Fostering in Korea

Due to recent events and such I got the idea to be a part of the animal volunteer community. As I got more into it, I started really missing living with dogs. I've been very lonely for the last 2 or so months. So after much thought I decided to foster dogs. Fostering sounded like a great idea because it doesn't come with the commitment of keeping an animal for the rest of its life, but it still requires that I take responsibility for a living being.

After looking through many photos on the Animal Rescue Korea website (found here), I settled on 2 dogs given up together by the same people: a yorkie called Elvis, and a shih tzu mix named Priscilla. They were older dogs (not puppies), and they were already socialized together. This was perfect as I wanted to foster 2 dogs together since I work all day, and I wanted older dogs so that I didn't have to worry about training a puppy.

However, to get to Elvis and Priscilla I had to go to another city in Korea called Daegu. Using the bullet train it's a roughly 2 hour ride. But after a couple of trips to Daegu I have brought them back safe in sound. First thing I did? Had them groomed!

Before (at the animal shelter):

Priscilla

Elvis

After (in my apartment after a trip to the groomer and the vet):


The change physically in appearance is clearly huge. They have also started warming up to me already. I sit down on the floor and they come and sit on my lap. At the vet's they started coming over to me to be held. So I'm happy their transition and adaptation has gone fairly smoothly. They haven't barked or caused any problems (which is good as I had to negotiate with the building people about letting me have them as my lease says no pets. The nice thing about Korean culture, though, is that contracts are never the final word between 2 parties like in America, so I can negotiate).

Overall they are healthy (though Elvis needs some major dental work done as his teeth have pretty much gone to hell), and it seems happy. They are currently sleeping in the beds I laid out in my apartment. They have yet to go to the bathroom when I take them outside (though Priscilla peed almost immediately in the apartment, but after a sharp reprimand I think she has learned), but I'll be crate training them.

If you are interested in adopting them let me know!

-AALA

Second year in Korea finalized!

Hello all!

I know, I know, I've been absolutely TERRIBLE about updating this. I'm currently on Jeju Island for the lunar new year holiday attempting to make up for my disorganized trip back in July. I have some down time before the next event, so I wanted to give a little update.

As mentioned in the title, my plan for my second year in Korea is pretty much solidified and official. The only thing left for me to do is go to the immigration office in Seoul to renew my visa to stay here another year, which will be done this coming Thursday morning. Other than that everything's been set: the contract has been signed, the apartment has been found and signed for, and the start date is officially February 28th.

I'm working for Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. Information can be found here

It's funny because before I accepted the position I didn't know anything about it other than the fact that it is a university. A friend of mine who is a recruiter got wind of an opening and told me about it. She told me it was a good position, and I trusted her word. It wasn't until after I accepted that I read up on it and realized how much things were falling into place for me. I think I'm exactly where I need to be in life right now. I'm super excited to move into Seoul, but it's going to be hectic. The woman currently living in the apartment I'm moving into at the end of the month doesn't move out until Feb 28th (my first day of work at the university). And my current apartment is about 1.5 hours away from the university by public transportation. Thankfully, my current apartment is mine until March 1st, so I'll have a home no matter what. And thankfully March 1st is a holiday (for the March 1st Movement that happened during the Japanese occupation), so I can take all of that day to clean my new apartment and move in. Yay!

OK, this is going to be a hectic month. I will try to find time to FINALLY post up those Philippines pictures, as well as this trip to Jeju.

-AALA

Final Day in America

It is currently my last day in America. I leave tomorrow evening back for Korea. The time spent here has been unbelievable. It has been so nice to see my family and most of my friends. It's been amazing understanding everyone around me (Spanish and English conversations). There's so much about America that I've missed that I didn't even realize I was missing. A huge part of me wishes to stay, or at least come back right after my contract ends.

But then I start thinking of the logistics: where in America am I going to live? Can I find a good job? Would I have to move back in with my parents? What about my boyfriend?

The truth of the matter is that I miss America, but due to many factors I've realized right now Korea is the best place to really be for me right now. Sure, North Korea has been acting up and having its tantrums, but I'm happy in Korea overall.

I have always loved to travel and be in different countries, and I've rarely ever felt homesickness, but never before have I lived in another country for an entire year. I've gotten my first taste of what life in the Foreign Service is going to be like. I went 10 months without seeing my family, and that was difficult. I will probably go more once I become a diplomat. This was not as easy as I thought it would be.

This is definitely something to consider.

-AALA

Persian life so far in Korea

I apologize for being so absent. I still owe a Philippines trip post to this blog, so hopefully I'll get around to that before Christmas vacation.

As previously mentioned, I have given dating a Persian a second chance. This second endeavor has been monumentally more successful than the first. It's been over a month now since we have started dating, and I've been quite taken in with the culture and the people, and yes even the language.

Yesterday I helped my boyfriend and his brother and sister-in-law make torshi. Torshi is basically Iranian kimchi (kimchi is Korean pickled cabbages or radishes). Torshi comes from the Persian word "torsh" which means "sour." It is very much similar to kimchi in that apparently there are as many different types of torshi as kimchi, depending on the region and any events. There are places where you don't eat a meal without torshi (again, very similar to kimchi).

The torshi we made consisted of (if I can remember everything): apples, bell peppers, chili peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, celery, radishes, tomatoes, persimmon, cabbage, and probably one or 2 more things that I can't remember. These are packed into jars with spices and water added. They are going to be left to sit for about a month or 2 (or more). According to my boyfriend's brother it can actually be left to sit for about a couple of years! I'm very excited to try it once it's finished.

I'm slowly but surely learning Persian/Farsi. It's very funny because I have almost ceased to learn Korean... I just can't! I'm having a hard time retaining any new Korean words I learn because there's too many languages in my head, and they all have nothing to do with each other. I've learned so far:

salam: hello
salam jubi?: hello, how are you?
khodahafez: good-bye
lotfan: please
merci: thank you
khahesh mikonum: you're welcome
baleh: yes
na: no
azizam: a term of endearment
jigar: also a term of endearment, although in their language it also means liver, so that's kind of interesting
eshgham: term of endearment, means roughly "my love"
divone/kheili divone: crazy/very crazy (this gets said a lot between my boyfriend and me haha)
doset daram: I like you a lot/I love you (informal, depending on the context of the sentence)
asheghetam: I love you (formal, meaning more like "I'm in love with you")
chai: tea
ob: water
pesar: boy
dochtar: girl
zan: woman
koma: coma (I learned this because I was explaining to them what a "food coma" was hahaha)
tiripet mano koshte: you're outfit is killing me (this tends to get a few laughs)

I've learned a little bit more, but unfortunately these other words and phrases are a bit inappropriate.

Next post will be about the Philippines. I promise!

-AALA

Thriller

My kindergartners sang Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for the Halloween Song Contest yesterday. TOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!

Taiwan Days 4 and 5

Now on to my final days of summer vacation in Taiwan!

On Thursday Greg and I headed to Hualien by train. I wanted to go to the beach, and he suggest Hualien. My coworkers in Korea told me Kending was a good beach place (it was on the western coast of Taiwan), but Greg was adamant about not going to Kending, so he suggested Hualien (on the eastern coast). The problem was that there weren't as many beaches in Hualien as Greg and I were hoping for, so the first day was spent exploring the town, eating delicious Chinese food, buying souvenirs, and walking through the night market there.

The coastal landscape we pass on the train

Hualien on our way to our hostel. You can see the beautiful mountains that surround it

View from our hostel room

We had this entire room to ourselves for the night. Awesome.

Our hostel in the lobby has this big map, and guests write their names and where they are from and stick it here

Can you find my name?

I was exhausted so Greg and I killed some time by napping. We then tried to find the beaches, but we then realized it wasn't how we thought it was going to be. Oh well. But below are some shots I took of Hualien and the area that we explored.

A small Chinese restaurant we ate lunch at in the market. They had absolutely delicious dumplings

The Hualien night market

We went to bed finally, and then woke up early to take a bus to Taroko Park where there were these gorges.

The visitors' center

You can see a Buddhist temple here

Going up to the Buddhist temple

View from the Buddhist temple


Buddhist prayers being done

The monks have their own garden

After our trip to Taroko Park Greg and I caught the train back to Taipei. The next day I flew out back to Seoul, and thus ended my Taiwan trip.

However, my ties to Taiwan didn't end there. I bought an Amazon Kindle a few months ago, and a week after I had returned to Seoul I realized I had left it on the airplane when I was coming back from Taipei! Thankfully, it was at Incheon airport, and I picked it up over the weekend.

Phew! OK, the next post I guess will be about my Philippines trip. Haha, let's see how long it takes me to load those pictures up (considering I went to Taiwan back in July, and only now at the end of October I'm finishing up posting pictures this might take a while...)

-AALA

K-pop Part 3 (and some other songs)

I'm going to take a break from posting my vacation pictures to bring you the next edition of K-pop (and other songs)!

One song Yelena and I have really been loving lately is by a K-pop/hip hop group called DJ DOC. The song is called "I'm a Guy Like This." I can't get enough of this video because it's so funny and nonsensical. You'll see things like guys dressed up in "sexy" marching band uniforms, or these 2 guy dancers dancing with their long hair tied up... it is very strange. But I love the song. I've heard it so much I know how to sing the bridge and the chorus of the song (though I'm not exactly sure what I'm saying). I first heard this song in a Subway sandwiches store, and I asked the woman working there who speaks English who sang it because I liked it so much.

DJ DOC "I'm a Guy Like This"


The next song is by a hip hop group called Supreme Team. I just learned about this song a week ago when it played in the club Yelena and I frequent every weekend. I don't really have much to say about this song, but I just find Koreans who try to be all hip hop like they do in America funny. Honestly, they don't really pull off ghetto well here. But it's adorable. I also find it funny that the cute guy in Supreme Team has such a low voice. I was not expecting that.

Supreme Team "Super Magic"


There was a song that I couldn't find for 1 month, and that was Secret's "Magic." I kept hearing it everywhere, but for the life of me I couldn't find it based on the words I heard of the song when I plugged it into a Google search. Finally one day, when Yelena and I were in Myeong-dong (a major shopping area in Seoul), I heard it in a store that we passed, and I went in and asked the employee with charades who was singing the song. They told Me Secret, so I plugged that into youtube, and voila! Found it! I also realized why I had such a difficult time finding it. They say the word "magic" in the song, but they don't pronounce it the way it should be pronounced. It sounds like they say "mazzy" or some word that sounds strange, but definitely NOT "magic." Oh well. Here it is:

Secret "Magic"


This last K-pop song is by Lee Hyori (note that "Lee" is her family name, since in Asia family names tend to come first) called "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." This video is interesting because I see a lot of similarities between it and DJ DOC's video (like the shake it dance, or the dancing in front of Mercedes trucks... although that could just be how they roll in Korea). The album that has this song had some controversy because it was found out that a lot of songs were ripped from other people. Well, regardless, I like the song, so enjoy:

Lee Hyori "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

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Now, on to the non K-pop songs. Yelena and I really like this Persian singer called Arash. He actually grew up and still lives in Sweden, but sings in Farsi (mostly). Arash is the singer of that soccer song "Iran Iran" I posted about months ago. Yelena and I are kind of in love with him. He sings a song called "Always" with a singer from Azerbaijan called AySel. It was a collaboration that was submitted for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest as the Azerbaijani entry. It got 3rd place, and remains Azerbaijan's highest ranked song in the contest to date, and it marks the first time Azerbaijan got to the top three. Here it is:

Arash and AySel "Always"


Another Arash song Yelena and I love is called "Temptation." However, there are 2 versions of this. There is the Farsi/English version where Arash sings in Farsi, but has fellow Swedish singer Rebecca Zadig sing the chorus in English. The second is Arash singing in Russian with Russian singers. Yelena (being Russian) favors the Russian version. Apparently the Russian one was a big hit on the Russian charts. So basically, Arash gets around if you know what I mean hahaha

You'll notice there's a huge difference between Rebecca and the Russian singers once you see them...

Arash and Rebecca Zadig "Temptation"

Arash and Blestyashchie "Vostochnyie Skazki"


-AALA