Gift of the Tawn-gam (persimmon)

One evening, I went for a hike. The setting sun highlighted beautifully the autumn leaves... After a short stop to take a breather, I headed back towards my apartment because I knew it'd be dark soon. 

On my way, two ladies, sporting new-looking perfectly-fitting hiking gear, motioned me over to their bench. One held out a ziploc baggy with pieces of orange-peachy-colored fruit in it. "Tawn-gam," she said. I took a piece, figuring it was persimmon, which I happen to LOVE. Indeed it was - it was delicious! 

They then asked me a question and again I felt silly because I didn't know what they were asking. Dangit - I've been here now 9 months! So I answered with whatever hangul (Korean) I know - I said the one word I know for "American," I said the few words I know for "elementary school teacher," and I motioned with my figures and said words for 10 (this month being the 10th) and indicated I arrived in th 2nd month.

Beneath a very bright white rabbit moon I happily dance-walked back down the mountain, eating the gifted 'tawn-gam' and admiring the sparkly city lights decorating the already-pretty-picture view of the city at dusk. I gave thanks for all the blessings I experience each day and in short moments such as these!

Recent "Firsts"

Recent Firsts:

- old men playing croquet under the train tracks

- 50-60 year old men playing some sort of stick game in the dirt next to the market

- brown squirrel with white belly when hiking up the mountain nearby (It's VERY rare to see wild animals of any sort here!)

- '119' ambulance truck went zooming by with sirens and lights blaring and flaring

- ate a fig off the tree on the school grounds (given to me by a student)

- received a bag of natural medicine for free from the acupuncture doctor

- a tree with leaves a bunch of different colors - fall must be coming


- when walking down a very familiar side alleyway this morning, I felt for a moment that I was in the U.S.... (Indeed, this feels like home in many ways!)


- empty shops with no one in sight, as if we were on an empty movie set (on Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, one of the most important holidays here)


- visited Buddhist temple in Busan, South Korea


- picked up seashells and "sea glass" in Busan, South Korea

Blasted Language Barrier!

Times when the blasted language barrier becomes a bear:

- when wanting to know whether there's corn starch in the ingredients
- when trying to schedule, cancel, or change doctor's appointment
- when trying to get somewhere in a rush
- when trying to determine for the vegetarians or vegans in the house if there's any meat in anything (In most cases, "meat" seems to not mean here what it means in the U.S....)

Therefore, if you're a vegan, you'll find it VERY difficult to stay vegan in Korea!

PHOTOS: Temple in Busan, South Korea

Holiday: Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)

Chuseok is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in Korea. On this day, one can see many girls and women of all ages wearing the traditional "hanbok" (Korean traditional garb), such as this one. We saw women and girls wearing this even on the train!

The dates on which Chuseok occurs depends on the lunar calendar. This year it was Sept 29th-Oct 1st. It celebrates nature's bounty; it's a harvest festival of sorts. What happens on this holiday? People travel to wherever their relatives live, specifically their grandparents, to spend the time with them, eating, playing, making and eating rice cakes, and generally not working. It's like a mass exodus. Seriously! 

A few months ago, when my friends and I were planning ahead as to what to do on this holiday, we decided to go to Busan (southern coast, second largest city in S. Korea). Well, when we looked at train tickets in the morning, we had a number of choices. About an hour later, our choices were down to half of what there had been. We knew we had to act fast! 

There seem to be few other times in Korea when Koreans don't work and when they all hit the streets and tracks to drive and/or take the train or bus to get to their relatives. There are news pieces about how bad the Chuseok traffic is. In fact, it's called "war" traffic. 

Indeed the roads were congested and we were super glad we'd bought tickets early, and weren't driving (not that any of us have cars or international driving licenses). 

Also, when my friend and I went to the market yesterday evening to buy veggies for the week, there were hardly any vendors. It was dead quiet which is unusual for us because we're used to seeing it busy, flooded with vendors and buyers from at least 9am-8pm every day of the week including Saturday and Sunday.

When I asked my students what their favorite holiday is, many of them answered, "Chuseok" because it's when they see their relatives, and get gifts or money from them too!

Saved by a translating bystander

Today I went to E-MART to buy a lamp so that I can see in my bedroom/office. (The light bulb in my room burnt out, and although I was able to get the curious cover off of it, I wasn't able to figure out how to get the light bulb out of the socket so as to take it to a store to buy one exactly like it.) 

I found a great versatile desk lamp but wanted to know what size light bulb to buy for it. So, as we usually do, my friend and I took the boxed lamp and the boxed light bulb to the nearest sales associate (in uniform, just like at a Walmart or Target) who happened to be in the freezer section of the store. We said the few words we figured she would understand. "Size ok?" The sales associate smiled and said something that seemed to indicate she wasn't the correct person for the lamp/light bulb section of the store, and went hurrying off to get someone else. 

A short while later, a male sales associate in similar uniform came and asked another man- who seemed to be with him- a question in Korean. I caught the word "miguk" meaning "American" and figured he was asking the man if he'd seen an American with a question about a lamp. So I jumped in and said, "Ahnyounghaseyo" (hello). 

The sales associate started to talk to me in Korean, and I tried to interpret what he was saying, and tried to ask my question by gesturing. 

I'm sure we could've figured it out eventually but instead, the Korean-looking man who was standing there saved us the time and effort. He so swiftly and gracefully acted as translator for us that it wasn't until the end of the conversation that I realized he hadn't come with the sales associate; he wasn't an employee. He was just a bystander, just a customer, like me. It was my lucky day!

Actually, every day here is a lucky day! People constantly come out of the woodwork to help.

Taxi drivers watch tv

Yep, many taxi/cab drivers here have a small tv attached to the dash so that they can watch tv while driving around. Well, I guess they're watching tv only when they're sitting at one location waiting for riders, presumably. (Here you can kind of see the one to the right of the driver.)

Another curiosity about cabs/taxis here is the unspoken rule that one must not speak when riding in the front passenger's seat. Makes sense actually.