The 4th of July in Korea

Eric and I have started the tradition of doing something "American" on the 4th of July since we have spent the last two of them in Korea.  We can't do fireworks or watch other peoples fireworks.  We can't have a real BBQ with our family and friends back home or have the day off.  So instead we go to McDonalds.  That's about as American as we know how to get on the 4th!  So that's what we did.  And as we were eating our hamburgers and french fries we planned next year's 4th at home to make up for the last two we've missed.  We did actually get to have our BBQ because on Saturday we had a few friends over and we BBQ'd up some burgers on the little charcoal grill that we have.  After enjoying these burgers (American style) we had our monthly poker night.  And yes I won again :)  I made a profit of about 8600 won!  It seemed like everyone had a good time again so we will be planning another Saturday poker night in August.

On Sunday we spent the morning and afternoon around the house relaxing and playing video games.  In the evening we went to a trivia night with some friends.  It's held in one of the foreign bars in Itaewon (a big foreign area) every Sunday night.  We had six people on our team and came in 4th out of 8 teams.  I am horrible at trivia so I was of no help to my team unfortunately!  But it was still fun so we might have to check it out again another weekend.

It has been SO rainy here the last week or two.  Last week I got caught outside in the middle of a monsoon twice and was just drenched (even with an umbrella!).  Sometimes the monsoon will come quick and leave quick.  Other times they stick around for a while.  Yesterday it seemed to monsoon all day long (fortunately it let up when I was going to work and when I was coming home!)!  It looks like it may be that way for a while too according to the forecast.  We also have to keep the windows closed in our house when it's raining because otherwise the rain will blow right in.  It seems like this rainy season has given us a whole lot more rain so far than the last rainy season but I don't know for sure.  We will just continue to trek through one more of these Korean summers!

The Human Race

Here is some food for thought that was provoked during a recent discussion I had with some friends from several different countries and backgrounds… (My thoughts are in no way meant to criticize Korean culture or Korean people.  They are simply some thoughts (scattered thoughts at that) and observations I have been pondering about myself and all people everywhere)

Honestly I find it amazing that is 2013 and we still cannot accept all people for what they are: People.  We are all the same species.  We all live on the same planet.  We are all the same race: human race.  But for some reason that isn’t enough.  Growing up I remember learning about diversity and how the country of America was founded on the principle that all men are created equal.  I remember hearing people talk occasionally about feeling discriminated against because of their skin color or gender or whatnot.  I always shrugged it off thinking no, it’s the 21^st century now.  Discrimination doesn’t exist anymore.  Oh how wrong I was.  It wasn’t until I moved somewhere where I was the minority that I realized not only does discrimination exist everywhere, but I, myself, have plenty of stereotypes for different groups of people back home as well.  

Korea is an extremely homogenous population.  When we first came here I knew we would be the minority but I didn’t realize just how much we would be the minority.  In the area of Seoul that we live in especially, it is very rare to see another non-Korean walking the streets.  Therefore, when they do see a non-Korean, many of them to tend to stare.  And stare.  And stare.  Even after sixteen months of it, it can still be uncomfortable at times, especially when I stop to think about why they are staring.  I’m a human being just like each one of them so what’s to stare at?  Well my skin color is different and my face looks different and my hair is a slightly lighter color.  Basically I don’t look exactly the same as all of them.  A Korean friend even explained it like this to us before:  “Sometimes they’ve never seen a foreigner in person before so they want to get up close and personal and just stare at you since you’re the first one they’ve seen.”  People stare, people point, sometimes little kids even cry, all because we don’t look the same as them.   Yes there is the point of the stereotype and reputation that westerners in Korea have that contributes to this as well.  But I feel like the root of it comes from the fact that we simply look different.

I have a Korean friend who was born and raised in Germany.  German is her first language, Korean and English came after.  When we were talking this last weekend she mentioned how in Germany she really didn’t feel like she fit in because she was Korean and not German.  She always figured that when she went to Korea she would fit in just fine since those are “her people.”  When she came to Korea she was not accepted by the Korean people at all because she was not born and raised there.  They can tell by the way she speaks Korean.  She says that in a way it seems like she has no home.  She is not very well accepted in Germany and is not very well accepted in Korea either.  How sad that a person, a human being just like you and I, cannot feel accepted because of their nationality or where they were raised.

It really causes me to stop and think about all the stereotypes that I hold and that are accepted for different groups of people and how wrong those stereotypes are.  I think it’s really hard to understand discrimination and stereotypes until you are in the middle of one.  It definitely was for me.  When it comes time for us to return home to America I will definitely take the value and importance of understanding diversity with me.  In the meantime I will continue to ponder these thoughts of how important it is to accept everyone for exactly who they are: a human being.

The End of June

Wow!  It's so hard to believe it is the last day of June already!  After it seemed to take forever to get through the month of May, June has seemed to zoom by before we can even blink!  And the best part is it means we have survived one month of summer!!  Only two or three more of those to go!  This weekend was probably the hottest it has been yet but just like last year it's really just the humidity that  is the worst.  Even though it feels like we live in a rainforest it's been bearable!  We were able to spend some time at home with the air conditioner on this weekend which made things nice!  We also relaxed by watching some movies this weekend.  On Friday night we went to the theater to see Man of Steel and I must say we were both thoroughly disappointed!  Saturday was shopping day.  Eric did the Costco shopping and I went to the bakers market to stock up on a few necessary baking supplies.  We also bought a little charcoal grill a week or so ago and tried it out a couple times this week and weekend with some hamburgers and BBQ chicken.  Next weekend we plan to have a BBQ in honor of the Fourth of July so we wanted to test out the grill beforehand!

Tomorrow is the first of July which means the public school summer vacation is coming soon and Eric will be taking a trip to Thailand at the end of the month.

 I had an interesting conversation with a diverse group of friends this weekend about stereotypes in Korea and around the world.  It raised some interesting thoughts and perspectives in my mind that I will write about one day this week.

Poker Night

Saturday was poker night at the Zander house!  We invited some former coworkers over to play some poker late into the night and had a great time!  Eric was the only one that really knew how to play so he taught the rest of us and after a couple practice rounds and with our cheat sheets in hand, the betting began!  We used a mixture of 100 won coins (worth about 10 cents) and skittles (which were exchanged for real money at the end) as our chips.  I must say the beginners luck worked quite well for me as I was the biggest winner making an 8000 won profit by the end :)  Eric predicted ahead of time that he would fall victim to everyone else's beginners luck and he was very right!  It was a great night though and we all decided it must become a monthly occasion so stay tuned to see if I am lucky enough to be the winner again next month! :)

Sunday was spent sleeping in and doing some work around the house.  Our week days have been filling up with a lot of work and such so we enjoy relaxing on the weekends when we can.  The weather continues to be hot but not unbearable yet.  At least that's what we tell ourselves since we know it's going to get worse.  It's actually only been in the low to mid 80s but for some reason that feels ridiculously hot and sticky compared to 80 degrees back home!!  I guess the combination of humidity and dirty, stagnant city air results in that.  Our air conditioner has still only had limited use though so you know it can't be all that bad quite yet.  :) 

 My poker money

 Eric had his poker money strategically organized.  This was before he lost all of it.

I also must say I made the most delicious lemon squares this weekend!  They were a huge hit with my friends and the cream cheese brownies weren't bad either for our poker party.

Birthday Weekend: Nanta

Saturday was my birthday so to celebrate Eric took me to a show I have been wanting to see for a while, Nanta.  It is the longest running show in Korea and popular with foreigners since there is almost no dialog.  It is a comedy show focused around four chefs who are trying to prepare a wedding meal by a certain time due to the demand of their manager.  It was SO funny and we both laughed so hard through the whole show.  It is definitely something we would like to go see again!  After the show Eric had made a reservation at a very fancy Italian restaurant at the Seoul Plaza hotel.  We ordered ourselves a six course meal to share and it was very delicious!!  Bread, pasta, meat, salad, dessert... so good!  It was definitely a great birthday (not to mention it was a Saturday so I didn't have to work either!)!  As much as I wanted to take pictures of each course we enjoyed for dinner, I thought it might be highly frowned upon at such a nice restaurant... but here are some other pictures of our evening.

 

Pretending we are Nanta chefs

Before the show started

 

My friend bought me a birthday cake when we met Saturday morning

 

  Flowers and chocolate from Eric :)

Busy Weekend in June

We stayed pretty busy this weekend and some great times with some great people!  On Saturday, I had some of my friends over for a rooftop BBQ.  It was a very warm day but by evening it was a perfect time to be on the roof to enjoy the breeze, the company, and a whole lot of food.  Even though he was surrounded by several girls, I think Eric had a pretty good time too.  We really enjoy having people over to our house to just hang out together.  That seems to be a rare thing in Korea as the houses are all so small and most people just gather together at a restaurant for a few hours instead.  But we are glad we have had the opportunity to share our home (and roof) with others.  We hope to be able to do it some more but we have to wait until fall now as the summer weather has definitely arrived...

Today we got to meet up with two of my former kindergarten students and their families at Children's Grand Park near our house.  I guess two of my students from last year, Tommy and Elizabeth, are always telling their moms that they miss me and want to see me.  Hearing that sure makes a teacher's heart happy :)  It was so fun to meet them at the park today and spend a while with them and their families.  It was 90 degrees today and I told Eric as we were walking to the park that I'd sure like to go swimming.  Well we did end up going swimming, or at least getting plenty wet!  They had a wading pool area for the kids at the park so we took Tommy, Elizabeth and their siblings to wade in the water.  It was the perfect way to cool off, even if I did get much wetter than I had planned thanks to the kids splashing me plenty!  We had a picnic lunch together, enjoyed visiting with their moms and playing with the kids.  I'm so thankful they have been staying in contact with me and it's such a great feeling to know the kids (and parents) still think about me and miss me, just like I miss them!

 We had so much playing with these kiddos today!  Elizabeth, Tommy and Tommy's brother

We took this picture after she said "Stephanie Teacher hug me please!"  So sweet!!

Eric's Birthday

Eric's birthday was this last Thursday so to celebrate we had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Ashley's buffet, and then went to the new Star Trek movie, which happened to come out here on his birthday (he was very excited!!).  We ate way too much food at the restaurant but it was delicious.  The movie was good too, even though Eric says it was very similar to one of the movies in the original movie series.  (I got him the original motion picture series on Blu-ray for his birthday so we have started watching those together this weekend!)  I made him vanilla cupcakes for his birthday dessert which were pretty tasty too.  It was a nice evening and we love the fact that the hours of our jobs for this year allow us to have a date night during the week when we want it! 

On Saturday Eric actually had to work at his Friday job to make up for a holiday we had on a Friday in May.  While he did that I met a friend for lunch and went to Costco.  I realized how much I hate pushing a cart through Costco by myself (usually Eric does it) because the very aggressive Korean ajummas push their carts wherever and whenever they want leaving me to fend for myself! (Ajummas are a stereotype in Korea for the middle-aged and older Korean women who all look the same because they all have the same hairstyle and basically get whatever they want.  They cross the street whenever they want, pay whatever price they want at the street markets, and run over everyone else with their shopping carts at Costco.)  Sunday we had a more relaxed day.  I went for a walk at the Han River and played with the camera a bit while taking some pictures.  It was close to 90 degrees so it was pretty hot and sweaty but still a nice walk.  So far we have only had the air conditioner on one day but it is supposed to stay warm this week so we will see if we can keep it off or not!  We figure it will feel more refreshing if we keep it turned off until we really need it!!  (If Eric doesn't really need it yet you know it can't be too bad :) )  But now that it is June we know the summer heat is coming quick!  At least this year we will be a tad bit more prepared and expecting... 

Here are a couple pictures from Eric's birthday.  Apparently there is a size limit on the amount of pictures you can upload on Blogger and we have reached the limit :(  So right now I can only upload pictures I take with my phone since they are a small file size, though I may go through and delete some older pictures on here so I can upload again.  For now be sure to check out our Shutterfly site for all of our recent pictures!!

 

He was happy he got his steak :)

 

 I used Angry Birds wrapping paper :)

 View of the Han River from outside the restaurant

We walked through the zoo near our house on Saturday evening and the baby rams were ramming each other... so funny!!