Inconceivable!

I have to say - for missing Kansas so much, and wishing that I could be there for all the blizzards, I am sort of thrilled about Korea's weather recently.

Today's high was 57 degrees. Fifty-Seven. Five-Seven. I was able to walk to my bus stop with no coat or hat. This made me feel a little self conscience because my hair was down and the color stands out a bit more with no covering. Guuurl, heads were a-turnin.

Normally when I get home from work, I take a short nap before I go out for my run. It has become such a big part of my routine that the thought of skipping it to get done with my run earlier makes me cringe. I NEED my nap. Not today. I couldn't wait to get out the door. I knew that if I napped, the temp would drop and I wanted it as warm as possible. Guess who ran in her 3/4 length tights? And only two shirts? It was disgustingly refreshing. On the trail I ran into my roommate's best friend, an American named Chase. Two non-asians on the trail at once? We did a run-by high five. I know that I have S.A.D. but I couldn't tell how much it was affecting me until I got a day like this.

This week is my last week of intensive training. No Joke. I ran five miles today, eight tomorrow, five on Thursday, rest day on Friday, Eight at race pace on Saturday, and my final long run is 20 miles on Sunday. After Sunday, it is all downhill; I start to taper off until my race. March 21st, here I come.

Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 61. Jealoussssss?

This post is dedicated to my mother. and aunts. and anyone else who has been after me to update.

Alright friends,

So I have been meaning to update this for a very long time, but I think the problem is that there is just too much that I want to talk about. I never want to sit down for a few hours to pound it all out.

This is going to be a conglomeration post.

I haven't been in the best place emotionally for the past few weeks. I have been feeling stuck. I can't come home yet, but I want to. I haven't been crying about it; its not an urgent "get the hell out of here" feeling, but its an ache. I can admit something to myself now. I am not the jet-setting citizen of the world that I always thought that I was, or at least, could be. I am a homebody. I am disgustingly connected with my family and while I still want to travel the world and live in other places. I think I will keep the travel under a few months and the living in the United States. This way, I can at least fly to see my family for under a thousand dollars and 20 hours of travel time. This realization was a hard pill to swallow, but I think I am better for it.

Lets talk about the Korean people for a few.

Based on Confucian ideals, the family unit is tight. Super tight. Most couples only have two children and the oldest male is expected to care for the the parents when they get older. I have heard from Sarah that Korean women try to shy away from oldest boys because the women know that if they marry them, they will have a lot of responsibility when they get older, but it all ends up being a really good deal for everyone. The grandparents end up taking care of the children a lot. Most of my students have told me that their grandparents watch them after school or walk them to and from school every morning - which, I know that I would have loved.

It is just such an interesting culture. The country was essentially third world until the late 1960's early 1970's - meaning that people over the age of 45 have to remember a time when they they or someone that they knew didn't have running water. Can you even imagine? So now, at least in the city or in the suburbs of Seoul where I live, its almost like the people are playing a giant game of "catch-up." Image and money are super important here. Obviously, this is a generalization - but there is a very good reason for it. You will never see a Korean woman walk out in public in pajama pants - the equivalent of slumming it in Korea is to wear a work-out outfit and a ballcap. But you better believe that those ballcaps and yoga pants are name brand; usually the logo is nice and prominent. Its a little tough to keep up with them! I feel pretty self conscious when a willowy, heeled, and impeccably dressed young woman is standing next to me on the bus.

The children. are. adorable. I mean, all children are cute, but these kids take the cake, and their parents have a LOT to do with it. As I said, appearances are very important, so many of the moms make sure that their kids are impeccably dressed. My students show up to class wearing Burberry. There is no such thing as holes in socks or patched knees. Their pea coats probably cost more than all the clothes I brought here put together. They wear cute little fur vests, jeweled headbands, the boys wear sweaters over turtlenecks. Sometimes I squeal when I get to work - I feel like a grandmother who just wants to squeeze their round little cheeks. The other day, one of the Korean teachers at school was playing with Dorothy's curls. Dorothy is an adorable little six year old with a very soft little curl in her hair. The teacher looked at me and proudly said that Dorothy was the only Korean girl that she had met with curly hair. I looked at her like she was crazy - 3 of my kids had curly hair, what was she talking about? 'Oh,' she qualified, ' I mean naturally curly hair.' I did one of those cartoon double takes. Almost any Korean child that you see with curly hair has gotten a perm. They are babies...not to mention the fact that they are adorable enough without the curls.

The middle school girls all look the same. This is not me being caucasion in asia, this is sheer honest to goodness shock. They have frighteningly similar school uniforms (plaid skirts, dark blazer, black tights) and they ALL have the EXACT same haircut: A Shoulder length bob that is curled under and a tightly curled set of blunt cut bangs. Its kind of cute - the girls will wear their bangs in little rollers outside to keep them perfect.

I was in Seoul this weekend buying books. . . . I have missed reading so bad! I don't know why I didn't bring a freaking book with me. So anywho, I went to one of the few bookstores with an actual English section and spent a fortune on books. Totally worth it. It was also really great because while I was in the train station they had the Olympics on. I haven't been able to watch ONE minute of the Olympics here in Korea. I tried to stream it online, but all of the English websites blocked me due to my IP address being from Korea and their distribution rights being limited to their respective countries. I am not computer literate and could not figure out how to hide my IP address like some of my friends suggested, so I was living vicariously through all of my friend's facebook updates and such. While in the station I got to watch the Korean's win the Gold and Silver in speed skating....I was halfway rooting for Apollo Whats-his-name, but I couldn't deny that the Korean's enthusiasm was infectious. HUGE crowds around the TV and in-sync gasps? Awesome. Keep your ears and eyes peeled for Kim Yu Na. She is Korea's hope for the Gold in figure skating. It's impossible to not know who she is here. She was Korea's Forbes Magazine and Times Magazine's person of the year several times running and is spokesperson for like every cosmetic known. I wish I could watch it.

I have more to say, but I think I will take a shower and go to bed instead. Night!

Pictures for Kristen to show her students:

Kristen and I are exchanging pen pal letters between our kids. She can't really access Facebook at school to show all of her kids the pictures of MY kids, soooo I will put them on here for her class to look at....In order from top to bottom : Chris, Mike, Amanda, Charlie, Polly, Noah, Candy and Susie.... By korean standards - mike and noah are little girl magnets.

Being Sick in Korea

Well, as I begin this post it is 8:03 on Sunday night. Due to the fact that I have spent the entirety of the weekend in my bed tossing and turning, sniffling, and groaning, this post is going to be my one attempt at doing something even remotely close to being labeled productive.

On Friday I was feeling off...Not sick, but I could feel the start of some illness. I figured I could sleep in on Saturday and knock it out quickly. I woke up on Saturday feeling like a truck hit me. I was incredibly miserable. Headache, stuffed up, cough, sore throat, etc. Gross. I slept the day away and hoped for the best. The night before I had soaked a pot full of black beans. I have been wanting to try out a few new recipes so I figured I could cook the beans while I knocked out my fifteenth or so episode of House. I put the pot on to boil and I went back to my room. How many times have I left a pot of soup on the stove for simmer for an hour? A freaking ton - So I knew everything would be fine. I played some solitaire, I watched a show, and then I got up to check on my beans. I opened my door to a wall of smoke. No Kidding. Floor to ceiling thick smoke. I ran to the stove, turned off the gas, sprinted to the balcony, threw open all of the windows, and tried to vent the apartment. Apparently, the beans had boiled down while I was in my room and due to the door being closed, I had not noticed AT ALL. When I opened the front door of my apartment to get a cross breeze, a ton of the rancid smelling smoke (the handle on the top of the pot had started to melt as well) billowed into the hallway. Of course, Several Korean people ran out looking worried and speaking to me in rapid Korean - I am sure they were asking what was wrong. I just kept repeating 'Ken cha nigh oh' (its okay!) and 'bee ah ney yo' (I'm sorry!) ...finally, when I showed them what was in the pot, they sort of smirked and left me alone. I think they made an announcement: "Don't worry everyone! Its just the stupid American who can't work a stove!" Awesome. So now, I had no beans, my apartment smelled to high heaven, the smoke had aggravated my already irritated throat, and I had every window and door open so that the balmy 20 degree Korean Air could drop my body temperature.

I ran to the little supermarket downstairs and bought some air freshener. I unloaded enough air freshener into our apartment to create a hole in the ozone layer and lit some candles. My apartment smells much better today, but it still reeeeeeks. My roommate freaked out about the smell...I guess I understand, but with my sickness I am sort of annoyed by it. I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I burned some beans. The apartment will smell for a few days. Deal.

I woke up today feeling worse than before. Super. I had planned on getting so much done this weekend. Now I am feeling like a worthless blob as I am currently on my 17th episode of House and this post qualifies as the most I have done this weekend.

To feel a little positive, I think I will write a small list of firsts in Korea:

The first time I cried in Korea was the second the door closed to my apartment and I was all alone.

The first food I ate in Korea was the Fried chicken at the little chicken restaurant across from my apartment building. My roommate and one of his friends took me out on my third day in Korea. He had been in Seoul for the whole weekend and because of how scared I was to leave the apartment and get lost or something, all I had eaten during that time was granola bars.

The first time I laughed in Korea was at the very same Chicken place when I saw that they had fried up EVERY part of the chicken. It was not just thighs, breasts, and legs anymore. I know I recognized a neck and there were plenty of other Unidentified Objects

The first shower that I took was freezing cold. My roommate was in Seoul and I didn't have any idea that in Korea, apparently you have to turn ON your hot water every time you want to use it.

The first time I felt like I was settling in in Korea was when I went running for the first time. I ran three miles out into the country and on my way back in, I got to see my very first Korean sunset. Two-fer-one!

The very first thing that I bought in Korea was a box of green tea. It tasted disgusting. Turns out that it was half green tea, half burned rice tea. Koreans love burned or "brown" rice tea...they also like to mix it with green tea a lot. I learned to check the box labels for "100%" REAL fast.

My first time I laughed at a Supermarket was when I saw a two liter glass jug of Carlos DeRosse cabernet savignon for 15,000 won (about 14 bucks). Because, obviously, the exact same wine that we can buy a gallon of for 6 dollars would be considered classy wine here.

On my first day at work, not fifteen minutes after arriving, one of the kids there performed "ddong chim" on me. Look it up. I won't explain. Fortunatly for me, I had been warned about this particular trick and it has not happened since, but what an interesting first day.