Random Thoughts with Tori

Now, I know what most of you are thinking...you're thinking "Shouldn't this be the title of every interaction with Tori?" But there is REALLY no rhyme or reason to the things I'll write today...just random things that I want to get out there!

**Last weekend I went with my Saturday co-teacher and her family to JeonJu. We went to a Korean folk village, ate some bibimbap, and had a good time! It's fun hanging out with just a Korean family by myself sometimes...
**I will never get used to the thought of squid as a snack. I just walked over to the table in our teacher's office, and right next to some crackers, choco pies and coffee was some squid...naturally...
**I was on the phone today with some loan ppl in America because my loan got moved from one company to another. I waited on hold for 56 minutes. I talked to the person for 3 minutes. God Bless America. :/
**I still have no idea what I'm going to do next year when my contract runs up. I have it narrowed down to 3 main ideas: stay in Korea, go back to America, or go somewhere else. Seriously though, pray for my direction for next year, because I don't know where I'm going to be!
** I am addicted to cheesy Korean dramas. I'm watching one now from a few years ago, and even though I'm 98% sure of what will happen, I still cling onto every episode with suspense.
**I am jealous of people who get Reese's peanut butter cups shipped to them...there, I said it.
**I am tired of feeling like I'm the inferior of everyone else in my school...just when I feel like they're starting to treat me as an equal, someone goes and overrules me on something or another just because it's their right as someone older than me. Even though I only knew/experienced the feeling for a year, I miss feeling like an equal with my co-workers, feeling like I actually had a say in things.
**I love every moment that I successfully communicate with a person in Korean. It's funny how things that would be so natural in "normal" life have become such successes (or failures as it may be) in this life.
**I realize that I couldn't live as a single woman in Korea forever...I'm enjoying this life, but know that it's not for me forever.
**I miss singing in a choral setting...I haven't now consistently for about 2 or 2 1/2 years...every time I hear a choir, I get misty eyed.
**I get excited when my school wants me to help with something like an English pop song contest...even though I know they only asked me because I am the Native English Speaker, I tend to convince myself that it's also because of my highly trained background in music. :P
** I enjoy seeing what adventures life leads me on with different people in my life...even though I don't always understand why things are the way they are, or why my timing wasn't clearly better than God's...I appreciate every moment that He gives me with my friends and family and co-workers, knowing that it's blessed.
**I am striving to try harder everyday to be more of a blessing to the people around me. Sometimes I use being a foreigner as my crutch to not be myself...to not be as loving and as kind as I normally am...to not give wholeheartedly, knowing that other people's feelings are at stake. I want to be more like myself here in Korea, language barrier or no language barrier.
**I need to stop complaining so much. No need to expand on that.
**I love all of my family and friends, and even though I don't talk to all of you super often, you're in my thoughts and prayers a lot and I care so so so much about you!!
**I need to go be productive at work now, since for 2 1/2 hours I have nothing to show but a picture for the title page of my PPT for next week.
Enjoy your week...and I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

Discounts and Oreo Balls

So, today I was late leaving my house and I took a taxi to school...on the way, I saw this guy who was holding his hand against his window, trying to get it to roll up...I laughed and then remembered what it was like to have a ghetto car that you have to do ghetto things to sometimes.

Yesterday I made Oreo Balls for Bible Study because it is my friend Hal's birthday this week. They weren't quite all the way dry yet when I needed to leave, so I waited a little longer, put them in a container, and hopped in a taxi to get there. I had to walk for a little while before I found a taxi driving along. I waved him down, got in, told him where I was going, and sat back for the ride. Hands down, this guy was my favorite taxi driver EVER. He was so awesome, he was speaking to me in Korean, which I liked, but he didn't get frustrated with me if I didn't understand...he would just say it a different way or say it in English. He started off by asking me something I didn't understand, then asking me if I spoke Korean well. I told him I couldn't speak it well, and he told me I needed to learn. Haha. I told him I was studying, etc. So this entire conversation went on, talking about my job, where I work, if I'm married, why I'm not married, his family, sports....tons of stuff. Haha, one of the funniest things to me that he said was that his son was tall and handsome, and good at sports, but not very good at studying. Haha. I laughed, because I guess stereotypes are sometimes proven even here. Also, as we were going, he told me that his home was near where I was going, so it was actually helpful to him that I was going there. So, at the end of my taxi ride, he gave me a discount! Heck yeah! And I totally wouldn't have minded paying him, because he was awesome, but I will take a discount where I can get one!! So, I popped open the container of oreo balls and told him that they were an American dessert. So he tried one and said it was delicious. Another funny thing is that he had been telling me I was pretty throughout the taxi ride, but then when he turned the light on to take my money, he was like "Wow, you're really pretty. Really!" Haha. Anyway, needless to say, taxi rides are normally something of a chore for me, with taxi drivers who are a bit disappointed that a foreigner is riding in their taxi, not knowing what to say to you...and this one...this one was a winner!! :)

I think I'm an emotional blogger...

I mean, I guess that's kind of the point of blogging...to express things when you want to. I just envy those people who are so faithful about blogging all the time. And I'm sure my family envies those as well...haha. Oh well. Anyway, I just found that I normally want to blog when I'm feeling something that I just need to express to someone non-Korean. No offense Korean friends...

So, some of my students are getting ready for the school festival, where they'll be singing a pop song together. They asked for my help preparing, and they chose the song "Isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder, but they want to do a version similar to the Idea of North's version. The Idea of North is an A Cappella group that sings pop songs and such in a vocal jazz style. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to make this happen, because that's set up in an SATB status, whereas this is 5 girls singing together...lol. As I was looking for this A Cappella version of this song, I started listening to and watching all of these videos of a Korean group of students singing vocal jazz music together. It reallllllllly made me miss A: being a student...you know, back in the day, and B: singing. No, not singing at church. No, not singing at Noraebong....I mean singing singing. Singing classical music, vocal jazz, something like that...singing in a big choir. I don't know. Anyway, I have been feeling more of an ache for music lately, so I think I need to make more of an effort to make music an intentional part of my life. I don't know how that will take place, but I need to do it!

So, all of this rambling for absolutely no reason but to say that I miss singing. But it's true...and it's making me sad right now...yet I can't help but listen to more! It's like doing something else knowing that it'll probably hurt, but knowing that the hurt is worth the reward...

In other news, I'm losing even more of my English these days!!! The other day, someone asked me if my cell phone would work in America, and I said no. She said "not even on roam??" I said "No. Because of the kind of......umm, like the cell phone.....the service.....umm, that thing you choose to say how many minutes you can have, and that stuff. You know...a cell phone....uh.....UGH!!!!" I seriously couldn't think of the word "plan"...cell phone plan. I couldn't believe it. Hopefully I'm gaining Korean at as large of a rate as I am losing English!!!

Yogurt

So, I've been home in America visiting for about a week and a half now. It's been quite the experience, traveling all over this country! I started my journey on July 31st, flying from Seoul to Tokyo, Tokyo to Newark, and Newark to Pittsburgh. When I was in the airport in Newark, I saw this girl that looked like someone I went to college with. I decided "I've been in Korea too long"...knowing that I was just thinking that everyone looked like someone I knew, mostly because they were white. Turns out it was actually the person I knew from college! She was coming back from Thailand, and just happened to be flying into the same airport at the same time as me. Weird. Anyway, when I came into Pittsburgh, my luggage wasn't there yet. Luckily, I have a wonderful brother and sister-in-law that were waiting to take me to Chipotle. I was SO excited for that! And by the time we got back from Chipotle, my luggage was in from the next flight. Lovely! That night I stayed at Keesa's (my sister-in-law) family's house. The next day, I went to church with the Cook's, then had a lunch get together with the Palmer side of my family. It was great to see everyone, and luckily I wasn't that jetlagged, so I actually got to enjoy their company. Monday, I hung out with the Cook's, swam in the pool, and had lunch with my brother. Then mom came up and we had dinner at the Cook's. Then I went to my mom's house and got ready for the big trip.
On Tuesday, my mom and I started the trek to Kansas City, with a few stops in between. We had breakfast with the lovely Courtney M. Page, Starbucks at a random city in Indiana, and dinner with my wonderful friends in St. Louis. Then we hit the road to Kansas City. I won't even list out all of the appointments I had in Kansas City, because there were SO many people in such a little time that I met with! However, it was so good to see everyone, and I'm so glad I got to spend some quality time with people! On Sunday, I went to church at Nall, which was nice, until I thought about the fact that I wouldn't be there again the next week. :( Aw. Anyway, I got to sing on the worship team, so that was fun! Then after church, my mom and I headed for Michigan. Monday morning we had breakfast with the LeFeber family, which was great. It was nice to see everyone! Then we left around noon to go back to PA in order for me to fly out the next morning. Now I'm in Florida, chilling at my dad's house. I was SO lazy this morning! But I went shopping today which was fun, and it's been nice just relaxing some.

This morning when I got up, I decided to eat an english muffin and some yogurt. I was super excited about having real yogurt as opposed to the soupy yogurt that they have in Korea. Well, it turns out that my body doesn't like American yogurt anymore. My body decided within the hour to get rid of the yogurt inside of it, which was not pleasant. After that, I realized that my body is more Korean now than American, at least in its food tolerances. Fortunately, we ate Korean food tonight, and my body is definitely used to that. It's great. Anyway, tomorrow Elizabeth and I are going to SeaWorld which should be fun! I am going to do my best to enjoy the rest of my break here in America, knowing that it'll be back to the grind soon enough!

New Korean Slogan

The sound of a weed whacker...the smell of asphalt...the smell in the morning when I go to walk the dog...these are all things that, oddly as it may be, remind me of home. I'm sitting in my office right now, and I hear a weed whacker outside getting to business. I find it kind of funny that a weed whacker, of all things, would make me think of home, but...well...it does!

So, recently I've decided what my new slogan for life in Korea is. The slogan goes something like this: Korea-where weird becomes normal, and normal becomes weird. This first came to mind when I was walking down the street with a friend and this guy (he sounded American by his accent), came and asked for directions to a certain sushi restaurant. I explained to him and showed him where it was, and we went our separate ways. At that, my friend said "That's not supposed to happen..." "What's not?" "Someone asking you for directions on the street in English...and you answering in English..." I laughed about it, but when thinking further, it was really true. Those kinds of things, the things that should be so normal in life, have become so few and far between, that they seem "weird" to us now. On the other hand, not being able to effectively communicate with people, not knowing what's in my food, not having half a clue as to what's going on in school sometimes....those things are the things we'd consider "weird" in the states...weird enough to note every time they happened. However, here, they've become so normal to me that I just don't think to talk about them anymore! So, I live in Korea-the land where weird becomes normal and normal becomes weird.

Also, Korea has done something for me in my thoughts of communication. In the states, I would tell people I HATE when there's a lack of communication between people. I thought that communication issues were one of the worst things to happen...ever. However, now living out of my normal element, living somewhere that communication is so different, and is not congenial with my instincts, I've learned so much about how to deal with communication issues. I've also learned to not jump to conclusions about what someone says or does, thinking first "Ok, is this cultural? Was there some sort of mix up in communication?" And that has helped me relax so much about my...well, basically my overly active worry-gene. It's a good thing, for sure!

Alright, I should go. A friend and I took pictures for some of our friends' wedding. I'm busy editing them (I've spent several several hours already doing it, and I'm only just over half done...and the wedding is next week! Ah!!!) so I should probably get back to that.
Oh!! Before I go, a random story! I walked into my classroom yesterday and this one boy was practically hyperventilating and another was livid. I have no idea what happened, but the entire class period, I was on top of this kid, trying to keep him from yelling and getting out of his seat...it was crazy! Definitely a first for me in Korea!! Ok, for real now...picture editing, here I come!

A homey event

What do these things have in common?

*Nachos (I mean with real cheese)
*Pulled pork sandwiches
*Rootbeer floats
*Banana Pudding
*Reese's Pieces
*An enormous American flag
*Ordering in English (comfortably); being responded to fluently in English
*Having to ask if it's ok to pay in Won instead of American dollars
*Lots and lots of small white, black, hispanic, and other kinds of children

Have you figured it out? The answer is "things that Tori experienced yesterday for the first time in over a year." That's right! Yesterday, I went to Camp Humphrey in Pyeongtaek for the "Freedom Fest 2010" taking place on base. For the weekend, they opened up the base to everyone (everyone with an ID at least) and had lots of fun, music, fireworks, blow up slides and other things you'd typically see on the 4th of July. Last year on the 4th, we went to the beach, which was fine, and we had pizza, which was fine, and some people tried to set off some fireworks on the beach before the beach patrol came which was, well, at least entertaining. However, it just didn't quite feel like the 4th of July. But this year was different! I couldn't believe the amount of Americans I saw in one place at one time! Haha. And I have to say that I was quite taken back by some of the conversation I heard! When my friend was ordering banana pudding, the lady working behind the counter was kicking boxes around and such going "Where da whip cream at??" Haha...I looked at my friend Courtney and said "Wow....I'm so sheltered." So, all of this to say a couple things. First of all, I had a fun 4th of July. Second, I am a little tiny bit more prepared to visit America in a month. Next, as much fun as it is to experience large amounts of Americans together on a holiday, I'm glad I live where I do. Also, eating way too much food can be entirely too satisfying sometimes. And lastly, although I love Korea, I'm still proud to be an American, and I love celebrating my country with great food, great friends, and of course, things exploding...I mean fireworks. :)

Dog Tales

So, my friend Lauren got a new dog. Well, I wouldn't exactly call him new, but he's new to her. He's a 10 year old Doberman named Kayser. He's completely wonderful and satisfies my "big dog longing syndrome" that I've developed while living here in Korea. Well, I have started walking him in the mornings. I think that might be why I feel so tired all the time, but it's ok, I'll get used to it! Anyway, it's quite the scene with us walking down the street together, a foreigner and a HUGE dog in the middle of the city. I try to take him down different paths near our house so he doesn't (and I don't) get bored. I've had some funny experiences recently with this and wanted to share some.

First there was the ladies who work at a store about a block behind my apartment. The one saw us coming, ran outside, then summoned the other one to come out. She asked me in Korean if he bites, and I told her no, so she started petting him saying "Wow, what a good looking dog" and such things. They asked how old he was and almost fell over when I told them he was 10.

On Friday morning, I was walking near Yawoori (the main road/department store near my house), so I went on the block behind it, assuming that there'd be less people there. I had two different groups of guys stop me, asking me how old he is, what kind of dog he is, how old he is, and how much he cost. Lauren got Kayser at a shelter, so he only cost 50 dollars. Their jaws almost dropped to the ground when I told them that! These guys had kind of smothered him, but he seemed to be enjoying the attention.

On Saturday, I walked past a shop where this guy was sitting. He came outside and told me to come back over. So, I walked back over, reassured him that Kayser didn't bite, and then he started petting him, talking about how big and good looking he was. Then he pointed into his house at this TINY little dog that was inside...it was definitely a puppy, standing on the table just chillin. I picked that dog up, Kayser sniffed him a little, and then the puppy settled into my arms cuddling up next to me. It was SO cute I didn't know what to do! The whole time this is happening, this guy and I are trying to communicate in Korean which is pretty entertaining itself. Then I started to put the puppy down to leave, and he said "같이 가자" meaning "let's go together" AKA "Take the puppy with you." Hahaha, I laughed so hard. I think he wanted to get rid of that thing. Anyway, it was pretty funny!

Then on Sunday, after Kayser had gotten in a hissy fit with a cat (AKA Kayser started sniffing a cat in a corner, which I didn't see, and the cat hissed at him and batted at him), we went on our walk. On the way back, we went behind Yawoori again, for the sake of less people. Well, the night before, Korea had lost their soccer match, so people were still out from drinking after the game. There were these 4 people who were being REALLY loud and I was thinking "Wow, they are so drunk!" Well, when I came closer, one of the girls looked like she wanted to pet the dog, so I stopped, and the four of them practically pounced on him. I soon found out that this was a group of deaf people, which explained the loud behavior from before. I ended up having a conversation, partly in English, partly in Korean, with one of the guys who could read lips pretty well. It was quite the adventure trying to figure out exactly what each other was saying, both always wondering if we were speaking in Korean or English! Then one the other guy in the group looked at me, and in his best English (remember, he's deaf, so he's never really heard English), "Can I have your phone number?" HAHAHAHAHA. I about died rolling on the ground in laughter. It was really funny, and luckily, it was meant as a joke from him!

Oh, and I almost forgot this one...I was walking once this week and these two grandmas came past me. The first one said "와 진짜 큰게!" like "Wow, really big!" and the second one said "와, 외국인!" meaning "Wow, foreigner!" Haha. I should have probably been offended in that moment, but I just laughed at the situation.

So, these are some of the stories I've had on my morning adventures so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were many more to come! I hope you enjoyed them!