Spring is Bipolar

Flowering tree

Spring has arrived in Seoul. The trees are budding and blooming. These hardy blooms are surviving the drastic changes in temperatures. Mornings have been between 28 to 32 degrees and afternoons have been up to nearly 60 degrees. Yesterday into today was pouring rain, until it finally let off enough to snow.  As I write this, the sun has finally come out and the sky is a nice blue, but the wind is howling through my apartment and I have to zip up my hoodie.

I was sick once again, this time with some kind of cough and laryngitis. This first day of sickness allowed for me to tag along to the arcade and watch Matt beat his favorite game and then head to Itaewon for some falafels and exploring of the Islamic district (including the outer walls of the mosque). The rest of the weekend was spent sleeping and watching movies and making impressions of Marcy from "Californication."  Monday I was mute. Sixteen pills a day and nine days later, my voice is now feeling much better, but still very sensitive. Still no singing. Unfortunately, I have now gotten Matt and my co-teacher sick, oops.

The mosque in the snow.

In other news, I have successfully survived one of Korea's most spicy dishes. It is baby squid marinated in chili sauce, fried, dipped in wasabi, and served wrapped in a sesame leaf with pickled garlic (if you have a death wish, you can eat the raw garlic instead). To my surprise it wasn't so spicy and it was delicious (it looked like massacre in a pot). No one told me though, that the rice fried in the chili sauce was going to be the killer.

Just have looked out my window to see that the subway ladies are back. They were there this morning dressed in red and white, lined up on the steps of the subway bowing at people as they go past. Of course, they cannot bow to everyone as it is rush hour. So they mostly bow to the men in suits. That is all they are doing.

At HomePlus, whenever the store's theme song comes on over the speakers, every employee not helping a customer must start a particular dance. All of the "performers" are wearing scowls and have the floppy movements of someone who has already done it a thousand times that day. I dread the song because it pains me to see it. Just as my back is hurting counting the amount of bows these subway candy stripers are doing. 

Back to School

Somehow a month has passed and no blog update. So be prepared for super long newsy post.

The first day of school started on March 2nd and I was given the books and the grade levels (third and sixth again). Now it has been a scramble to gather materials and make lesson plans. Both new co-teachers are great and energetic. So that is a bonus.

My third graders are quite difficult this year. There are many students who cannot even say "Hello" and there are a few students who can tell me that they went to the park and rode bikes all weekend long. I also have quite a few students with ADHD and other special needs that Korea just doesn't seem to understand.

My sixth grade classes also have more special needs children in them compared to last year. Again I have that huge gap between students who do not know their ABCs and students who can read and write almost anything I put in front of them.  These gaps make classes extremely difficult because we are struggling to keep the advanced kids occupied (of course they won't help other students) and to help the less advanced students.

Other than school. I have sadly, only been to Cheongsong twice since Christmas. I missed seeing the river frozen over, but I came last weekend to see the trees begin to bud and some of the trees begin to bloom. Cheongsong is quite beautiful this time of year, and I imagine will only get more so. Our adventures in Cheongsong include: a trip to Andong (including the movies), a trip to Jinbo (finally located the famous Cheongsong penitentiary), getting startled by a good-sized rat, and discovering newly laid frog eggs being protected by their parents.

Matt has come to Seoul all of the other times. Just when we think we are running out of adventures, we manage to find some. We made ginger ale, made some pretty good banana pancakes reminiscent of Vietnam, discovered the red light district (the one near my house), went on a journey to find greeting cards that took us through alleys in Dongdaemun (finding a disturbing row of pet stores selling chickens, cats, dogs, birds, fish, turtles, lizards, pigeons, all stuffed into tiny un-kept cages) and Namdaemun (only to find a better store just up from the red light district). We also paid another visit to the Bau Haus.

Vandals take Seoul

I also had a great time Thursday with my old University friends Trevor and Rody. They were in Seoul for just a few hours, and we all managed to meet up and have dinner. It was great to see them even if it was for just a couple of hours.

I will try to write more often, these blogs get too long when I don't write! 

Back to the swing of things

Well, it has been a month since we were in Hanoi. I am back into the boring routine. I had only one week of teaching and  the sixth graders  graduated. It is now spring break and because I was originally told that I would only have a week and a half of spring break, I decided to desk warm. Now turns out we have two full weeks. Oh well. I took on organizing and reading the books in the English room. I am actually learning things.

I am lucky, I don't have to try to get to know any more new teachers. Amy-Teacher is going to be teaching 3rd grade English, the art teacher is going to teach 6th grade English, Mrs. Kim is still going to teach 4th and 5th grade English, Minsu-Teacher is going to teach art, and one of the 3rd grade home room teachers is now teaching music. We are still waiting on hearing about home economics.

I am very sad to see the sixth grade students go. They are off to the big scary world of middle school. I saw one student today. She was crying, I asked her why. She sobbed, "I'm old! I am going to middle school!" I may have laughed. Poor thing.

Others are leaving us too. Three teachers are going to different schools (teachers change schools every four years). One of them was a 6th grade homeroom teacher and was very close to our little subject teacher group. She will be missed. The other two I don't know. Another teacher just got to school because she just got off of maternity leave. But she quit teaching for a while. So we won't see her.

On a happier note, finally found the Bau Haus Cafe. For the record Korean Maps suck and the "Eat Your Kimchi" people are terrible at making maps. Turns out we were near it every time we have gone searching for it. We really enjoyed the dogs and Matt had to talk me out of trying to sneak one home! Of course the ones I wanted to sneak are a little large for that.

Welcome Back to Seoul!

Our good luck couldn't hold out for the entire trip, I guess.  Because of our 9 hour layover in China, the customs agents wouldn't allow us through our gate, but instead we had to get tourist visas (thank God we didn't have to pay for them), leave the secure area, and go to the airport check-in. We were told we'd get a free hotel room, but of course we got there and were told that all the free hotels were finished and that we'd have to pay for the hotel room at $30 plus taxi. I was outraged, plus we didn't have $30 with us and neither Matt, nor I had thought to alert our bank that we were going to be in China. Also, I really wanted to have coffee in the morning, so we decided to sleep in the airport. Should have taken the hotel. It was freezing and not a comfy place anywhere to sit. China's view of cleanliness is complete opposite of my own (dirtier than trench toilets). But we survived and managed to get onto the aircraft before hypothermia kicked in.

It felt so good to get back to Seoul after spending nine hours in China. We nearly kissed the ground. And then, after half an hour, we remembered why we wanted to leave Korea for vacation.

Thailand Fall

Matt and I at Bantay Srey

Thailand Fall, according to a Mr. Fish massage worker, is the English translation of Siem Reap. Apparently Cambodia and Thailand (or Siem) are always fighting and Cambodia crushed them in a fairly large battle way back when and named this city Siem Reap.

It is a small, dusty city. The main roads are paved, but side roads are dirt. It has the feeling of a Western boom town, built quickly to hold the influx of tourists. It is a city made up of hotels and restaurants (yep you guessed it, all competing for happy hours). Yet, the town has it's charm. It is full of activity no matter the time of day and into the night, especially on the famous "Pub Street." It even has a Korean street, where many of the shops are Korean and even Korean food.

Our hotel in Phenom Penh recommended a hotel in Siem Reap, so we arranged for a pickup to at least check out the hotel. The one room available the worst room we had seen the entire trip. The ceiling tiles were hanging by corners, dust in the corners of the rooms, the bed was stained with lord knows what, and the bathroom was a tiny, dark little four by five closet. No hot water, and it was right off of the common room where people were drinking, smoking, and playing video games and loud music. I believe the cost of the room was between $15 and $20 a night. Ridiculous for what we had been getting for $15 else where.  We moved on, finding that every hotel we inquired at was completely booked.

A tuk tuk driver by the name of Batman (he drove a Bat-mobile tuk tuk)  hailed us over and said he'd find us a room, even if we had to sleep in his house. So that nice man drove us all over Siem Reap trying to find us a hotel. He finally found a guest house used mainly by Cambodians and the people running it didn't speak any English. But the price was fair and the accommodations were passable, much cleaner than the other rooms we had seen. We only had to kill one tiny cockroach in the bathroom when we first arrived.

Our quest the first morning was to find a different hotel (closer to town because we kept getting lost at this hotel) and to get tours booked for the wats. As luck had it we were carted off to a hotel that was so clean, so airy, hot water, nice workers, a pool down the road, and slightly closer to town. We took it and suddenly we had our own tuk tuk driver to take us around Siem Reap and the wats.

Our first trip was called "the small circle" a circle that included Bayon, Angkor Thom, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, and Banteay Kdei, and of course Angkor Wat. I don't remember much of that day as I was quite sick and the day just seemed to trudge on forever. Day two we did the sunrise at Angkor Wat (it really isn't all that specatular until the sun actually rises behind Angkor Wat). Then we went the 37 km north to Banteay Srey (beautiful trip and beautiful temple grounds), stopped at Banteay Smare, then back to the main park to visit a few of the other temples.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

The temples were amazing. The size (Angkor Wat is about 1 km square) and detail of the temples as well as how the jungle takes over the temples so quickly. Even the amount of tourists amazes me. However, the tourists and the temples started to look the same after a while. I couldn't tell Shiva from Buddha and I didn't care any more. I am so happy I finally got to see the place that would have have it any other way! We got back to Siem Reap, showered, and got back on the tuk tuk to head to the airport.

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a hard city to describe. It is a large city and people are constantly trying to get you to buy motorcycle taxis, rickshaws, tuk tuks or give them food, water, and money. Tourist wander the streets and it sounds like social hour at a UN meeting with all the varieties of languages being spoken. Bars line the streets all competing for happy hour and you can make your choice between Mexican, Turkish, American, French, and Indian foods. If you are brave, you can wander down a side street and try frog, cat, or dog (we only saw frogs and dogs). Still with this hustle and bustle, the city is eerily quiet at the same time. The fact that some thing tragic happened to these people not too long ago is very evident in the vibe of the city.

We had to look a bit to find a hotel at a reasonable price for what was being offered. And many of the clientele were those types where you cannot tell if they are suffering from heat stroke or have been indulging in the drugs that are sold all around you. Also, many of the hotels have signs at the entrance warning people of their policies on sex tourism and children prostitutes  (though apparently most of the molesters are native Cambodians). Tuk Tuks advertise that orphanages are not tourist spots. And I might add that like in Thailand and Vietnam, it is common to see a young twenty-something native woman with a white man in his sixties.

The city is not beautiful. The temples are beautiful with their statues and fine gardens, as well as the gold and jeweled buildings. But it becomes ugly along side the beggars standing in its courtyards or in the garbage piled up outside. Children swarm you and beg for money, food, and water. I remember one group of children sitting with their mother, as soon as they saw us the children swarmed us. Later that day we returned to the spot and their mother was talking on a fairly new cell phone.

We stayed only two full days, escaping by bus to Siem Reap. We didn't even make it to the killing fields, we decided we just didn't want to see them. The bus was another seven-hour journey, this time in an ancient bus with an ancient cooling system. As we sweated into giant puddles, we drove by mansions surrounded by mountains of garbage and streams lapping at the walls of garbage.

Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Cambodia!

We wound up flying from DaNang to Saigon. The flight was delayed an hour because of engine trouble (they were working on the engine just outside the gate so we had a perfect view of the mechanics' puzzled faces). We boarded the plane and had a very nice flight, until landing.  The plane was swaying side to side and when the plane touched ground the plane lurched to one side, then to the other and then to the other before straightening out and slowing down. That was a Boeing 777 by the way, gee thanks Boeing.

So we entered Saigon with a small scare and a great relief to be alive. We then took a taxi to the backpacking area. The taxi driver stopped the meter and tried to overcharge us and refused to stop the taxi. It wasn't until Matt opened the car door at a traffic light as I threatened to report the driver that the taxi driver agreed to negotiate. Then he was a perfect teddy bear.

We stayed in this small guest house on the fifth floor in an attic room. It wasn't bad, but the toilet was outside of the room and the spray hose moved every time someone used water in the house (really scary the first time it happened, thought for sure there was a rat), also the wall between the two rooms in the attic was separated by a short wall, allowing us to hear everything in the other room. That man liked to take showers all night and had a woman and a kid with him on and off all night. And our visit was put to an end with a cockroach running around the bathroom.

We got a bus the next day to Chau Doc, seven hours to the west of Saigon. The highlight of the trip was to watch our giant bus load onto a ferry. Once in Chau Doc we took motorcycles into the main part of the city (three km from the bus station) and got a nice hotel close to the docks. Unfortunately, close to the docks also means rats meandering in and out of the hotel lobby (needless to say, we passed on breakfast that morning). Because of the late hour and it being Lunar New Year's Eve (Tet), we had to eat street food. It was quite tasty, we ate pork fried rice and drank nuoc mia (a drink where sugar cane, lime, and pineapple are squeezed together) while watching the fireworks rise over the pagoda.

We boarded the speed boat at seven in the morning and we were on the Mekong River by seven thirty. The boat ride was more relaxing than a bus would have been. We sat outside, so we got lots of fresh air. It was a great way to see the delta. Houses were dotted along the river, sitting on stilts. In some areas an entire floating village could be seen. We arrived at the Cambodian border around ten in the morning and got our visas. The houses in Cambodia looked very much the same, but the poverty was immediately evident. By 1:30 we were in Phnom Penh.