"She cooks like a black woman!"

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March 24, 2008
Hey everyone! I have decided to start titling my blogs with funny little quotes that I hear. I find them to be much more entertaining than "Our Easter Weekend" which was in itself not that interesting.

Hope you all had a beautiful Easter. Here it was cold and rainy, and didn’t feel at all like Easter. It was early this year, and without the barrage of commercials on TV and decorations on neighbor’s lawns, it just came and went without too much thought.


We did go to church, though. There is a little church a couple blocks away, which had been advertised by a business card handed to us outside of the base when we first arrived. The church was small, and the priest (?) had just taken over a few months earlier. He had been a U.S. marine for 30 years and said he found his calling after an AA meeting ten years ago. We were the first to arrive, and, by the end of the sermon, there were 12 people total. After the service there was a nice spread of food put out by the priest’s wife. There was a black nun, that had sat in the back and answered her cell phone twice during the service (and wore a habit like I had never seen- neon yellow, green, and blue with flowers), and who assured me the priest’s wife’s food was very American. She said, “I come here wanting Korean food” (because the wife is Korean) “and I get American food. But you know, she makes it real good. Cooks like a black woman!” Dan and I had tried to sneak out casually without partaking in the food, but apparently we weren’t as stealth as we thought, as five people starting asking us why we were leaving. (There were two other Korean priests there and a wife). The guilt was overwhelming, (this must be a Catholic Church in disguise!) so we stayed, and the food was great. Nice to have a real home cooked meal, especially on Easter. (Seasoned pork chops, corn bread, deviled eggs, broccoli salad, and pineapple cake- not at ALL Korean.)

Other than that I have little to report. We didn’t do much of anything this weekend, as the weather was miserable, and without internet access in our apartment yet, its difficult to find much to do. On a lighter note, our belongings will be delivered today. I never thought I could live for five weeks out of one suitcase, and I found it wasn’t actually that bad. Made me think about how much “stuff” I have and how very unnecessary most of it is. I’ve actually begun to feel some shame in my materialistic ways and found that having very little here hasn’t been a burden. Instead, I’ve found it very liberating. I don’t spend a lot of time deliberating about what to wear to work, because I only have 5 appropriate tops which I rotate weekly. There isn’t much furniture, so I don’t have much to move when I Swiffer. And having just two forks and knives makes me do the dishes often- literally the moment we finish eating. Part of the freedom I feel here may have a lot to do with my freedom from “things” that have occupied too much of my conscious for too long. I feel lighter without the burden of my possessions, or the feeling that I always need to upgrade, improve, or change my home. If you’ve seen the pictures you know there isn’t much in this place. And without the ability to hang anything on the walls, or the need to put any money into a place that isn’t ours, I have no desire to spend the money, the time, or the effort.

It has been casually brought to my attention (thanks, Mom) that I haven’t answered some of the questions posed by my friends and family who have been kind enough to spend their free time reading these blogs. I do apologize and won’t make excuses, but I don’t have much internet access and found that when I do, I’m in a rush to email, post an entry, and read the news (with no TV and the inability to read Korean, I have no access to current events). So I will answer every question asked of me, if I know the answer. And if I don’t I will do my best to find out.

Sara- I don’t know if the “peace” sign you see all the kids holding up means the same to them as it does to us. I think it’s a pretty universal symbol, but to them it might mean a little more, since their freedom has so many times been challenged and denied in recent history. And, yes, communicating with the kids who speak zero English (and that would be all of my kindergarteners) has been incredibly difficult, especially since no one was there to help me out or give me any sort of advice when I started. There is a lot of pointing, gesturing, and charades-type activities in my classroom. And it's not just kids. I wanted to buy a small plant (to cheer up our barren apartment) from a street vendor in Uijungbu. I tried in several ways to ask if the plant could be kept indoors, or if it had to be planted outside. There was no luck, and I went home flowerless.

Mary- I have met a few Americans here at school. Actually, three are from the U.S. (NJ, Wisconsin, and Arizona) and the rest are from Canada. Through one of the girls here I met a couple other Americans, but other than that it has only been the soldiers on base that I have met through Dan. To be honest I’m not looking to meet a lot of Americans- instead I would like to meet some Koreans and get to know more about their culture.

OK, that's all for now! xoxo!

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Photos

Korean Police
You see these guys mostly outside of the military bases. They are the first line of defense in case civilians protest and someone gets hurt. That way the Koreans are likely to be angry with the Korean police and not revolt against the US military.

Plaza Party
St. Patrick's Day party on the plaza

Girl's Bathroom
This is a typical girl's public bathroom. There is no toilet paper in the stall- take it from a common roll out by the faucets.

City building
Building by the train station that I go by everyday to work... just needed another picture!

Comments

[Jennefer]

Umm
So what do you do at that bathroom? Sqaut?? Wowsers

[Jan]

"Curioser and curioser"
Erin, first the break-dancing and the "lady in pink" out-doing you in shots on St. Patrick's Day, the appearance of a stuffed Guinness in Korea, and now, a very strange view of the women's bathroom. What is up with that? BTW, let me know what school supplies you need, or tell your mom, so I can send a box out to you. Jan