DMZ

I found this sign at the DMZ. I wanted to start with this picture so you can all be part of my beautiful memories...











Since MT fell through, I joined a group going to the DMZ. The DMZ is the buffer zone between North and South Korea. It is scattered with propaganda about how the double-faced nature of the North. From what we could tell, the North also tries to use propaganda to express the superiority of their government. For instance, there are two villages in the heart of the DMZ (about 800 meters apart) where the South built a tower that holds the South Korean flag. Then, the North built a bigger tower to hold the North Korean flag. It seems silly, but we were able to look into the North. Thinking about it, it just appears stupid in text -- I mean, we didn't visit or anything -- all we did was look through a telescope to see the North, and that is a big deal.

Traveling in Korea is quite easy. We were going to take the train at 9:30AM Sunday morning and arrive for a tour around 11-12ish (I wasn't keeping track of time). There were about 22 international students in our group, making our party 100% of all the obvious foreigners on the tour. Our first stop was Dorasan. Dorasan is significant because it is the last stop in South Korea, but it was connected to the North Korean's line with hopes that it would ease unification. There were many posters that said "Not the last station in the South, but the first station to the North." We boarded a bus off of Dorasan to explore the DMZ.

The first place the bus stopped was called "Third Tunnel." The explanations of the tunnel were littered with defensive propaganda. From what I understand, there were four tunnels built between 1953 and 1990 by the North Koreans that led directly to Seoul. The signs claimed that about 30,000 troops could move through the tunnel in an hour, putting them about 30KM outside of Seoul and past all the mine fields.

The reason that I am apprehensive about the information provided is that each sign used words like "two-sidedness," "treacherous," and "malicious" to define the intent of the tunnels. Additionally, the North Koreans claimed that the tunnels were built by the South. An example of a fairly normal sign would read close to "The coal that you see was painted by the treacherous North Koreans was meant to disguise the tunnel as a coal mine. But you can tell from the angle of the tunnel and the directional painting that the North Koreans lied." At the end of the Southern section of the tunnel was a giant wall built to define the border. There was a small window in the concrete wall where we could look across to see the North's wall. At least I thought it was the North's wall, but there was nothing that would confirm that.

The next place we visited was the closest forward observation post to the North. At this observation post, we were able to look through telescopes to see into North Korea. The area was fairly desolate, except for the two villages in the middle, holding the flags of both Koreas. They had military police enforcing a strict boundary on where pictures could and could not be taken. There was a yellow line that said "photo line" to explain pictures could not be taken from the ledge where the telescopes were located. It was the first time that I had seen official UN buildings.

We visited one more stop before the tour ended. Sadly, there wasn't much that was significant about the last place to warrant pictures or much of an explanation. Actually, it was fairly inconsequential because I can't even remember the last stop.

Two quick things about the tour:

As the bus drove around to the various stops, I saw what I believe to be my first active mine field. There was a lazily guarded (AKA a 3 foot fence and a little barb wire) section of forest with "Mine" signs every post.

There was supposed to be a dress code for visiting the DMZ. From what I understood of hearing about four different people explaining the code, jeans were unacceptable as were skirts and anything that looked tattered. While musing about why jeans would be banned, a couple of us thought it might be used for propaganda by the North. Perhaps they would use pictures of jeans to indicate how people in the rest of the world cannot afford nice clothes. The tattered clothes made more sense for that reason. But, there were a couple people that wore nice jeans and they received no obvious attention for it.

Okay. The tour was over and I was dissapointed. I was looking forward to visiting the Truce Village, Panmunjom. Panmunjom was the location of the cease-fire and is (probably) the only place where one could actually see North Korean people. Panmunjom is the place where you can stand with one foot in North Korea and one in South (although that would be illegal and I would be arrested and/or shot). Nonetheless, pictures of South Korean soldiers standing face-to-face with North Korean soldiers were 99% likely taken at Panmunjom. I asked at a visitors' center about how we could visit the Truce Village and I learned that it was about $70...ouch...but I still really want to visit, so maybe that can happen in the future.

We took the train back one stop south of Dorasan to Imjingang, which was 52KM from Seoul and 209KM to Pyongyang. We saw some other things to look at while in Imjingang, so we decided to stop there for a while. We had to stay as a group because we had one ticket for 25 of us (3 no-shows), so nobody could leave alone. On the edge of South Korea, as the city fades to gray and the depressing landscape starts to mimic the likely scenes in North Korea, we came across the most surprising place yet --------- a small amusement park. It was a little weird to see the buildings of Seoul vanish to fields and farmlands, followed by brown fields and gray clouds, and then to witness this amusement park...

Notwithstanding, there were other things to see around the park. Freedom Bridge is a famous bridge used for prisoner exchanges following the cease-fire. There was a giant bell that people could ring for peace. There was also a series of horrible pictures showing Korea during the war. It is still surreal for me to look at pictures of children going to school in Seoul amid rubble and for me to remember that the place I live now was nothing sixty years ago. For me to think that the streets I walk on were a mixture of concrete, bodies and flashes of war. And nothing here is older than 60 years.



After we bought our original train tickets, we had to stop here to purchase our tour tickets. I think everyone in this picture is international.













This was us about to depart for the tour. The checking seemed really half-assed. They didn't ask us to clear our pockets, which meant that everyone set the metal detector off. The soldier checked me and it beeped on my coat button, so he asked me to empty out my right pocket. I pulled out a pack of gum and chap stick, he said I was okay and to move on. He didn't even check my left side or my legs...








Here is a picture of me right on the yellow line. These telescopes were about $.50 to use, so I didn't actually use it. The hills in this picture are North Korean hills.












This is the end of Freedom Bridge. It doesn't actually connect or even remotely touch North Korea, but is instead more of a symbolic reminder of those who were repatriated or those who switched sides. There were pictures of people who prayed for family members that they hadn't heard from since 1953 as well as some older Koreans who held pictures of deceased relatives that never got to see their homes in the North again.








There were two of these at the front of Freedom Bridge. The one to the right of this picture was a South Korean Military policeman and this one...well...I am not 100% sure who this is. There were other similar images I saw of North Korean soldiers, but none of them were female and none dressed like this one. I wanted a photograph with her because I thought she was cute. The snack in my hand was like a Quaker rice snack. It was street food and I saw it being made. The best way I can describe it is that there was rice filled in a mold, then the top came down, and five seconds later one of these shot out. I actually mean shot out -- it was like BOOM and it shot out. That was actually the only reason that I bought them.



I was a little worried and then I read this small sticker and felt more comfortable...













I am really not sure why this amusement park is here. My first inclination was that it would be used to tease the North Koreans about how great South Korea is, but I am fairly sure that it can't be seen. The landscape around this ride reflects most of the scenery as we continued North.

Habits

I've developed several habits here that I hope stay with me for my entire life.

1) 네 (pronounced nay). Koreans use this word as a filler word. Dictionary definition is "yes," but it serves a thousand functions. Take, for instance, this conversation that I've heard on the subway:

A) Yobosayo? (hello when answering the phone)
B) (takes 10 seconds to say something)
A) 네.
B) (takes 10 seconds)
A) 네.
B) (15 more seconds)
A) 네 (but extends the "ay" part a good two extra seconds...naaaaaaaaaaaaay)
End of conversation.

The conversation could be just B asking "we are getting together tonight, you want to join us? Okay great, we are meeting at 7 tonight, that work for you? Ok, bye." It also serves the functions of "you too, goodbye, I'll be right there, I agree, what's up and more. One of my Korean teachers just says it when the silence has been too long, but also when she changes directions with the conversation. It is like the commonly used words "uh-hu, you too" and "indubitably."

I've grown used to using it in common conversation:
"Hey Erik,"
"네.?"
"We are going on a hike, want to come?"
"네."
"Tell everybody! See you later."
"네." Make sure to extend the "ay" sound at the end.

I really want to keep this habit for my life. I like it so much!

2) One thing that I really like about Koreans is that when they say something doesn't exist or there isn't any of X, they cross their arms to make an "x" or they use their fingers. If I ask if something has meat, while explaining, they often cross their arms or fingers just to make sure I understand that it doesn't have any meat. When I order blueberry yogurt smoothies and the bastards are out, they explain and cross their arms. I've also started to do this. When I am trying to supply a negative answer, I have started crossing my arms as well. I am really starting to like it.

3) Awkward English sentences. I had dinner tonight with some members of the tennis club, which was pretty cool. Oh, on that thought, some bad news. Since I am the only male that is in tennis club (the other guys I brought decided not to join...), I can't go to their MT. I am pretty sad because I've been excited about this for a couple weeks now. When I got back to the dorms, I booked to join a group going to the DMZ on Sunday -- so I will get to see the DMZ this weekend, which is cool, but I could have seen the DMZ any weekend I wanted and MT was only this weekend. Anyways, so after dinner, the captain sends me this text message:

"Erik :D today, i am so happy! because, i had a great time with my best smash member and you. . enjoy played tennis, had dinner~! (? :D . . i can't . . use . . English very well) lol -* anyway, i'm soooo~ happy! m . . byebye~ see you next weekend~!! :)."

That message really inspired me. It inspired me so much that later in the night, I sent out a message to 17 I-House students to let them know that I was really happy at that moment. A couple asked me how drunk I was...

She sent me another message that had this commonly used awkward phrase "we will make happy memories together in Korea." I've had like five Koreans tell me that we will make happy memories. The first time I heard it, I cringed a little because it was just so bizarre. After reading it today and noticing how quickly I passed over it, I realized that I also really love that phrase. I think, from today on, when I meet people in America, this will be my introduction:

"Hello! My name is Erik...please don't forget me. I think we will make many happy memories together!"

Dr. Fish, Harvey and Bi Boy

Dr.Fish:

I heard about this place before -- so I was pretty stoked to finally be able to go. Essentially, what Dr.Fish Cafe is a cafe where there are fish that eat your feet. I'll write that again...fish that eat your feet.

For about $10, this cafe offers a choice of one drink (smoothies, coffee, beer and more), cake, as much time in the pool as you want and "aromatherapy," which was washing our feet with lavender oil.

Step 1: Wash your feet. This was pretty standard (for Korea). Sit down in front of a sink and make sure your feet are clean before you get in the pool.















Step 2: Dip your feet inside the pool with hungry fish. The fish are essentially starved, so when given the opportunity to eat dead skin and such, they leap at the chance. There were four of us there: Youna, me, a woman from France (who doesn't spend much time with the international students), and the German guy pictured above. The German guy was used to it quickly and said he was perfectly relaxed in the pool. Youna and the French woman were both struggling to keep their feet in there for long. I was able to keep my feet in the water for a pretty good time, but I was unable to really relax. When the small ones were eating, it felt like I was being tickled all over my feet. When the big ones bit, I could tell and it wasn't quite so ha-ha funny. It was much easier to relax when I wasn't watching them because it was weird to watch a fish like leave the leg of Youna and start swimming for my toe. The big ones would find a spot on my foot, bite me, back up and then bite the same spot. The little ones seemed to move around a little more.
















Step 3: Enjoy some expensive and good food. I got tiramisu cake, Youna got strawberry. My drink was a Kiwi smoothie and hers was an iced mocha.















Step 4 (not pictured): This was where we sat back down in the foot-washing sinks and washed our feet with lavender oil. After we received the oil, we could not go back into the feeding pool, so it was the last thing we did.

After it was all done, my feet felt pretty good. I plan to go back to Dr. Fish someday with the hopes that I can relax a little bit more, but it feels so weird to be tickled in like a dozen different places at once.

Harvey:

I was invited after Korean class on Friday to attend a play at Ewha put on by the Department of English Education. I didn't really know anything about the play other than it was going to be in English and tickets were only about $2.50. It was interesting and the actresses were amazingly talented to act for two hours in English. The play was also pretty funny and I would likely be willing to see it again.

Bbbbbbuuuuuuuutttttt, for some reason, the theater had seats with no backs. As in, it was like sitting in bleachers for two hours. There was also no intermission. My back was so sore after sitting like that for two hours that I resolved to be very choosy about which plays I will attend in the future.

Bi Boy:

The PEACE buddies have a couple official events for the term. One of them was to see this play called something close to "The Ballerina that loved a Bi boy." I knew nothing about it other than I could understand what was going on despite the play not being in English. Actually, I was told it was a "silent play, but you will understand it." I was interested, but hearing about a silent play turned me off to the idea...thankfully, I was told that after I bought my ticket.

"Does it at least have music?"
"Yes."

Okay, so I figured it was going to be somewhat bearable. I walked into the theater on Saturday to see, yet again, the seats had no backs. It was going to be another uncomfortable two hours...

The play was actually really really good. It was like a dance show, hmmm, I guess it is hard to describe.

It starts with some break dancers that dance. They were very good and I was thoroughly impressed. Then it had some hip hop dancers who impressed me. Then it had some ballerinas, but I was not very entertained by them. It was a story about a ballerina who fell in love with one of the break dancers, but for some reason, was disallowed from seeing him by his friends. So she joined the hip hop dancers and all was good. I think that synopsis makes it sound stupid, but the dancing was so cool that I would see it again.

One thing that I got used to back home was a basic level of theater etiquette. Small things like no cameras, turn phones off and avoid eating and drinking. I was surprised that these didn't apply in the previous two cases. In Harvey, I would estimate that about a quarter of the audience ate their dinner while sitting in their seats. I also saw several people taking pictures coupled with a cell phone going off at least every half-hour. At Bi Boy, I could understand that maybe phones had no influence on the performance because there were pretty much no times when there wasn't music. But there was quite a bit of photography; both pictures and recordings.

I think if I were to ever drop out of college, I would become a break dancer. I would also write poetry. I would call myself a "warrior poet" like the Scotsmen of Braveheart. Just wanted to make sure I shared that...

Sickness and hiking

I lived in denial of being sick for as long as I could. After my stomach got better, I joined most the other international students and decided it would be best to be sick. I spent Tuesday a little under the weather, but overall just glad that I could eat again. Wednesday was pretty bad, but I felt that I would be back to normal by Thursday. And then on Thursday, the worst day yet, I figured that the hardest part was over and it was all sunshine from that point on. On Friday, I did feel better, but a friend ordered me to get medicine from health services.

At the beginning of the term, I paid about $20 to cover all my medical expenses from health services. Essentially, it was miniature universal health care. By paying the $20, I could use the service as much as I want and that covers most (maybe all?) the medicine.

I went to the office, grudgingly, and waited behind this woman. When she was done, the nurse asked me in English what was wrong with me. I told her my nose and throat were bothering me and I was looking for some medicine and possibly cough syrup. She told me to wait until a doctor (OSU uses Registered Nurse Practitioners, so maybe this woman was one as well. She wore a white coat, though) was ready to see me. I waited a good minute and then she called for me.

As a quick note, because my passport uses my full legal name (Erik Thomas Hagen), all my official documents list my name the same way. My classes don’t take role for “Erik Hagen,” but instead “Erik Thomas Hagen.” The doctor didn’t call for “Erik,” she called for “Erik Thomas.”

I walked back to her and sat down. She asked me what was wrong and I told her. She typed in my answers to a box on her computer screen.

“Headache?”

“No.”

“Coughing?”

“Yes.”

“Do you blow your nose a lot?”

“Yes.”

…

Skip ahead another minute. She took my temperature (it was .3 degrees Fahrenheit high, giving me a slight fever) and checked my throat. I was with her, literally, less than five minutes. And in that time, she discerned it was best to prescribe four pills and cough syrup. She said the names of the pills, but I had no idea what they were. She then told me to feel better and go over to the pharmacy (it was in the same room).

I sat down to see “Erik Thomas” as next in line for medicine. I waited another three minutes and the pharmacist handed me my medicine in a bag. She gave me general instructions for the medicine (they came in sealed plastic bags) like to take it after a meal…actually, that was all she told me. One of them was an antibiotic, which didn’t make any sense to me because I am pretty sure my illness was caused by a virus.

“Hope you feel better Erik Thomas!”

“Thanks…”

Total time for the whole visit: about 15 minutes.

Some international students were going to go hiking on Saturday afternoon, followed by a visit to the Seoul Art's Center. Originally, I wasn’t planning on attending because the group was gathering pretty early. But I was able to wake up by 11AM, grab my breakfast and meet them at noon in the lobby. The hike was actually quite fun, but I could tell how out of shape I was because of how quickly I started sweating. The view was beautiful from the top. Pictures found below:

Seoul from the top of the mountain. Actually, let's change that to hill. I don't think hills become mountains until they have snow at least 3/4 of the year and also possess snow when neighboring areas don't.











This rock structure was also at the top. I have no idea why.













We had one PEACE buddy with us. I thought it would be really cool to see what was inside...













But she pointed to this sign. I wagered that any mines left were likely duds and we would be fine exploring. Nobody wanted to come with me...













I took this picture as we walked to the Seoul Art's Center. Nothing special here, just a typical Korean intersection.

Tennis and dorm payments

Sadly, I won't be able to stay with tea club...

Part of the clubs here is this requirement that you need to attend Membership Training (MT). One of the international students described it as "everyone just drinks a lot." I asked someone at tennis club, when she was telling me about MT, and I said that was my understanding. She said "Oh, no no no no...wait, yeah, everyone is usually drunk." What I've learned so far is that I don't really know what MT is other than there is alcohol present there.

I think most clubs have MT on the same day -- March 29th - 30th. With tea club, I could only go once a week and I would be unable to join them at MT because tennis club has the same weekend. I am depressed that I can't do both, but tennis club is more important to me than tea at this point.

Wednesday night was my second night of tennis. I had mentioned tennis to a couple other international students and they expressed interest in joining me, but they had no rackets. Therefore, only one person came with me to Smash (I think the name is cool --tennis club just sounds boring compared to SMASH! [emotion added by me]) and borrowed a racket. It was a good night.

Quick observations about Korean tennis (although this may only be the Ewha tennis club and not all tennis):

1) There is a lot of bowing. When we greeted each other at the net, we bowed. When someone was about to start serving, they bowed. When there was a good shot, there was bowing.
2) Make game/make deuce. When the next serve was for a game, whoever had the advantage would yell to everyone on the court "make game!" The other team, would of course, say "make deuce!" It was actually pretty fun to be serving for the game and yell to my partner "make game!"
3) "Fightin." When the match was about to start (I played doubles), my partner and my opponent both yelled "Fightin" (fighting, but take out the ng ending and shorten the i...it sounds like fight-teen). As I was leaving, I saw like three other women do the same thing. I was told it was like "let's fight and win," but it was only one word.
4) Korean tennis players, like Americans, also don't like getting hit with the ball. I framed a ball and accidentally hit one of the feeders (it wasn't hard), and she didn't seem to like it.

On to payments. To live in the dorms, it costs around $900 for March through mid-June. It isn't too bad, except that if one doesn't have a Korean bank account, that person has to pay with cash. Since I didn't have a bank account, I had to pay that fee with cash. My bank back home, Key Bank, limited me to $300 over a 24 hour period, excluding holidays and weekends. Those days off were at local time back home, making me wait until Tuesday (in Korea) before I could withdraw my $290.

To make this funny, the largest Korean bill in circulation is the 10,000 Won ($10). Meaning that when I went to pay the housing cost, I had 92 bills in my pocket. It was also the most money I can ever remember holding since I became accustomed to paying with checks/credit cards.

Tennis and Korean food

On Friday, Youna mentioned to me that she believed there was a tennis club at Ewha. That kind of came as a surprise as I could not find anything tennis related anywhere -- on the website, in the handbook or at the student club recruiting. I asked Youna if she had any idea how to contact them and she said she would get back to me.

Remember that little bit of information.

On Sunday, I was supposed to go to Lotte World with some international students. I was very excited about going back because I love that place. I was spending time with some friends at the dorms and I was up to around 2AM before going to sleep, meaning that if we left at the planned 8:30AM time, I would have 6 hours. That isn't too bad...I guess...

I woke up at 5AM with a horrible stomach pain. Like it felt as if I hadn't eaten for a couple days, but I had absolutely no desire to eat. I kept trying to get back to sleep over the following hour by drinking water and trying to relax. I couldn't do it. At about 6:15AM, I threw up...but didn't feel better at all. I felt that if I perhaps tried to have just a little food, I might feel better...that didn't work either and I vomited again around 7AM.

I had my alarm set for 7:45AM with the hopes that I could grab 45 minute of sleep before waking back up. After fifteen more minutes of stomach pain, I gave up and started moving around. I wanted to try food again with the hope that if I could keep it down, then I could still visit Lotte World and just be very careful on the roller coasters. I ate with mild success as I was able to keep down some crackers and banana milk. My alarm signaled it was 7:45AM and I started getting dressed and tried reading a little to get my mind off my stomach. At this point, I was still toying with the idea of going because I just love that place.

But by 8:30AM, I wasn't feeling energetic enough for an amusement park (how sick can you be not to be enthused for an amusement park?). I went downstairs to see if anyone else was meeting us and only found one other student who also felt a little sick. I told him that I wasn't going to go.

The food must have had a pretty good effect because I started feeling good enough to sleep. I thankfully passed out and woke up at 1PM with stomach pains, but a little more refreshed than I was before. I ate some noodles to help soothe my ailing stomach and then spent the rest of the day with the lingering affects of sickness.

This is going somewhere, don't worry.

It was getting close to dinner time and I hadn't had fresh air all day. Someone invited me to get dinner with a group and I felt it was a pretty good idea to go out and get some nutrients. The place that we were going to was a Korean all-you-can-eat barbecue.

Here have been the Korean restaurants that I have seen in Korea:

1) Very small family owned business. These places usually have about 10 tables and the food costs around $2-$5. They don't often serve hot food (hot as in temperature). Food is usually ordered separately but side dishes are shared.
2) Small family owned restaurants. These are essentially the same as 1, but they serve hot food as well. This is similar that each person orders his or her own dish and then shares side dishes.
3) Food is cooked at the table. These places are really cool! There are tables that have a heat source in the middle and food is cooked in that pan. One example is a Japanese food called (phonetically) shabu shabu. They have a pan of water, vegetables and noodles, and then depending on what meat is ordered, they will bring the meat off to the side. They boil the noodles and then whatever meat is added in at the pace of the diners. After all the meat is gone, there are usually some raw noodles that get added into the pot to cook. Lastly, the pot is emptied out by an employee (a little of the liquid is left) and then they add in rice. The purpose of this last dish is to burn the rice just enough to get crunchy taste, but not a charcoal taste. This meal has no individual dishes.
4) Korean barbeque. This was a new experience for me. There was essentially a table-top stove at each table where diners would pick which meats they wanted to eat and then cook it on the stove while at the table. In the back there were containers where the meat was stacked and then someone could just fill a plate with whatever they wanted. All you can eat. I need to stress that because a group of 13 hungry international students easily ate more than we paid. One person said it was the best meal she ever had and another said it was the greatest (the second person was only given two options: best or greatest. The first person came up with that answer on her own). It wasn't too great for me being sick and vegetarian, but everyone seemed to like the food. It was a little weird to see this guy from Belgium enjoying chicken feet, but it was funny to see the Swedish guy try it and have to leave the restauraunt to spit it out. He got back and said, "there were bones inside..." The octopus tentacles were also appetizing.

Lastly, since we had to bring our own food to the table, if there was any food left, the restauaunt would charge us about $5 extra. As everyone was nearly full, one of the guys from Germany brought back a huge plate of pig (no idea if it was bacon, pork or what the difference is) and started cooking it. At the end, we were cheering for two men at the end of the table to finish eating everything that was left. We spent a solid hour and a half there, with the last half cheering on the guys to finish eating. I didn't want to tell them, but $5 split amongst 13 people was pretty much nothing.

So starts Monday. I felt much better than I did on Sunday, but my stomach was still haunted from the previous day. I had no appetite from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep and I only ate because I felt I needed some form of sustenance. I eventually found some contact information for the tennis club, complimented with only two phone numbers (no email, no website) by which I was supposed to call to become enlightened on tennis at Ewha. I called the first number and the conversation went like this:

Me (I spoke in Korean, but text is in English): Hello?
Her: (something in Korean).
Me: I am Erik. Tennis?
Her: (something in Korean).
Me: Hello? Do you understand English?
Her: (something in Korean).
Me: I understand a little Korean.
Her: (something in Korean).
She hung up.

Hmmm...............

Some 30 seconds later, I got a text message...in Korean. I texted her back that I only understand English and then I wrote tennis again. A couple minutes went by and she texted me back with English saying "do u want to join us? what is your name?"

You read that right. In Korea, they enjoy destroying English with "ur" instead of "your." I sent a couple more text messages and I was told the tennis club was meeting at 6PM that night...which sucked because Tea Club started at 7PM. Explaining my prediciment over text messages probably would have yielded nothing productive except blissful confusion.

Skip to 5:10PM. I was reading some poetry and I get a call from someone at the tennis club. Her caller ID said "Carpe Diem :)." The person I spoke with talked to me in English and was able to explain details. At one point she said, "you know you will only be playing with girls, are you okay with that?" with her voice succumbing to a laugh near the end. Oh, she also said that they meet on Mondays at 5:30PM.

The tennis courts at Ewha are probably 3/4 of a mile away from my dorm -- and it is nearly all uphill. I changed quickly and grabbed my map to start my march across campus. I took a really long route and I arrived at like 5:35PM. As I entered the courts, EVERYONE stopped practicing to come see me. Like as I walked in, some 20 girls just stopped hitting to form a circle around me. It was a very interesting feeling...

The woman I spoke with on the phone welcomed me and asked me to introduce myself. I said my name is Erik (and they laughed at me...), I said I was American (they laughed at me) and I asked what else they wanted to know. I told them my major in English and the year I was born (Koreans pretty much always want to know someone's age because it determines how they will be addressed). It kind of sucks because everyone understood my English (except philosophy), and yet only like two people talked to me. I expressed that I would need to leave early and to confirm that it wouldn't be a problem.

The first drill was that two girls were feeding down the line to get everyone warmed up. I hadn't hit since January, so I felt really nervous because I could feel every eye on me. After all, I made up 100% of the white and male population. After each round with a feeder (about 20 balls or so), both people are supposed to bow.

It went really well. I played better than I thought I would. The courts were very interesting because they were not hard courts or clay courts. The only idea I have is that they might be a carpet-like surface. They were also covered with sand and debris, so hopefully players can slide like they do on clay.

I left at 6:20PM because I had to be back at the dorm by 6:40PM to meet the group going to tea club. I was also nervous because we need to take our shoes off when we arrive at the tea room and after the uphill battle to get to the courts amplified by tennis, I was briskly walking back to change to clean socks (my last pair...). I made it and everything went fine as we prepared to leave.

Originally, the Monday night meeting of tea club was the most important because that was the time that we spent learning about tea. Each week, we have a lecturer that talks about tea and tea culture, which sounded really cool, and we were told the lectures would be in English. We arrived a couple minutes late and our translator came outside to talk to us. She sadly said that this two hour lecture would only be in Korean and she was sorry for the mistake. Two hours each Monday...maybe fun for two weeks, but man, I was so relieved to hear that we couldn't actively participate. In fact, all four people I was with agreed that two hours each week at 7PM would not be the ideal Monday night. This also means that I can stay at tennis club the whole time each week!

What a tiring week!

I spent most my week fatigued with my three hours of Korean language amplified by waking up each day at 7-7:45 AM (it started at 7 and expediently fell to 7:45).

I decided against taking an online course. I am still at 12 credits. One student from Norway tempted me to sign up for a World History Through Movies course on Friday by citing the minor work load, movie selection and the comfort of the chairs. I was pleading with her to stop but she took a sick sense of humor teasing me...

Tea Club: Just like college back home, it is easiest to make friends by joining a club. The student union had activities by various clubs trying to recruit new members, identical to club recruiting back home. Some clubs offered candy, cookies, doughnuts (sadly they have Krispy Kreme in Korea...oh, and spell check says doughnuts is wrong but chose to avoid competition) and so forth. One big difference between clubs at Ewha and clubs back home is that clubs here appear contractual -- as in, you join the club, pay the fees, and are expected to attend nearly every event that happens or they quickly kick you out. Back home, it is possible to be a member of both the College Democrats the College Republicans in order to acquire a couple free meals and then disappear, but it doesn't the same way here.

They had a diverse selection of clubs. There was bird watching, HAM radio, dance, traditional music, Christian, Buddhist, chorus and so forth. I was with a French woman who speaks Korean to help me ask about joining most the clubs. Apparently, the dance, music and theater clubs do not allow men to join. Of all the clubs that I saw, I was most interested in the tea club. But I wanted to give it some thought and ask some people if they had heard anything bad about the tea club...

Let me quickly justify that last sentence with two stories. The first involves coffee with a friend: my friend was minding her own business one day when a slightly obsessive (understatement) Christian woman asked for her phone number to keep my friend updated on activities. Being slightly rushed and not wanting to completely offend this Korean woman, my friend gave it to her. From what I recall, this woman was texting and calling my friend some dozen times a day to ask if my friend was praying and so forth. I didn't want to join a club where people would harass me in such an unwelcome way...

Second story: when I was waiting outside the student union for some people to go to lunch, this Korean man came to talk to me and give me some free candy (the candy was inside a bag with information about his group. Writing that sentence and ending with free candy reminded me of countless warnings as a child and how persistence in education doesn't guarantee the lesson learned). I took it and was surprised that he started speaking to me in English. Remembering that this is a women's university, seeing men recruiting was a little confusing, but I was pretty stoked about free candy. He starts telling me about his club that is focused on learning about Korean language, culture, history and philosophy. My ears perked even more because that is essentially everything I wanted to learn. We talked for a little longer and then prepared to leave for lunch. I asked a PEACE buddy around me at the time about this group and if she has heard of them, because it was bizarre to have this male recruiting. The PEACE buddy indirectly classified it on the same level as a cult.

With these two events circling in my head, I wanted some time to think over the tea group. Another thing about clubs at Ewha is that they have recruiting periods where nobody new can join after the last day. For nearly all of the clubs, March 7th was that day. That gave me two days to think it over.

I asked around (see also, lazilyaskingthreepeople) and it checked out. Sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night, I join the Ewha Tea Club! I just tried recreating the time line of these events and it wasn't matching up, so I may have joined later on Wednesday.

On Thursday, I received a call that the first meeting of the Tea Club was on Friday at 4:30PM. So let's skip ahead to that meeting.

It was 4:25PM on Friday. I was waiting at the location they told me to be at and getting a little worried. At 4:28PM, a group of about 7 women came to the table who were also members/joining now. Two minutes later, 4 international students (2 from China, 1 from France and 1 from the USA) came quickly followed by 5 other Korean women. I stopped counting at that point as a couple more trickled in. All in all, I am the only male and half of the Tea Club's white population...on the Ewha side that is.

After we were gathered, I learned that we were going to Yonsei University to meet. Although nobody told me this with confidence, I believe that the Yonsei Tea Club and the Ewha Tea Club form the unified alliance of Tea Clubs. The male population quadrupled once we arrived at Yonsei, but my proportion of the white population stayed the same.

Us international students had a woman from the Ewha group that was kindly interpreting the meeting and filling us in on what was going on. We arrived around 5PM and sat in a big circle of some 25 people with more filling the room over the next half hour. I spent my time talking with two Korean women next to me that could understand English if I spoke slowly. We enjoyed some green tea and rice crackers in these beautiful jade cups. Then the meeting started.

At this point, I completly lost what was happening. The speakers spoke Korean and I couldn't hear our translator, so I nodded with a smile and laughed when everyone else did (that probably looked weird...). I think the first two speakers were the co-presidents and they started introducing officers. I understand when someone says "English" in Korean and it seemed like each time someone got up to speak, a different person asked the speaker to say it in English. I didn't really understand how it was funny after the first three speakers...although I laughed each time.

After the officers were introduced, our translator told us it was time for each member to introduce themselves to the group. The point of the exercise was to say something about ourselves (although I know the words for sun and rainbows, I didn't know how to say I like something or I would have said "my name is Erik and I like sunshine and rainbows"). I was the first foreigner to be picked, which made me about the 5th speaker. I stood up and said that my name is Erik...everyone laughed at me. I said that I only understand a little Korean...and everyone laughed at me. I said that I was American...and everyone laughed at me. My translator asked me to say my major, I said philosophy...and everyone laughed at me. My translator asked me to say how tall I was...and everyone acted amazed...and then laughed at me. In fact, each time I said something, the group laughed at me. For a few brief moments, I felt the bliss of a stand-up comedian.

Now that I think about it, I don't recall a time that I said anything in Korean (to a Korean) where that person didn't laugh at me...

There was this woman sitting almost directly across from me that took shy to a new extreme. When she was picked to speak, she literally turned into a strawberry (a Korean getting that red takes some serious talent) and spoke while she covered her face. After the meeting was over, my translator brought the girl up to us foreigners and asked her to speak to us in English. The woman turned deathly red and said hello. We all said hello back to her. Our translator asked the girl another question in English and she responded to us in English. For the first five answers, it was our translator asking her in English to tell us about herself. The girl seemed really sweet, but it was noteworthy because the whole experience was sort of strange.

One cultural lesson that makes me very happy: from what I've been told, it is very rude in most Asian societies to forget a name. Meaning that when a Korean tells me his or her name, I better work my ass off to find some way to remember that name. One woman said her name was (spelled phonetically) "Dauson." Obviously not Dauson, but the only way I could remember it at the time was to say "Dauson is awesome!" We joked a little more and as we were preparing to leave, I said that I think I would be able to recall her name since I had a strong word association. She then made this interesting request, "please remember my name."

That brought to light a weird trend...she was the third person I've met to tell me "please remember my name." How can you respond to that request? I haven't figured out if that is just a statement that is awkward to say in English and a better meaning would be "...," never mind, I can't even get one. All I can think of now is like someone dying and begging, "please remember me!"

So here is my goal -- when I introduce myself to people in the future, I will say "my name is Erik," and then adding in a whining voice "please don't forget my name."

Sauna and classes

Sunday night was my first trip to a Korean Sauna. After getting there, I think sauna is the inappropriate word that ought to be replaced with spa.

We gathered 12 people to come with us. Of the 12, I think only two had been to the spa before. As I describe everything that was there, remember carefully that this was about $5.

First: we had to take off all our clothes and store them in a locker.

Second: shower. While in the shower, and this came as a little surprising for me, but it is apparently common for people in the shower to help each other out. For instance, I saw two Korean guys washing each other's backs. The awkward feeling of all us westerners seeing each other naked was quickly resolved when we observed the way all the Koreans were behaving.

Third: After the shower, we were clean enough to enjoy one of three giant tubs: one had the temperature at around 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit (by my best estimate compared with my hot tub experience), the next had the water around 95-100 degrees Fahrenheit and the last one at maybe 50 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the guys that had been there before explained the coldest one was mostly there for the summer months when a nice cold bath just hits the spot. Seeing that it is in the dead of winter, the coldest one was empty except for us foreigners that wanted the experience of jumping in right after the hottest tub.

Fourth: There were two saunas: humid and dry. The humid sauna had the temperature at around 80 degrees Celsius with a constant stream of steam in the middle. It wasn't exactly steam because it didn't burn, but it was warm. I just converted the 80 degrees to Fahrenheit and it said 176 degrees, so I have to be remembering that wrong. I was like 99% sure it said 80 degrees and I doubt they would measure in Fahrenheit...Nonetheless, we were all sweating less than a minute inside. I didn't see the dry sauna's temperature.

Fifth: We showered again and changed into these bright orange prison-like clothes that were extremely comfortable. We were getting dressed to head to the common area. The common area was like a giant lounge equipped with a couple TV's, computers (but you had to pay), video games, wooden pillows (to sleep on), sleeping mats, food and a small gym. In the common area, there were several igloos that all had different temperatures inside. The first one that I went into was the hottest and dry...relaxing for a couple minutes and then a little too much. The second room, not an igloo, was the "cold room" that had no heating at all. The guy that had been there before enlightened us that they usually have a giant block of ice in the cold room, but they probably removed it in the winter. And if this block of ice could fill the container in the middle, then it must have been a good 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I went to the sauna feeling awake and fairly relaxed...and then I laid down in this comfortable igloo that was probably 80 degrees Fahrenheit...where I fell asleep for 10 or 15 minutes. I woke up because I was starving and didn't want to stay out too late -- I had the first day of classes the next day. I spent about three hours there and really enjoyed it. Will travel back and at about $5, I couldn't imagine a cheaper and better way to spend a Sunday night. Apparently it is possible to stay the night at this place as well, although that costs around $9. Someone said they stayed there for three days because it was cheaper than a motel. They had beds that I didn't get to see.

After getting home, I prepared for my first day of classes at Ewha. With the combination of the whole experience coupled with dinner and such, I was under my blanket around 12:45AM needing to wake up at 7:30AM to get breakfast before my 8:30AM class. I thought I set my alarm for 7:30AM...but that didn't exactly go as planned. I woke up to Rebecca calling me at like 8:20AM since I missed our morning meeting. I frantically got dressed, omitting boxers and socks, simply to make sure that I could make it to class...I also didn't know where the class was at. Thankfully, I ran into some other students heading there too and the building was 3 minutes away. I made it on time but a little out of it.

My class schedule is currently set at 9 semester credits of Korean language and 3 credits of religions in Korea (12 semester credits total). That means that all 5 days of the week, my soul belongs to Korean language from 8:30AM to 11:10AM. Ewha has this system of classes where you find a class based on periods with each period being about an hour and 15 minutes, followed by a 15 minute break, and then the start of the next period. It is needlessly complex and difficult because classes are listed like "period 2~2," meaning it is period 2. Why not just say "9:30-10:45?" Anyway, so the language courses function a little differently. Normally period 1 goes from 8:00-9:15, period 2 is 9:30-10:45, period 3 is 11:00 - 12:15 and so forth until the last period concludes at 6:15PM. The language course, as said before, starts at 8:30 and goes until 11:10...meaning that I can't sign up for any classes for periods 1-3. It also happens to be that there were a couple classes I wanted that were at period 3, but that 10 minute layover prevents me from taking them...

Okay. So I was looking for more classes to take because 9 gives me too much free time and doesn't challenge the analytical portions of my mind. One philosophy course that looked interesting was quickly soured by the first 8 weeks covering authors I had already read and in texts that I was familiar with. Those 8 weeks, in my opinion, would be a waste of my time here. The other philosophy course occurred during period 2 on Friday. So no philosophy this term...

Before I go much further, let me quickly say the qualifications that I have for my classes:
1) interesting. Therefore, no math courses or science labs. They have some law classes, but the ones that had a syllabus did everything to make the class sound as boring as possible.
2) In a classroom setting. There are several interesting classes that are offered online, but I can already tell that I would lazily complete the work at the last minute...if at all. Online courses just don't appeal to me.
3) Not on a Friday. This one may be controversial, but I have a good reason. As part of my experience here in Korea, I need to have the ability to travel. Korea is a very small country...so small in fact, that I can make it to Busan (or Pusan, it is the same place but the translations are difficult) in four hours. What that means is that when I want to travel on a weekend, I can leave Seoul at noon instead of 5 or 6 and still enjoy Friday someplace else.

Of the 80 estimated classes offered, about 70 fail qualification 1. They are probably interesting courses, but I don't want my experience here tainted with the lingering aftertaste of science lab, business management, international finances or golf. Of the 10 that remain, about 5 fail qualification 2. Of the 5 classes left, 3 are on Fridays. With 2 choices left, 1 is religions in Korea (I signed up for that) and the other is the philosophy course with 8 weeks of review.

So I only have 12 semester credits. I may consider trying one of the online ones depending on how much free time I find myself with in the next two or three days. See also, "desperation."

When I am in classes, I always do better when I feel a subtle hint of competition. In Korean class, I was put at the lowest level. Fair enough, I need to learn the basics. But we spent the first two days learning how to read -- something that I can already do. One of my friends, who understands no Korean but was placed in a higher class, is starting with grammar under the assumption that everyone can read. I envy her! I want to be there! In my class, there is this one woman from Mongolia who is learning the words faster than me. We study the sounds and then apply them to words. What I mean by this is that today we covered the "M" sound, so one of our vocabulary words was "Namu" (tree). She gets them faster than me and that little bit of competition is fueling my desire to learn. On that note though, I know I would work much much much harder if I were behind absolutely everyone. Then, in grandeur, as if I were riding triumphantly back to my capital after destroying all their pride, I would cackle with my superiority -- raising my glass to the bloodied moon in acknowledgment of their suffering! Competition brings out the best in me...




This is a hard picture to look at. I was at Yonsei University last week to visit with Josie and I noticed the most recent victim of violence in Korea. I had to ask Josie to take this picture for me. In broad day light, in front of hundreds of impressionable college students, here hangs a proud American patriot trying to make his way in Korea. Lacking the decency to cut down his body and give him a proper burial, I can only harbor intense resentment, fear and disgust for the violent actions of some Yonsei University extremists. Even in death, this proud American wore a rebellious smile -- as if letting me know that everything was going to be all right...




Addendum: A pox on spell check! It never caught that I was misspelling competition! Additionally, the picture we see here is Spongebob Squarepants hanging from a tree. Some might think it was only a balloon that got stuck there, but in fact, it wasn't.

Living in I-House

On Tuesday, everybody was supposed to be moved into the dorms. Each day after Tuesday, I think I've been meeting an average of six new people each day. To help me remember everyone's name, I've been requesting for each person I meet to come up with a song to assist my memory. There have been some good ones: Nick from the USA gave me the old Nickelodeon theme song, Aeryoung from Korea gave me something I hadn't heard (but I didn't forget her name)...hmm...those two might be the only two that ever got back to me. I asked a ton of people and only these two obliged...I didn't realize that until right now.

Life in I-House has been very different. What I mean by that it is hard to have fun at I-House. There are some TVs that have English channels, but there are no DVD players. Some students have wires to connect their computers to the TVs, therefore making it possible to watch movies, but I only know one person that has that. I-House also has very bad sound insulation, so hanging out in someone's room requires loud whispers or quiet talking to avoid bothering other residents.

So where am I going with this? The only places that we can really hang out are: coffee shops, bars, clubs and restaurants. Put together dozens of international students on break from school, mix that with a desire to make new friends and the conclusion is that each night has several large groups of 10-15 international student heading out to dinner, followed by a bar (we often combine to form a bigger group) and sometimes concluded with a club. Since I moved into I-House a week ago, there has only been one night that I came back without alcohol in my system.

Keeping that in mind, there isn't too much else to say on February 23rd - 27th. On the 28th I was pretty excited about going to coffee with a new friend that I met the night before, but sadly she canceled on me. I was pretty disappointed, but enjoyed a quiet night inside.

Friday was my orientation for Ewha. I had a busy day on Friday! Judy, a student from PSU currently studying at Yonsei, made time to meet me for lunch at noon. But, I wanted to go on a campus tour before I met her, meaning that I had to go to the 10:30AM tour. And then, at 1:30PM, I had to be back at Ewha to start the actual orientation. That lasted for three hours, concluding with a dinner at 5PM.

Okay, with all that said, I need to mention what really had me stoked all day. I met Youna for coffee on Thursday and she told me that one of the English TV stations in Korea was joining orientation to interview international students and also spotlight Ewha's international program. I requested that she suggest for me to be interviewed!

I got to the 10:30AM tour gathering at the Office of Global Affairs. Sure enough, there were TV cameras roving around and talking to people. Youna hinted that I should wait until the 11AM tour so I can have time to talk to the camera, but also that the 11AM tour would have the camera following them. That decision was pretty easy and I could just leave the tour early if I was running late for my lunch with Judy. I was mingling around with everyone, talking about my former modeling and acting days, but the camera didn't interview me...actually, the camera didn't talk to a single American there. I was flanked by one French guy and one German guy and they both were interviewed! I was totally pissed!

But I wasn't mad for too long. On the tour, the guides demonstration the library system. To me, it was needlessly complex. In order to have a computer in the library lab, you need to use this computer to reserve a computer seat. The guides demonstrated and then the cameras asked for an international student to do it as well. Youna called me over for my close-up! I performed flawlessly. I checked out a seat, smiled for the camera and gave an interview about how easy it was afterwards. It was easy, just for the record, but the demand for those computers must be pretty high to have a system function like this.

There isn't too much to say on my lunch with Judy. We bought some kim bab...it was called "vegetable kim bab" which honestly made me think there wouldn't be much meat. That wasn't true because I am pretty sure that the vegetable kim bab has more meat than any other of the options. I had to pick it all out.

I made it back in time for registration and orientation. I got this really cool Ewha book bag and a t-shirt. The bag is so neat! I think I am mostly going to use this bag instead of my backpack for the term. Orientation was blisteringly boring. It took three hours to essentially read everything that was printed in our handbook. There were some highlights including a traditional Korean song performed by a campus club and some skits that helped lighten the mood. It also went slower because the presenters, although having strong command of English, could only talk as fast as Ben Stein. It ended with a wonderful dinner where I was interviewed a second time. The question I was asked was something like "how hard is it to be at a campus so different than your home campus and how comfortable do you feel here?"

At 6:30PM, the Ewha PEACE buddies were hosting a party at a local bar that included "free" drinks (with the $6 admission charge). It was pretty fun because there were so many of us there -- I would guess 70 of us in this tiny bar.

On Wednesday it was one of the American students' birthday and she turned 21. I started going around and letting people know we were going to be leaving to take her out to celebrate with us...I just didn't realize how effective that went. The bar we were at was closing at 10PM and we were gathering to leave at 9:30PM...somehow we pulled a good 45 people with us. Getting 45 people into a bar on Friday night proved difficult as four places rejected us. We kept walking around until our numbers dwindled to about 20 and we found a good place...sadly the birthday girl left shortly before we found a spot. She was more interested in hanging out at a club.

My classes start tomorrow. I've been invited to join a group (no idea how big) to go to a sauna tonight at some point. I am pretty excited for that because I've never been to a sauna like this.

Won't be too late tonight...my first Korean class starts at 8:30AM tomorrow...

And finally, after proofreading this, I need to make a quick point -- my English is getting worse here. Constantly being surrounded by people that make tiny grammatical mistakes, coupled with my inability to utilize the beauty of multisyllabic words, means that I can't hear complex English and I can't speak complex English. This is already showing in my writing as I had to proofread this entry a couple times...(did I really write "tomorrow starts my classes"?)