn’t “impajuble.” It gets funnier every time…) We’ve had all-staff sessions and many break-into-groups activities. Stuff like welcoming speeches and introductions, conceptual summaries, teaching methodologies and theories, all the bureaucratic stuff, intentional community and diversity presentations and exercises, and curriculum overviews and beginning workshops. It’ll all get more specific as we go. Lunch has been a Korean boxed lunch—usually a tray of rice, a meat and side dishes (a couple of bites each), a piece of fruit and a fruit juice, a tiny sandwich of I’m not sure what, and a desserty thing. Pretty darn edible, and enough to save something for a snack later.

All the teachers (there are teachers, who are mostly teachers only and who teach the one-week program and weekend programs—staggered shifts—and “edutainers”—me—who are combo performer-teachers, who teach the one-day programs that go on all days of the week and year), head teachers, program coordinators, admin staff, etc, are really excited and enthusiastic. We’re meeting people at an overwhelming rate, but everyone seems to be taking it in stride. We’re from Korea, the US, Canada, South Africa, the UK, Australia and New Zealand and have various teaching backgrounds. One guy from Chicago used to deliver flowers to the retirement village where my grandparents spent the latter half of their lives and that I used to visit annually. Another woman went on a Rocky Horror tour from NYC with my old high school friend. I’m sure there will be more few-degrees-of-separation stories as we get to know each other. There are people I can already tell I’m going to really like, and people with whom I suspect I won’t be hangin’ out during free time. No surprises there. I think the 50 Korean teachers (after the 100 natvive-English speakers) have it the hardest, as per Korean law, they live off-campus—some commute 2 hours each way!, English is not their first language and we are all speaking FAST to cram it all in, and we have a difficult time with their unfamiliar names. More on that later.

After that first day, I continued my nesting process and got pretty far…most of my stuff got put away, but now it looks barren and institutional, if tidy. Again, just as well to have everything in closets and drawers until the construction is over, as the dust has a way of seeping in everywhere. I’m not even going to take the plastic off my desk chair and couch, which are fabric, until it’s over. Fortunately, they finished testing the PA system in the apartment buildings (we’d had BBC piped in all day, which really only affected us during breaks)…but then there was a fire in the under-construction fitness center (under control, no one was hurt, seems there will be a delay in opening) and the gas was turned off throughout the campus (heat and stovetop). I had mine back by 8; others not until midnight.

Tuesday: another wake-up run in another direction. Noted that there are restaurants sortof within walking distance (we’ll have them on campus but they won’t be Korean—seems we’re going to have Italian, Mongolian, Chinese, and other ethnic spots—of course, in ENGLISH Village…). Another day of sitting and listening and group-discussing. Sometimes the pace is great, sometimes I want to poke my eyes out, even though I know they have to cover the material. It’s amazing the organization that has gone into this place, and frustrating when little things that affect us are totally unorganized, but I guess that’s par for this type of course. They are genuinely interested in running things smoothly and make an effort to take care of them when they don’t, and since it’s all new to them, too, I don’t think we can get too huffy about it. For lunch, three Korean women came to my room to share our boxed lunches in a warmer environment (City Hall is better but still chilly). Of course, the tradition in Korea is to take one’s shoes off when entering a home, which you really want to do here now anyway, what with all the dust and dirt and all. I let them in first, and they trooped in with their bags while I stopped to take off my boots. One noticed and asked if they should take them off, too, but I told them not to bother. Of course, they had already tracked in clumps of gunk…but I’m used to vacuuming daily now, so no biggie…pretty funny. It was a jolly first party in my new pad. I offered them tea, and since I have only two of each kind of plate or mug, two of us drank from bowls. They got a huge kick out of that, as did I.

Today we also signed up for our bank accounts and internet/landline service (until now, we’ve been 150 people to two computers, so I’ve been out of the cyberloop; there’s also been an issue w/using phonecards from the office phones here—I’ve been so busy unpacking that it hasn’t been tooooooo much of an issue), which we should have by the end of the week (the guy who was signing me up kept talking about the “internet phone,” but he was pronouncing it “pohn,” which sounded to me like “porn,” and, well, we had a little mixup…I think we’ll be laughing about that all year long! …apparently “salsa” sounds like the Korean word for diarrhea, in other potentially fun confusion). It’ll be good to be reconnected to the world again, and to have access to the files on this place that I have online and hadn’t saved to my computer. And, once we’ve been reimbursed (into our new accounts) for our plane tix, we can all go shopping again… Spent the evening writing with some wine that I’d bought in Osan as snow flurries began.

Wednesday 03/01: woke up to an inch or so of snow, which made for a slippery and very slow run. Pretty, though. Another day of sessions and speeches, lunch for all the senior teachers with one of the head teachers. New vocab includes “EV-entually” (as in when you’ll have heat) and being “Voluntold” (instead of volunteering—a term of jest; we’re not being pushed around or anything). Finished the day with a trip to E-Mart to spend another chunk of money. Speakers for the computer/ipod (an adventure dealing with the electronics guy…I finally communicated that I wanted to know which ones HE had, instead of trying to get detailed comparative info) and a corkboard for all the postcards I’m expecting!!! (we haven’t gotten mail distributed yet) among other essentials.

Thursday 03/02: Slept in instead of running…and the fire alarm went off while I was in the shower. Ugh. Got outside, no fire, false alarm, we don’t know why yet. Just testing, most likely. Off to the Cafeteria for the day’s sessions, including tech stuff for the school and our apartments. Lunch with the other edutainers (we got our parade assignments for the soft opening weekends—rehearsals start next week), then back to our apartments to deal with housing stuff—they’ll supposedly be coming around to FIX things. I’ll believe it when I see it. Whoops—just had 10 seconds of the BBC again…

Friday 03/03: A run through a farmy, next-to-the-highway area nearby…went by somewhere where a LOT of dogs were penned up—didn’t get close enough to see them, but it was this crazy, loud din that must be non-stop. All I could think was that they might be a bunch of bred-for-eatin’ fellas. Yeowch. Another day of workshops, some FINALLY on our feet and thinking creatively and brainstorming lesson-plan ideas. Hoped to be online attending to my e-inbox, but alas, neither phone nor email service are working yet, even though they are supposedly connected. Grrrr. Crashed early for next day.

Saturday: another day off from running, as I was pooped and needing extra sleep. We had Survival Korean classes from 9-12 (alphabet, grammar, pronunciation) and 1-4 (phrases for shopping, dining out, greetings, directions), which were really helpful. I’m guessing that most Koreans learn the Hangul (symbols for letters/sounds) and that only a few get into the Romanized spellings, as all of the roman-alphabetized versions of most words were completely different. Apparently there have been some changes to the language system over the last few years, and MANY words (like of places on street signs and exit ramps) are spelled in different ways (like on your map. Oy.) I’m getting better at sounding out the Hangul, and have a lot of important greeting/how much is it/ thank you/sorry! phrases in my vocabulary, which are helpful in making me feel slightly less like an American moron.

Saturday night: went with a group to a jazz concert and buffet at the Heyri art village across the way. It’s a pretty big area (‘commune’ is the word that comes to mind). The concert began, and we all were dying over the American standards that they played—very well and with great, sophisticated musicianship. So funny. On our way home, one of the architects/residents/coffee-wine shop owners invited us in for a look at his gallery, which was pretty empty—they have an opening next weekend. It looks like a fun area for a wandering walk, dinner/coffee/whatever (expensive, though). Funky architecture that is not really to my taste but that I can still appreciate (more than I can say for some of the art I saw…not that I know anything).

Sunday: A great run down a path between campus and a driving range/small golf course. Saw cows in a little paddock area (don’t think they ever get the field/graze experience), an “Office Furniture for me” store strangely located nearby, and other oddities. Lots of little dogs here, mostly penned up, but some on the loose—patrolling types. On the way back, I greeted a woman in Korean (one of my few phrases—interesting that here I’m saying hello to every construction worker and person on the rural road that I see; I’ll write it off to being a good visitor!), and she immediately started rattling off in Korean. I gestured in the area of our campus, started miming several pointed roofs and lots of blonde hair, and she seemed to be pantomiming that she worked there. I thanked her profusely, made a lot of “I’m sorry I don’t speak your language and can’t understand any of the fabulous things you’re telling me” faces, said goodbye and was on my way with a smile.

Met up with people at 10 for a trip into Seoul. We traveled by bus and subway to check out the view from Seoul Tower (a TREK through a park and up a zillion steps) which was pretty silly, since it was a cloudy day and it will be gorgeously green (instead of brown) in about a month. Fun, though, and we had some tasty streetside snacks (dried fish cakes, squid, fried chicken on a stick, potato cakes, kimbop—sushi rolls--, chestnuts, silk and almond candy, fried dough, etc.-- yes, mom, it’s safe. It looks as though I won’t be sampling the larvae, as the stench of it made me want to puke before I knew what I was smelling. Blech.) on the way. Then we went to Insidong, an area where we thought we’d find lots of traditional arts and crafts and practical stuff, but that turned out to be pretty touristy (more Korean tourists than foreign—this is one seriously homogenous society) and more expensive than we thought we’d find stuff to be elsewhere. Quite the strip for Sunday afternoon hanging out, though (closed to cars, TONS of street vendors, lines for certain goodies, amazing pedestrian traffic), and good people-watching. We had a group meal at a restaurant off the beaten path, including the spiciest kimchi any of us had yet sampled. Whew!

Came home via train from Seoul Station, plus a quick cab ride. Mass transit here is amazingly cheap—I’ve not paid anything over $2 for train or subway trips as long as an hour. Cabs are more, but nothing like NYC—we usually end up paying $2-3 each for a decently long trip to E-Mart (The currency here is the Korean Won, and fluctuates more or less around 1,000 Won to the dollar, and the Won is strong right now. Nice for easy calculating!). Fell into bed pretty darned tired!

Monday 03/06: Slept in a bit before heading to City Hall to check my email and on the status of our phone and internet connections. 80 messages in the Inbox….even more in the junker. Still 150 of us sharing, so couldn’t do more than email mom. On my way out, a bunch of women were meeting downstairs before dispersing to commence whatever cleaning project they were tackling next. I looked them over and spotted the woman I’d met on my run the day before, and we had a happy, if unintelligible exchange, during which I was explained to her co-workers. Very funny for us both! Then went for a walk with my awesome Canadian neighbor, Elana, and we bought some things we couldn’t identify at a convenience store to taste while wandering. Aloe juice is yummy!!! We found a trail that cut behind EV and scampered through to an opening in the fence we’d spotted. Lovely and peaceful and so good to know exists. After lunch, we caught a bus to Ilsan, a city b/t Paju and Seoul, for some grocery shopping, as we’ve been unimpressed with the local E-Mart. We spent three hours getting stuff for home and refrigerator and schlepped it all back on the bus home. Good to know for sure where the bus goes and when it runs! After getting some housewares (a shower curtain—FINALLY! And a 43,000 Won Britta and a 30,000 filter 3-pack--$43/$30 OUCH!—Elana and I hit the grocery floor and got a ton of food to share (both big markets I’ve visited offer lots of samples and “service” item: doubles or go-with products taped to items as bonuses. On this trip, I got 3 free mugs, salad dressing, an extra Britta filter, something I haven’t yet figured out attached to my tofu, and extra dumplings/noodles.). The women offering samples were loving us, as we smiled a lot, oohed and aaahed over the yumminess, used what Korean we had, and more often that not bought what they were demonstrating. We’ve both got freezers stocked with dumplings and noodles! Of course, I got home too late and too tired to do anything other than nuke some black-beany thing, to which I added zucchini.

Tues 3/07: This week, the One-Week Program (OWP) teachers go to the first village in Ansan, so the One-Day Program (ODP) teachers/edutainers are here in a much smaller community (less competition for computers, at least…). Today we started working on the stuff we’ll be doing for the soft opening weekends in March (formal opening in early April). I’ll be performing simple and interactive songs on the streets with kids most of the time for these weekends, although I’m also training in the content area of “Funstruction” (we make simple cookies, t-shirts, robots, books) and will be in the daily parade with everyone else. We all focus on one specific performance number (mine is a 50’s rock-n-roll “English Rocks” song) and do backup vocals and choreo for the other four. It’s relatively simple choreography, but it’s fun to do and I think should look good…EVentually… I even get to do this cartwheelie thing with a partner that looks much harder and scarier than it really is. Wheeeeeeee! Unfortunately, most of the spaces around the village are unheated and in various degrees of construction. Still. So we’re forever bundled up, alas, and lots of people are sick (I’m holding my own, knock wood…). The cafeteria, or a small version of it, is up and running, anyway, and it’s pretty entertaining to be eating their “western” concoctions. So far they’re still including kimchi and rice with each meal, and chopsticks. I’m not sure if they’ll disappear when the visitors arrive, but they’ve got the metal chopsticks, so those look permanent. I’m psyched for that, as I’ve been pretty much just using them and a spoon for everything—when in Rome…

After the workday, my squeaky wheel strategy got me a couple of visits from people who attempted to solve my phone/internet dilemma. The tech guys, after at least half an hour of messing with my computer and various jacks at my and my neighbor’s apartment, determined that the problem was with my computer, which seemed highly unlikely to me, given that a) my computer is new, Niel configured it, and it worked fine in the USA, and b) my phone was not getting any service, and my computer line is run through the phone. They were adamant, though, so I prepared myself to call Dell the next day during lunch…fortunately, common sense got the better of me and I asked the overly busy, unofficial technical wizard for a onceover, and we determined for sure that it is not, in fact, the computer but the line. I’m hardly the only one without service, but most people have at least had one service or the other working at some point. So, now it’s just a matter of keeping on them and mustering every ounce of patience I can. Most of the people who run this place are in similar housing and are suffering along with us; these issues are, according to my sources and my impressions, just typical Korean operation. I do know that Koreans do not question or make suggestions to their superiors, EVER, so system-wide improvements are rare and stuff takes forever to get executed properly. It’s enough to make ya crazy, because they’d never last as a business or get away with leaving people in the lurch like this in North America. We just have to keep reminding us that it is simply the norm here, and that our powers that be are negotiating the Korean aspects of the system as efficiently as they can. So…Elana and I made dinner with our collective groceries and vented and hoped for the best. I successfully did my first load of laundry in my foreign washing machine—what the hell ARE all those options?—and it all dried pretty quickly on the rack they provided (again, standard Korean practice). Started making Korean (Hangul and Romanized) vocab post-its for everything in the apartment. I’m getting pretty darn decent (although still very slow) at pronouncing from the Hangul. Go, me!

Wed 3/8: Went for a run on another direction, but didn’t discover anything overly exciting. Passed some hotels—some are called “love motels”--with car-wash-type-looking strips hanging in front of the garage entrances, there so that curious drive-by types can’t identify vehicles inside. Yep.

Washed my new bedding (typical Korean bedding is a pad that’s the size of the top of the mattress, with a fitted padded sheet that looks like a western mattress pad over it, and a poofy quilt in a duvet. Quite comfy, actually, if the duvet and pillowcase are of somewhat of a hideously synthetic material—I’m glad I brought my flannel pillowcases as comfort items), which involved a bit of a struggle with the washer. Ultimately, I won, and they were dry by bedtime. More parade and funstruction rehearsals/training. Spent a while chatting with our unofficial tech wizard (Tech Geof), who’s had quite the interesting set of life experiences. A character. Many of the people here are, though, and it’s fun to speculate about individuals and about the general qualities that bring people into these kinds of situations. There’s only one person who most likely won’t last because he’s weird in a scary way, but it’s widely recognized and they’ll get to it whenever they get to it. Otherwise, there are plenty of odd ducks, but in mostly good ways. Lots of the teachers have taught in foreign countries before, and plenty have made a lifetime of traveling around from place to place. Commitment issues? Wanderlust? Endless cultural curiosity? Running away from issues? All of the above? Where do we each fall within these possible subcategories? Lots of singles; some just young but several separated/divorced or never married at all. Inspiration for deep thoughts.
Re-mantled my bike more quickly than I would have expected and feel pretty confident I haven’t completely screwed up…if only I’d brought a pedal wrench. Note to self: make bed w/white sheets BEFORE playing with bicycle.