Takeshima Days (or, not everything as fab as you read on this blog)

OK. I realize I have never, to date, shared anything but upbeat, gee-this-life-is-great type stuff on this blog. That isn't really its purpose, its to share photos and news for flung family. Who wants to hear about my stress or the kids stomach flu?

But I feel the need for some truth in advertising today, and if you don't want to read some self-pitying whining, click the red "x" at the top of your screen.

The photo is of a t-shirt I desperately want but never get around to ordering, its Korean for "foreigner". You would not believe how many times a day I hear this- kids walking by, sales clerks, they all exclaim "foreigner!" when catching sight of me. And this is in Seoul, a pretty cosmopolitan place with lots (relatively) of foreigners. Try going to Cholla nam do...its like a circus. The dumb thing is, what if I am NOT a foreigner? I could be a citizen! What of my Korean-American friends, they are as "waygookin" as me! It just gets old, fast. Especially, today, I am feeling pretty waygookin, hence the photo.

As many of you know, Rowan is doing rhythmic gymnastics at a Korean gym. She is the only non-Korean on the whole peninsula doing it. (Which still flummoxes me, there are far more Russians here than Americans, where are their girls??) This has lead to some interesting experiences, but not all of them are good. Probably 80% of them, actually, have been in the "totally suckish" category.

Today has been a sucky, sucky day. First, I took Rowan to the gym, and the girls were there but no coaches yet. So they started playing with their ropes, but 3 of the girls were following Rowan and making fun of her. Rowan may not speak or understand much Korean, but she isn't dumb- she knew. She had this fake smile on her face, trying to buck up, not get upset. Then one of the girls brought out fancy pens, a gift for the successful meet. There was one for everyone but Rowan. Again, the fake smile and trying not to care. It just made me really sad- she tries very hard and she is always just "outside", like the word waygookin itself- outside country person. She speaks and understands more Korean than any other American kid I know, by the way, she is trying so hard, but really, it won't matter.

How do I know? My Korean is awfully darn good these days, if I do say so myself. Most of the mothers (and our coach) have lived in the US or Canada for a 6 months to 2 years, specifically for English. Yet, they can hardly converse. Hey, English is darn hard, I am not judging, its just that we converse in 99% Korean, always. We communicate in text and email in Korean. I obviously speak Korean and they understand, because we are SPEAKING IT ALL THE TIME. Yet, when it comes to something at the gym, I am always left out unless I horn my way in. Like taping padding- the mothers insisted I couldn't do it. (Dumb foreigner will mess it up??Its freakin tape!) Gifts for the coach- I have to beg to be included. Today after dropping Rowan at the gym, I walked through the neighborhood to find a spot to eat, and passed all the moms at a coffee shop. I won't lie- I felt awfully left out. We are totally separate, always. Our actions are dissected- what we eat (or don't) where we go, Rowan's clothes, everything. Perfect strangers who happen to be involved with RG here know about Rowan's blue legwarmers in practice, just really random things that everyone knows about, because everyone talks about us and watches us like animals in a damn zoo. Short of getting plastic surgery and dyeing my hair (Rowan has asked to dye her hair black, already, to fit in) it would be tough for me to be any more "Korean". I speak it, I love the food, I don't say anything about the totally bizarre (to Americans) training methods and punishments, I like to think I am pretty darn easy. Especially given I know what any other American over here would be like in these situations- it would never work, they (and most of you reading, I am sure) would freak out. But it doesn't matter- none of it matters. We are waygookin, period, forever and always, no matter what. I don't want to give the impression people are rude- they aren't, they are polite to a fault. But we are so separated, so apart, like exotic and possibly dangerous animals in the zoo.

I can love Korea, but it sure as hell isn't going to love me back.

I call them Takeshima days, days like this. There is a small island (really, nothing more than a rock) in the east sea that Japan calls Takeshima, and claims, and Korea calls Dokdo, and claims.Both Japan and Korea are totally irrational about this rock, I have an "I Love Dokdo" notebook, there are bumper stickers, its a point of nationalist pride. When days are good, its Dokdo to me. Today? Its Takeshima. The US has the rock listed as "Lioncourt Rocks" on maps, to avoid offending anyone, and I suppose I just ought to resign myself to being a little more "Lioncourt rocks" about this place. Don't take it personally. Stay the visitor, and stop trying to be anything but the extremely odd foreigners with the girl who does rhythmic.

Takeshima day, for sure.

I do have a request for anyone reading this, though.Maybe at your child's school there is a mom who just moved to the US from Mexico, or Korea, or somewhere. Someone whose English is halting and seems quite out of place. For me, talk to that mother. Have your child talk to her daughter. Include them, give them the school newsletter, invite them to a birthday party. Because it is damn hard, easier in the US than here, probably, but still- hard. I will be making a lot more of an effort on this front when I move back, that's for sure. Living in this homogeneous society has shown me the beauty and wisdom of our immigrant nation- we are so much stronger and more adaptable for all our differences! I am feeling more than a little home sick for the good ol US of A and its melting pot right now!

Mountain stream fun

Mark was off one day last month, and I decided to get up early and hike to the top of Tobongsan by myself. On the way down, I came by Mongwolsa temple and saw a fantastic place to take the girls to play. We finally made it back up there a few weeks ago.

A stream in a wonderful, slidey rock bed cascades out of the mountains and through the forests on Tobongsan's north slope. I don't know the stream name, but its right up from the Mangwolsa subway stop if you are in the area. The place is packed with picnickers and kids playing in the water, its just great.

The water is *cold* though- Rowan didn't do much more than wade, although Gryphon slid and even swam in some deep holes.

On the way up to the forest, you walk along the stream for a ways as it passes through a village or restaurants. The restaurants hang right out over the water, and even bring food out onto the rocks. The stream runs through the middle, and was filled with kids playing while the parents relaxed and ate. I want to go back with a group of friends SO badly!!

See the blankets spread out on the rocks? Below the girls are walking into the start of the stream side restaurant village. Yum.

Trip to Jaechon

We returned to beautiful Jaechon, Korea for the national Rhythmic Gymnastics meet this week. This time Mark came with us! We took him to Eurimji, a reservoir from the Joseon dynasty.

Eurimji has a beautiful waterfall, a (scary) amusement park and paths and pagodas.

Ah yes, sisterly love!

You can see Gryphon's hand sneaking towards Rowan's throat in this picture...this is why I have no nice photos of the girls anymore!!

NO strangling!!

This time we hiked down through the woods to the bottom of the waterfall, it is lovely and so green! Makes me think of Washington.

I know 99% of my blog posts are about food, but the food here is really, really good- I can't help it!! We had ribs for lunch.

The restaurant was an outdoor place with a patio where you grill at your table.

Best part- a trampoline for the kids outside! Mark and I got to relax while they jumped. We had goat stew for dinner, but I have no photos. It was awesome though, if in Jaechon, go have it! its called Yomso Chun-gol. Soooo good.

Next day we went up to the meet at the college. I like the signs.This is a *big* meet- all the rhythmic gymnasts from the whole country come. I keep hoping one of these years we won't be the only non-Koreans, but not this year. Jaechon has pretty much no foreigners, its a small rural city, so we are freaks. ;-)

While Rowan competed, Korea's Beijing Olympian SHin Soo-ji was warming up right by where we were sitting.She stopped her warm up (which was so freaky- her legs go to 270 degrees, I swear!!) to watch Rowan's routines, so that was cool. Rowan got her autograph and a photo when she came up after her routine. I wish I had video of Shin Soo-ji's warm up, but I felt like it would be intruding. Suffice it to say, it was amazing to watch her stretch!
Then we put Gryphon and Mark on the train back to Seoul, Gryphon had school Thursday so she wanted to get back. Typhoon Kompatsu ended up canceling that but they weren't real keen on staying to watch the "big girls" compete and Rowan really wanted too so we stayed by ourselves.
More food-! Rowan and I walked around the town a little and had wonderful Kalguksoo, a noodle soup with clams and oysters in it.
Rowan even ate it, which almost never happens...Rowan eating, that is.So you know it was good!Then we went back to the hotel, where Rowan hung out with the other girls and played DS's in their rooms. It was sooo cute, I really wanted to take a photo but again, didn't want to intrude. In the US at meets all the girls would go from room to room and play and stuff, and it was like that, only in Korea! Hard to explain, but I am so happy she has buddies even if she mostly can't talk to them.
Next day we went to watch the "big girls" (Shin Soo-ji and my favorite, Son Eun-jae) with the other girls. In Korea, girls (and women) call women and girls older than them "Ohni". Rowan is the youngest at the gym she trains at, so everyone is "ohni". She can't call them by their names, but to differentiate *which* ohni she means we have our own slang for the ohnis. From left to right they are Tall Ohni, Jiwon Ohni (we know her name, but she is a year older than Rowan so she can't use it), Rowan, English Ohni (speaks some English).They are all watching Big Ohni (the oldest girl at the gym) compete. Not pictured is Muscle Ohni (has a 12 pack for abs, its wild), and Pretty face Ohni.

A very fun trip and again, such a neat experience to do rhythmic over here in Korea. Its opened a whole new side of Korea that we would never see otherwise. Some days- I wish we'd not ever seen it, I'll be honest. It does get hard, the cultural difference is vast and the problem is that the coaches don't even know HOW vast. But then days like this, its wonderful. Here's to more of the wonderful days!

For you

Really baaaaddddd video, really great songs. I didn't know the Cowboy Junkies even *made* videos...they shouldn't have.

Felt like sharing.
...I'd trade all my blue skies gladly...

Meet time, again!

Wow, has this year ever gone fast!! The Kimpo meet was the first meet Rowan ever went to in Korea, we had been here only a few weeks at that point last year. Its a huge meet, with TV and Olympians and international teams from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Japan, etc. But fun, too, especially this year when we knew more about what would go on.

This year Mark couldn't go, but we brought McKenna, one of the girls friends from the neighborhood. Of course we had to be there at the crack of dawn, I think Rowan is yawning in this photo. I discovered my camera problems were actually lens problems, and I am without my beloved 1.4 lens, so the photos here are pretty crappy. At some point I need to get the lens in to get it fixed, but who knows how to do that from here, I haven't had time to figure it out. But I guess crappy photos are better than none!
This year they had quite the gala, with Korean drummers and fan dancers, a ballroom dancing show, and sports aerobics. Korea's group rhythmic gymnastics team also did their routines, which was totally cool. A random hoop from the back rolled through their ribbon routine though, and amazingly enough, a girl caught it in her knees (while catching and twirling her own ribbon) and tossed it off the floor with her foot, while doing her part of the group routine the whole time. I sure wish I had it on video- those girls are wicked coordinated!! Except for her annoyed facial expression and the gasps from the crowd, you would have thought that random hoop was part of the routine!

At the march in, all the delegations from each country walk in and line up behind a sign, ie "Thailand" or "Japan". The largest group is Korea, of course, they divide them into elementary, middle, high and college school groups. No, Rowan doesn't get her own "USA" sign, she marches in with the Korean Elementary School group. She sure does stick out though, even though she tries so hard not to. They do the (Korean, of course) national anthem, and she puts her hand on her heart like everyone else around her... and she raises her hand for the "athletes oath" someone reads at the opening, even though I know she has no idea what she is swearing too because it is in Korean and super fast, even I have no idea whats in it!

She brought her "cute", which is hard to explain except when it is missing! Its like her pizazz or her expressiveness, I just call it her "cute" because her old coach used to yell "Make it cute". Korean gymnasts are more perfect, but do not have much "cute". Rowan is not perfect, but she has oodles of cute. I thought her hoop was best, but the coach said freehands was. I know nothing of the scores or anything, I just have to wait until the coach says how she does. Since the coach said "just okay", I thought well- no cool Korean medals I guess. She took the winter off (no heat in the gym!), and has only started back with the new coach since June, so not unexpected.

But, I was wrong! At every other meet, they just hand the medals for the school age category to the coaches, and only top 3 get anything. But for some reason, they handed them out this time, so that was fun. Its different than in the US, they bring everyone out who is getting a medal, and announce all the places and scores for every apparatus and category (school year, 3rd for Rowan). Then everyone getting a gold lines up and gets it from a coach with all the golds, and there is a line for silver and bronze. Rowan got a bronze in hoop and a gold in freehands (see, the coach was right!) so that was neat.

Here is the building in Kimpo where the meet is held, its a huge auditorium.

Some very far away and not good photos of the "big girls", ie Shin SooJi and Son EunJae, and the international girls from other countries, warming up. We watched them only a bit because we needed to leave, Rowan wanted to cheer for the girls she trains with. Her new coach has 3 other girls, all in the FIG category. Rowan will move to that category next year, her coach says. I am afraid to ask about it, those girls train every day! I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I don't even know if a non-citizen can be in that category.

Last but not least, rubber girls does some warming up. I will have to take some pictures of her stretching sometime, she has gotten a lot more flexible, especially her legs. She is no where near as flexible as the Korean girls though, I am convinced they either are just naturally flexible or the coaches pull on them from young ages very hard! Maybe both?

Now just one more meet in Chingju!

Week in the Life

The day started out with sweet, sweet chores- the girls cleaned the bunny pen on the back porch

Here is Honey, who has been renamed but I can't remember her new name (and no one else can, either). Its like Clymenestra or Pandora or something.

After school (not pictured due to forgetfulness) the girls and Gabbie walked down to the Daiso store. Its sort of like a dollar store in the US, lots of junk, but they love it. I love that there are so many things close enough to walk to, and its so safe. They have so much freedom!

Our neighbors (Gabbies family) are moving to Japan, so they wanted a picture with their (and our) housekeeper, Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim totally rocks. She not only cleans, but she cooks yummy Korean food and tells stories about the Korean War! On the weekends she climbs mountains, like seriously climbs. I want to be Mrs. Kim when I grow up.

Rowan had gym, and its 5-9 pm, so dinner is a tough one. I feed her in the car, isn't that sad?Here she is crossing the Banpo bridge eating her rice. Plain rice. In the car. Go ahead, you can cry for her sad little life.

While Rowan works out for 4 hours with no dinner in a gym with no AC, I go to a small coffee shop and get some "me time". The idea is I do edifying things like catch up on my stack of Foreign Affairs (pictured) or study Korean or something.

But mostly I just watch the dramas on TV and chat with the 2 old ladies who run the place. It has an interesting smell, the coffee shop. Like, one a hippy from the 60's who owns a van would surely recognize, if you get my meaning. The old ladies *are* very laid back, and offer me food, and laugh a lot at the TV. So that is sort of interesting!!

The neighborhood the gym is in has lots of good restaurants and coffee shops. I love it!

A beautiful Gangnam, Seoul evening.

I did manage to break away from my TV dramas and contact high long enough to go to Rowan's favorite bakery, Paris Baquette. She loves apple pies, so I got her one.

The outside of the gym, I don't go in much except to drop her off and pick her up. She recently switched coaches and is very happy! So that makes me feel good about leaving her alone speaking no Korean beyond asking for the bathroom, some water, and of course she knows how to say "That hurts!".



We got home around 10,and went to bed! Stay tuned for Friday's adventure, I forgot Thirsday t have Gryphon take pictures of what she Mark did on her camera, but I remembered for Friday when we all split up. So that'll be a long post!

Week in the Life Day 3

Day started out like every day, with Rowan grouchy and sleepy on the couch. Rowan is not a morning person! I get her up at 9, so it isn't like its early, but she needs at least a half hour of sitting time to be human! Gryphon on the other hand gets up (on her own!) at 6:30. I won't tell you when I get up.

Today we had a field trip with the home school group to the National Museum, for a Korean dance workshop. I was *so* excited, I always wanted to earn how to dance like that!

The dance company director explained how the arms move like a calligraphy brush- elbows drag hand, hand is the soft brush. She was so lovely! Then it was our turn to try!

We got to try tapping traditional rhythms on drums, too.

The dance company gave a performance of the dance we were to learn.

As you can see, we don't look much like they do!

The kids really enjoyed it though, I think they were better dancers than us adults.

Then the dance compnay di more dances, including a fusion dance (traditional and modern combined) called the peacock dance, which was just incredible. I got some good shots that may make it onto the walls.

Gryphon was interviewed by a radio and TV station which were there covering the workshop,
so at some point, some where, she will be on TV here.

We went ot the pool when we got home, it had finally opened and it was a nice hot day. I didn't bring the camera, though! The trip to the pool prompted a trip to the PX to look for a new bathing suit for Gryphon. That was pure torture, I tell you.

Mark went out to dinner with soem work buddies, so I made Samgaetong, a chicken soup he doesn't much like. I got to use my herbs I bought on our trip, that is what the stick looking things in the bag are.

Since Mark was gone, we dragged the little Korean table from Rowans room and ate Korean style, on the floor. The girls like that!

Later Rowan made up dances while Gryphon was her DJ, finding music on the internet. The day ended with our Korean TV show, then off to bed!