Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Only in America

It's been an eventful fortnight. We spent our first few days with friends and family in North Carolina. It feels very strange to visit the state I spent my entire pre-Korea life in, but it was wonderful to see everyone. We even got to visit the breathtaking Blue Ridge Parkway, reminding me that when it comes to mountains, bigger is not necessarily better. Going back to Charlotte was a mixed bag: it was good to see everyone, and very sad to see how the library system has devolved since I left. My old branch is losing most of its staff in the next round of layoffs. I owe the Public Library of Charlotte the best of my training, and it's unsettling to see the mighty fall.

I moved on to Washington, D.C., where I roomed with my best friend and attended a library conference. While I learned a lot at the conference, there's not much of interest to report. I did meet the Librarian of the Army, whom I was in complete awe of. She started out at Camp Humphries, and had some sage advice for me. Melissa and I painted the town as we normally do. We even spent an evening with an old friend from high school whom we hadn't seen in ten years.

Coming back to the US was not the shock I had planned, but easy and familiar. I had forgotten how nice it is to be able to read all of the signs and understand shopkeepers. When we landed in Dulles, I was immediately struck at how much variety there was. After the homogeneity of Korea, it was shocking to see many types of clothing, suitcases, and even ways to behave in the airport there were. I am in Dupont Circle at the moment, where I feel like a cliché. Everyone here is carrying a book, all the restaurants and shops boast organic food, and there are people sitting alone on park benches reading. There are these marvelous yogurt shops that sell frozen plain yogurt with fruit and granola. I feel like they were made for me! I had not realized how much I missed rock music and street musicians and being able to leave the house in sweats without feeling self conscious. Dupont Circle is admittedly one of the coolest places in the US.

I have never felt like I fit in in my life, and now I find that I am a stereotypical young professional. I guess moving to Korea reminds me of how American I am. I'm going to miss this place

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day

It took a little longer for me to understand how much I owe my dad. Let me be frank: to my childhood self, my father was a regular tyrant. He made mework for every penny of allowance I got, and boy did I complain about it. Other kids around me got 5 whole dollars a week for nothing, I got 2 for doing the dishes and putting my laundry away. I felt trapped in unjust
servitude. Heck, he didn't even pay me for my grades!

My dad made me learn how to drive a stick shift when I was 15. I wanted to go to the mall, but no, I had to drive my dad to Home Depot in a hoopty Isuzu trooper every Sunday. He made me learn how to change a tire and check my oil. When I turned 16, there was no car with a red bow on it in my driveway, no sirree. I waitressed at Pizza Hut all summer to pay for 1/2 of my car (dad did cover the rest).

Perhaps you see where this is going. By the time I was 21, I was largely self sufficient. My peers wandered around in post college limbo; I worked full time and paid my rent. I have been paying my own bills for 7 years now, and it feels pretty damned good. Plus, I can drive a stick shift. I
don't need a man to pay my expenses or change my tires (though I am glad that my man wants to help with both).

Dad taught me not to make excuses for myself. When something goes wrong, I could waste a lot of time trying to figure out who to blame or why theuniverse is against me. I don't. This is largely because dad never blamed teachers for my bad grades, coaches for my inability to make it out of right field, or the government for my inability to find professional work after
college. Dad taught me the value of taking responsibility for my own life.

Were I a building--dad is a builder, to anyone who doesn't know--dad built me an incredibly solid and deep foundation of self reliance and responsibility. And he did it while I was screaming and crying that he was an evil father.

Happy Father's Day, dad! You probably won't even read this until after I'm back in South Korea.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Visiting home

I get almost physical pleasure from crossing things off of my to-do list. (Does that make me a weirdo? Yes.) So today I spent the rest of my book budget, traipsed through miles of classrooms and gave my shchpiel about summer reading, delivered some prizes and info to Carroll Library, and am now just about ready to go. The library will be in the capable hands of Mr. Pan while I am junketeering at ALA, and when I get back, it's summer reading time!! I'm stoked.

The last time I went back to the states after living in Wales for 3 months, it was weird. Everything was familiar, but I felt detached, like I was revisiting my childhood bedroom. I studied a dollar bill for a good 20 minutes. It was something I dealt with every day, and then didn't see for three months. It was almost new again! So this trip to the states will be interesting.

When my fellow Americans see me bowing to strangers and handing over payment with two hands, I will know that I am strange in my own country, too. But I'm used to it. I'm an outsider living in a homogenous place. I could walk down the street on my hands and the locals wouldn't stare harder at me. There's an odd easiness to social interaction when no one expects you to fit in.

US of A, here we come!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

The Sand Festival at Haeudae Beach

I'll admit, I don't see why sand is so exciting that it warrants a festival. Despite my skepticism, Bobby and I signed up for the CAC trip to the sand festival so that we could "See sand, Feel sand, and Enjoy sand.” This logo, as well as promises of “sand experiences,” which included sand olympics and a sand museum, kept us amused for most of the 2.5 hour bus ride.

I was not sure what to expect from Haeundae Beach. It is Busan's beach, and Busan, if you'll recall, is a major shipping port with a population of 4 million. I was astounded when I encountered a pristine beach with clear water which wasn't even particularly crowded. Though the beach became more crowded as the day progressed, I soon figured out why it wasn't packed like most parks are on weekends. The only people with full beach setups—chairs, towels, umbrellas, etc—were foreigners. Okay, I exaggerate. We did see a few Korean families with beach towels. But mostly, it was foreigners. There were Koreans huddled under the festival tents, walking around looking at sand sculptures, and hanging out at the shady park that bordered the beach.

I learned that sand can be exciting when we saw some incredible sculptures. We also had a fantastic lunch at a place called Gecko's, a western restaurant with British and American dishes. These western mashups are always a crapshoot, especially since they're expensive, but this one was good. I was pleasantly surprised when I got real french fries when the picture showed crinkle cut. They were selling themselves short. Sipping mixed drinks while sitting on a terrace overlooking the water made me feel very at home. We spend most of the afternoon lying on the beach. I went into the East Sea (do NOT call it the Sea of Japan here), which was completely clear. There was a police boat patrolling for swimmers who went too far out or boats that went to close to the shore. There was a stage where people did karaoke, and, as always, there were speakers scattered everywhere so we could hear. The foreigners were easily recognizable in that we wore a lot less, though Bobby and I were practically clergy next to the guy in the thong who jumped rope on a raised platform with his ass facing the beach. We later saw him on a jet ski.

I was very happy to get to the beach. We hope to go and see another one before the summer is over.



Sand dragon














See the clear water? I couldn't figure it out. Cities make water dirty, right?













Sand castle extraordinaire













Sand Jesus













Festival tents. This mainly looked like a place to sit in the shade.
















The festival stage. You can see the mascot on the sign.










A Korean rest stop. These things take rest stops to a whole new level. This one had a petting zoo and a fountain along with the food court and convenience stores.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Gyeongju

Gyeongju is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Korea. It's the seat of the historic Silla dynasty, which united the different clans to form a united government in the 7th century. The Silla rulers were the first kings over the entire peninsula, I believe, and their court fostered art, science, and a rigid bureaucracy. Gyeongju is a little over an hour from us by car, so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and drive down.

We had beautiful weather in Daegu, so it didn't occur to me that Gyeongju may be otherwise. I suppose since there are so many mountains in Korea, the weather system varies by location more than what I'm used to. It was chilly and windy, and Bobby was sorely underdressed. Nonetheless we enjoyed having the place nearly to ourselves.

We started with Bulguksa, a magnificent temple in the mountains around Gyeongju. There were several beautiful buildings, though they were very similar to the ones we've seen before. There were no photographs allowed inside of the shrines, probably for fear of damaging the intricate paintings. We did see a hanging fish with antlers, which is a tad different from the hanging fish without antlers we normally see (no idea what the hanging fish means.) I was struck by the number of rock piles, which Mr. Pan tells me are wishing piles. One shrine was crowded with them.

After a typically lavish Korean lunch at the Silla restaurant, we headed to the historic tombs. These were tombs much like we have in the mountains by our house, but writ large. They were hills, many of which had two humps for a king and queen. Silla was a long lived dynasty, so there were plenty of burial mounds for the dead royals.

We walked around a huge park in the center of Gyeongju, which included an ancient astronomical observatory, more burial grounds, a garden, and the remains of a fortress. The fortress was mainly a huge rock wall with a moat around it, though there was a rock lined cavern that was once an ice house.
We stopped by the Silla pleasure pond, which was a few pavillions where royals and their guests would party by the water. I tried to picture it filled with pleasure boats and paper lanterns.

On our way out, we got some of what was reputedly famous Gyeongju bread, though it was pretty much the same bread I get at markets in Daegu, a kind of pancake filled with bean paste. Nonetheless, they were tasty, and satiated me for the ride home. Many of the gas stations and restaurants had temple roofs, which was neat.






Anapji pleasure pond













I think she is a character on a daytime soap about the Silla period. Anyways, she and a few other cardboard cutouts were scattered around.













Ancient astronomical observatory
















This was lunch before they brought in the main dishes: meat, soup, an egg, and a fish.











Royal burial mounds


















Wish stones outside of a shrine















A particularly ornate stone pagoda at Bulguksa














Bobby with the temple guardians. I like the one with a pet dragon.