Moved to Wordpress

Happy New Year!

Just letting you know, this bit is the last post here on Blogger. I moved everything to Wordpress. It's prettier.

Visit before January 5th and you'll see snow falling ^^

www.after1220.wordpress.com

See you there!

The Sound of Life

Senior year of college, pretty much every meal I did not eat in the company of my friends was shared with SportsCenter and House Hunters. In Korea, I don't even have an operating  TV,  and you can't watch much from the US online.

no Amazon Instant Video.

no Netflix. (= no FNL or Gossip Girl...)

no Hulu... you can watch movies on iTunes though

my friends like to rub this in...

no ESPN.

The worst though was when Spotify stopped working. Goodbye music. 

sad day.

However, what I missed the most, after my family and friends -- and American grocery stores and ovens and shower curtains -- was the noise. 

I loved Sundays in New York. They were pretty routine for me and full of sound. Around 5:15pm, I’d take the subway from the UWS down to church in Chelsea. The train would arrive, screeching to a stop on the tracks. I’d get on and ride, usually entertained at some point by a mariachi band or a group of “Iiiiit’s showtime!” kids. 

At 23rd Street, I’d climb back above ground, welcomed by cars honking and laughter spilling out of bars onto the sidewalks. Once, I arrived at St. Paul’s, I’d immediately be lost in melodies being lifted to the heavens as the bass drum rattled the ancient floorboards and the setting sun illuminated the pastel stained glass windows on cue.

Afterwards, I'd stop by Donut Plant with friends or else walk on clouds back to the 23rd Street station where there’d always be this guy singing “How Great is Our God” with his guitar. His presence was always a great “bye, see you next week.” 

And I’d get back on the train feeling alive.

And I’d know that the city was alive because of the noise. Constant, like a heartbeat, letting you know it was still in this thing. Because of the shouting, the talking, the singing, the laughing, the swearing, the clinking of glasses, the barking of dogs, the trumpeting of horns, the noise. 

Here, where I am in Korea, it can be so quiet. 

Some nights when I’m walking home, I feel really vulnerable. Not unsafe, just exposed, like the whole world knows where I am because the heels of my boots send out sonar signals, piercing the silence with nothing around to muffle the sound. There aren’t even any buzzing cicadas like in Charlotte to accompany my footsteps, only these rabid behind looking raccoon dogs and a few nasty alley cats.

When in the main part of town, occasionally I hear the faint sounds of middle aged men belting “Dancing Queen” from karaoke rooms on the upper floors of high rises, or I’ll see a pack of drunk teenage boys slurring jokes amongst each other. But that’s about it. It’s quiet.

Comparatively, one might say there’s no life here, but as long as it's not silencing the voice of truth and justice, perhaps the quiet isn’t so bad. It’s just a different way of living, and if we’re measuring noise like vital signs, looking at the extremes, my town in Korea may be comatose, but it's quite possible New York’s going into cardiac arrest, plagued by some sort of arrhythmia where it's simply doing too much, trying to prove it's alive.

In the Bible, a lot of the big characters -- Jesus, David, Moses... -- spent a substantial portion of time alone in “the wilderness,” where it’s quiet, where there are no distractions, where you can hear yourself think, where you can hear God and remember whose you are.

But as a human, you can’t stay alone in the wilderness forever. Right? You'd go Castaway.

So, what decibel should we be living in? I don’t know, but hopefully while I'm walking here in the quiet, I’ll be able to hear something good, some whispers of life that the noise would otherwise drown out. We'll see...

Observations

I’m almost 25% through my teaching contract here. In the past few months, I’ve noted a few differences between the U.S. and Korea, not trying to claim cultural superiority for either country -- I'm in no position to do that, just observing. Here are a few random things I've noticed:

• Korea has really small trashcans. Like almost all trashcans are office paper baskets. And good luck trying to find a trashcan on the street. It’s worse than trying to find one in Midtown. (Interesting fact: there are no trashcans in Midtown because the police are trying to cut back on places for terrorists to hide bombs. A police officer told me that once, I think.)

• There are a lot of “love motels” in Korea. I probably don’t need to explain that... A lot of married people use them. Conversely, or likely actually associated, prostitution is a huge problem here but is kept really hush-hush. Every night after I leave work, I walk over a slathering of call girl business cards on the sidewalks. That makes me sad. In my opinion, people should never have to sell themselves to make ends meet. The U.S. also has an atrocious prostitution and sex trafficking problem...*

• On a lighter note, a lot of restaurants here only serve water. If anything, they'll have water, beer, and soju.

• Also on restaurants, no one takes to-go boxes. So much food goes to waste.

• Most people don’t wear wedding rings. How do you know who’s single or who shouldn't be flirting?

• Scented toilet paper is really popular. If you're not into that, it's wise to carry a plain variety in your bag.

• Homeplus -- like the Target of South Korea -- closes every other Sunday to give local businesses a share of the market competition. That’s really cool. Would Walmart ever do that? No. Never. (Never say never.) Ok, it's extremely hard to imagine them doing so.

• Pharmacies here aren’t like CVS or Walgreens. There are very few medications that you can just pick out yourself and buy. Over the counters are actually over the counter. So, if you don’t speak Korean or you need meds for something that might be embarrassing to gesture, it’s probably best you take a picture of what you need and show the pharmacist.  

• In the English academies, the kids go by their “English name.” I don’t really like this. I feel like they should just be allowed to use the name their parents gave them. Make the English teachers learn to pronounce them.

• Korean heating works through this system called ondol, which is basically floor heating. Personally, I’m not a fan. I mean, it would be cool in like a spa or if you sleep on the floor -- which isn’t uncommon here, but I don’t really like having hot feet. Plus, I’ve been doing this ab workout a couple times a week, and the hot floor makes it extra uncomfortable. I know a lot of people who love it though. Personal preference, I suppose.

That's all I've got for now. I'll let you know if I think of others. Cheers.

* If this is a cause you're passionate about fighting, check out these organizations:

Uganda and South Sudan - http://childvoiceintl.org/

Thailand - http://shethailand.weebly.com/

Nepal - http://mountainchild.org/

U.S. - http://restorenyc.org/

Street Food

Usually during for holidays I bake for my coworkers, friends, and students. Pumpkin bread, gingerbread-pumpkin ice cream sandwiches, molasses cookies, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my fall and winter staples. However, now being without an oven, I have no idea what to give people. Sigh. I think food might be my love language. Is that be possible? I mean, some of you may know of my not-so-secret, joking-but-not-really ambition of starting a food truck...

In New York, street food is taken seriously, and there're amazing food trucks everywhere. Since being here in Korea, I've only seen two food trucks, but there are a ton of street food stands, and a lot of their menu items are quite tasty. Here are some notables I've tried:

Hotteok- fried dough filled with cinnamon and sesame seeds. Delicious.
There's also a savory variation with vegetables; I haven't tried that one though.

Corndog- Notice the layers. That's because it's battered and
fried twice. Heart attack? Yes. Delicious? Yes. I've also seen these
battered in french fries and then fried. That's a little too much
for me...

Tteokbokki- rice cake in sweet, thick hot sauce. The rice cake is kind of
like a solid piece of penne made from rice flour instead of wheat. I didn't
like it at first but now I find myself craving it.

Fish cakes- squiggly, boiled fish-flavored snack on skewers. Back in the
day, these were made from real fish, but now, they're only fish flavored.

Ho Ppang- warm, chewy steamed red bean bun. So good,
especially on a cold day. Comfort food.

Pomegranate Juice- supah fresh. And healthy! And typically only 4,000 won.

Some other satisfying things you can find on the street: kimbap, fish shaped red bean pancakes, walnut cakes...

There are also a lot of things I've yet to try/have no desire to try...

Sidewalk oyster and sushi bars. Convenient.

Egg breads. Like an egg sandwich.

Poop bread. Yeah, I don't know why. Chocolate filled bread, I think...

Various deep-fried vegetables and shrimp. 

Silk worm larva. And that is where I draw the line. It's probably just
the word "larva"...

Other things I see a lot but haven't tried: roasted chestnuts, grilled and dried squid, grilled corn on the cob, potato chip swirl things on skewers, custard filled churros...

Street food. Tastes good. Not the best for you, but hey, moderation, right?

Hongdae Playground

Last night, my friend and I decided to make an impromptu trip to the "Hongdae Playground." It's a graffitied up park area that's become a sought after venue for street performers and underground musicians.

Once we found the playground, (it's adjacent to this Smooth King), we learned that it was karaoke night and enjoyed a few performances. I kind of wanted to sing (#yolo) but decided to play spectator instead. Since we hadn't planned on staying out all night, we had to leave at 11:00pm to catch the last subways and buses home, but that was when things were really just starting to pick up. We wished we could've stayed longer.

During the warm months, the park is packed, so hopefully we'll make it back then and get to stay out later. But anyway, here are a couple of the acts we watched yesterday:

(WARNING: this one contains some expletive language)

Mixtape: Thanksgiving 11.28

Play:

1--- Apparently, there are places you can grub for Thanksgiving in Seoul, but I didn't know about them, so instead, I'm sitting in my room listening to Drake and Lecrae (his new album is free!).


2 --- I'm thankful to have an awesome family and amazing friends all over the world. Told them not to send me anything. Got two huge surprise packages anyway.

3 --- Been reading these every morning and night. Good stuff:
http://52daysofthanksandpraise.com/



4 --- "33 Signs You're a New Teacher:"
#2, #8, #9, #12, #14, #16, #22, #23, #27, #28, #29, #30, #33
http://www.buzzfeed.com/antwaunsargent/signs-you-are-a-new-teacher



5 --- One of my kindergarten classes has twin boys in it. When this happened, in my mind I shouted, "Let the boys play, ref!" because recently my inner monologue has been quoting Remember the Titans in excess... Thankful I sometimes get to laugh at work.

6 --- In the words of Nicki Nick, "No. I'm not lucky I'm blessed." Thanksgiving is a lifestyle. Trying to be about it. 

Easy Stovetop Chili

Being that I got home at 7:30 am this morning, I planned to take it easy for the day and decided to make a real meal for myself since of late I haven't bothered with much besides soup and boiled potatoes. 

Chili was on my mind. As they say, you can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl. (Do they say that? I don't know.)

Here's the recipe I was working from. I amended it to work for my limited kitchen and selection of ingredients. 




Easy Stovetop Chili:

You'll need:
- approximately 300g ground beef (I think I bought ground beef...)
- 2 chopped onions
- 4 cloves minced garlic (I used about 10 because I had a ton...)
- salt to taste
- 1 can whole tomatoes
- 1 can kidney beans
- 1 jar tomato sauce





1. Cook garlic, onions, and beef until meat has browned. Drain.

2. Stir in canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.

never put the chili paste in. was good without.

3. Cover and simmer for 40 mins.

4. Add beans and cook uncovered for about 15 mins.

wish that was cornbread instead of rice bread, but you use what you've got

I didn't realize chili was so easy to make. This will likely be happening again in the future.