New Korean Name

Today, I got called "Jennipah Smell." I went to the dry cleaners to get my coats and scarves cleaned. The lady then asked me to write down my name and phone number so she could enter them into her computer. I wrote it down in English and then handed her the paper. She looks at the name and starts sounding it out. She said "Jen-ni-pah S-sm-Smell." I tried to correct her. I said Small really slowly and clearly however, no matter what I said, she could only say smell. So, at the dry cleaners, I am now "Jennipah Smell.

Trip to Japan

Luiz and I went to Fukuoka, Japan over the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving type holiday) break. We were only there for about 2.5 days but, it was fun.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Ryuguji Temple and Cemetery
This shrine was built to honor a mermaid that was supposedly found nearby. Her body is supposed to be buried in the cemetery.




Kushida Shrine
Built in 757 AD

Hakata Folk Museum & Garden







RoboSquare
(The Japanese Really Like their Robots.)


Robotic Seal - It is used to provide companionship to lonely, elderly people. It is a little creepy because it acts like a little pet. You can pet it and it responds like a kitten would. The pacifier thing is actually a charger.


Robotic Dog - It acts like a puppy.


Robot that is easily customized.


This robot is commonly used in malls. It cleans (notice the duster things on its hands). Also, you can ask it for directions to stores and it will will give you directions and project a map onto the floor for you.

Quite a Life

There is an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry finds himself with someone as they break into a car. I don’t really remember the rest of the episode but, I do remember that as Jerry watches him friend break into the car, he just shakes his head and says something like “This is quite a life I lead.”

Well, this is quite a life I lead.

A few months ago, I found myself in the back of a used clothing store, crouching behind clothing racks, hiding from a crazy old lady. The crazy old lady was peering through the windows of the store, looking for me. I have no idea who she was or why she was after me. All I know is that I spent a good hour dodging that crazy old lady.

The day began normally enough. I went to church and then decided to go back to the traditional market at Daejeon Station to buy Tracy a birthday gift. I had gone the day before and saw a few things that I was interested in.

The market is very traditional. It has some weird stuff and lots of odd food sitting out in buckets and bins – nothing like you’d see in the U.S. As a result, I was the only foreigner around. I think that this was my undoing.

As I was walking down a small street in the market place, the crazy old lady grabbed my hand and started yelling at me in Korean. She then turned so that we were face to face and continued screaming. She then started to cry. She also grabbed my other hand. I got nervous.

My first thought was that she was a decoy and someone else was going to rob me while I was distracted. I looked around to see who else was there but, the only other person was another elderly woman who was selling vegetables. I looked to the vegetable lady for help. She motioned that I should push the crazy old lady down. Since the crazy old lady was old, I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. She was definitely crazy but, probably not dangerous.

I did the only other thing I could think of. I politely said “I don’t speak Korean,” and ran into a store that sells Buddhist paraphernalia. I was in the store for about 5 minutes when the crazy old lady came in, screaming and pointing at me. The owner tried to calm the crazy old lady down but, she just kept gesturing at me.

Finally, the owner came over and started to inspect me. I had come in with my sunglasses on and my hair was straightened. I took my sunglasses off shortly after I came into the store. The owner took one look at my eyes and immediately went back to the crazy old lady. They had a quick conversation in Korean and then he threw her out. He told me what the crazy old lady told him. She had said that she was my grandmother and she wasn’t following me. The claim of being my grandmother is what made the owner inspect me. I don’t look remotely like a Korean even with my sunglasses on and my hair ironed but, he wanted to be sure. When he informed the crazy old lady that I couldn’t possibly related to her because I am a foreigner and she is Korean, she told him some rambling story about us being from Hawaii. She said that is why I look Western and she looks Korean. Needless to say, the owner wasn’t buying it.

I was grateful to be rid of the crazy old lady. I thought I could then go about my business without being accosted by a 75 year old stalker. I was dead wrong.

Minutes after I left the store, I heard “Chingu! Chingu!” being yelled at me (Chingu is Korean for friend). It was the crazy old lady.

My options weren’t looking good:

No one around me spoke English

I don’t speak Korean

I was the only foreigner in sight

It was time for evasive maneuvers.

I proceeded to hop from store to store and try to hide from the crazy old lady. She was surprisingly fast for someone her age.

I finally got lucky. The crazy old lady liked to chat with the shop keepers and she was chatting with the shop keeper when I was able to slip out, unnoticed. I then scrambled into the used clothing store. This is when I hid behind the racks at the back of the store.

While hiding behind the racks, I started to ponder my situation. I decided that I was probably the only person on the planet hiding from a crazy old Korean lady who was convinced that she was my grandmother. While it can be fun to do something different and be unique, it can also be a little depressing to think that I was in a situation that made me sound entirely insane.

The crazy old lady peered through the store windows for a few minutes, until she was convinced that I wasn’t in the store. I saw the shop keeper glance between the crazy old lady peering through the windows and my crouching behind the racks a few times. She seemed entirely amused by the situation but, she didn’t give away my position. I may have felt like a complete freak hiding from the crazy old lady but, at least I provided the used clothing store shop keeper with a little entertainment.

After about 10 minutes, I decided that I was free to go. I was able to shop in peace for about 30 minutes. That’s when I heard it. “Chingu! Chingu! Chingu!” It was the crazy old lady again. This time, I decided that I wasn’t going to hide.

The crazy old lady didn’t appear to be a decoy for a thief so, I just walked around with a crazy old lady walking about 10 feet behind me, screaming stuff at me in Korean. She seemed pretty content with this set up. Surprisingly, we attracted tons of attention but, only one person questioned the situation. One old man approached the crazy old lady and appeared to telling her to stop. Since it was all in Korean, I’m not sure what he said but, he seemed like he was telling her to stop being crazy. She waved him off and continued to follow me.

The crazy old lady and I did this for a good 30 minutes more. I finally lost her when I crossed a busy street.

I’ll never know what was up with that crazy old lady. But, I’ll always remember her.

Food at the Market

Bin of Chicken Feet at the Market

Suitcases and Fish for Sale at the Market

That’s Illegal?!?!?!?

A few days ago, my students and I read the story of Daphne and Apollo. In the story, Cupid is mad that his uncle, Apollo, won’t take him hunting because Apollo thinks that Cupid is too small. So, to get back at him, Cupid shoots Apollo with an arrow. After Apollo is shot, he sees Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus. Daphne, who is scared of people and lives alone in the forest, is horrified when Apollo starts chasing her and telling her that he loves her. As she is being chased, Daphne gets tired and calls out to her father to save her from Apollo and his scary love. Daphne is then turned into a laurel tree and Apollo is heartbroken. He ends up adopting the laurel tree as his special tree and decides to wear a wreath of laurel branches on his head.

After we read the story, we started to discuss it. I then asked the kids “What should Apollo have done differently?” When I asked this, I was expecting something along the lines of ask her to dinner, ask her for her phone number, get a friend to introduce them, etc. Basically, I was expecting a normal answer. The answers I got, however, were far from normal.

One student, MinJae, had an idea as to what Apollo could have done. MinJae, in all seriousness, said that Apollo should have kidnapped Daphne and locked her in his basement until she learned to love him.

I was very disturbed by this answer. I was even more disturbed that several boys nodded in agreement. I had to explain to MinJae why this was a bad solution. It was big news to these boys that it is illegal to kidnap women and it is illegal to lock them in your basement. It was also a shock to them that a woman locked in your basement will never learn to love you. She will simply tell you what you want to hear so that you will let her out of your basement. Then, she will either run or away or kill you.

I asked the class again what Apollo should have done differently. I thought that since we explored the issue of what it legal and illegal in dating, that I would get a more logical and less criminal answer. I was wrong.

DongJoon raised his hand. So, I called on him and was all ready to hear something vaguely courtship like. Instead, DongJoon essentially proposed that Apollo should have stalked Daphne. Now, he didn’t phrase it that way but, that was the idea. DongJoon felt that Apollo should have followed Daphne around and stood outside of her house, her work, her school, anywhere that she was. He was to keep doing this until she agreed to marry him.

Once again, I blew their little minds by declaring this action illegal. At least they were slightly more surprised that this was illegal than they were about the kidnapping and locking in the basement. So, they did feel that the basement stunt was more aggressive.

After this, we had a nice long chat about what it legal and illegal in the dating world. I like to think that I helped avert a few criminal cases in the future.

My students in about 10 years.

Jen vs. The Stove

(This actually happened back in November but, I thought I would share.)

So, there was an incident involving the stove and me. Well, it wasn’t so much an incident as a battle. Now, there are those that think that you can not battle inanimate objects but, I’m here to tell them that they are wrong.

While we were in training, we had to stay in a hotel. Since the hotel room did not have a kitchen, we had to eat pretty much all of our meals out. We did keep a few things in the room’s refrigerator but, without a stove or even a microwave, it was just fruit and stuff for PB&Js.

So, when we got our apartment, we were more than ready for homemade food. Since it was like 45 degrees outside, I decided to make beef stew. We spent about two hours getting everything ready: we bought pots and pans, we bought dishes, we went to the grocery store, and we got all of the ingredients chopped and assembled.

After that, I put all of the ingredients into a new pot and put the pot onto the stove. Then, I turned on the burner. Nothing happened. So, I tried again…and again. No matter what I did, no flame came out of the burner. Now, the stove is a gas stove and I don’t have a lot of experience with them but, I have used them before. So, I didn’t think it was me.

I decided that it was just that one burner that was broken. I then tried the other three burners. Same thing with each of them. I tried pushing every button and turning every knob I could find in that kitchen. Nothing happened.

By this time, I was pretty sure that the stove was laughing at me. It looked a little smug. I finally had to admit defeat and go looking for reinforcements.

Armed with my English/Korean dictionary, I went looking for the building’s cleaning ladies. I had met them the day before and they were friendly. I bookmarked the words “stove” and “problem” in my dictionary so, I could kinda explain and, hopefully, convince one of the ladies to come to my apartment and help.

I stared roaming the floors of the building, looking for the ladies. I was unable to find the cleaning ladies but, I did find a teenage girl. It’s been my experience that those under 18 tend to speak English the most in Korea. So, I asked the girl if she spoke English. It turns out that she did! The girl was about 14 and her name was Jenny. Since it’s creepy for adults to invite kids they just met into their homes, I asked Jenny if her mother could come and help me use my stove. Jenny took me to her apartment. I waited in the hallway while she spoke to her mother and explained the situation. Jenny and her mother ended up coming to my apartment with me.

Jenny’s mom was a Godsend! She didn’t speak a word of English so, Jenny translated. Jenny’s mom explained that I had left one knob unturned – the gas knob. The stove wasn’t working because I didn’t turn on the gas. She told me to turn on the gas when I wanted to cook and turn it off when I was done. I’m not sure what happens if I don’t turn it back off so, I do each time – just in case the building explodes or something.

Jenny’s mom was also nice enough to teach me how to use the washer/dryer. (One machine does both). I think her instructions averted a second standoff with the washer/dryer. In addition to appliances, Jenny’s mom also made sure that I knew what to do with the garbage (recycling is mandatory here and food remains must be separated from regular trash) and where to buy the required garbage bags.

After all was said and done, I made my beef stew. But, I’m pretty sure that this round went to the stove.

The Competition

I've Got Yellow Dust :(

As the title of the post says, I've got Yellow Dust. What is Yellow Dust you ask? Well, Yellow Dust is a mixture of sand/dust from the Gobi Desert and pollution from Chinese factories. After it mixes, it hops onto a jet stream and travels for a bit. When it's done, it settles over Korea and Japan; where it makes people sick.

Luiz had Yellow Dust last week and now I have it. It's not life threatening or anything (at least not for us) but, it's annoying. For healthy people, it can produce cold/flu-like symptoms. So, I am stuffy and sneezing with a sore throat and a fever. Luiz had a variation on it where he was coughing instead of sneezing and he also had chest congestion.

In March, during the last Yellow Dust outbreak, one of my students, Julia, was absent for three weeks. When she came back, I asked her where she had been. She told me "I was in the hospital!" I then asked her why. She said that she has severe asthma and the Yellow Dust was so thick, she was having very bad asthma attacks. The doctors feared that she might die during an attack so, she was hospitalized during the Yellow Dust outbreak as a preventative measure. So, for people with respiratory problems, Yellow Dust can be very dangerous.

I didn't take any pictures of the current Yellow Dust storm so, I stole some pictures from the internet. I'll try to take some pictures the next time it happens.

Yellow Dust coming from China to the Korean Peninsula

Yellow Dust Over a City

City With Yellow Dust and On A Clear Day

Our First Visitors!

We recently had our first visitors. My mom and Aunt Rosa came and stayed for almost 2 weeks. It was a fun visit. They arrived on Thursday, May 27 and they left on Tuesday, June 8. During that time, they were able to see three of the biggest cities and to take a day trip from Daejeon.

Here are some pictures from their visit.

With a palace soldier at Gyeongbok (경 복궁) Palace in Seoul.

In the park at City Hall in Daejeon

At the Folk Village in Suwon City (The Day Trip from Daejeon)

Hiking at Mt. Gyeryong

Having Korean Barbecue for the First Time

At the Aquarium in Busan

At the Sand Festival on Hyundae Beach in Busan

Now that you've seen what a trip to Korea is like, go and book your trip!