Happy lunar new year!

You'd think it would be exciting being in Asia for lunar (don't say "Chinese," I've had several Koreans correct me) new year, and perhaps it would be in China - fireworks and whatnot. But here, the most exciting thing that happened was getting 4 days off work in a row. There are no big festivals, bright lights, or loud explosions in Korea, just people chilling with their families and eating rice cakes. I guess it's kind of like Christmas in that respect, but at least x-mas-tide comes with exciting things like parades and Black Friday (though you could argue those are both more closely related to Thanksgiving).

So to get a pinch of new year spirit, Andy and I braved the throngs of children and parents at a Korean folk village to watch performances (I particularly enjoyed one with a man doing tricks on a rope, waving a fan that probably didn't do much physically for balance but must be a good mental boost) and people hopping up and down on strange, aggressive versions of see-saws. There were supposed to be free samples of rice cake soup, but all we found were remnants - styrofoam bowls in plastic bags, cold soup drops on tables. We did get to try unfiltered rice wine, which was like drinking the starchy water leftover from boiling rice - fermented. The sky above the folk village was brimming with kites, which was cool, and the ground was filled with children playing with metal hoops (looked like a game from the 1930s). I wore my animal hat to the event, and caught an old man not-so-discreetly taking my picture against a traditional-style Korean house. We ran into him again later, and he grinned and said, "One more!" then made me and Andy pose while he creepily took our picture again.

We followed up our adventures with a huge box of popcorn and 2 hours with Tom Cruise and his eye patch.

Baldness is a geometry problem.

Said by my student. She meant genetic problem.

Overcoming my scary

Yesterday, I asked a student of mine how often she uses English in her daily life. She said she tries to avoid it, because English is scary, and that's why she's taking classes. Then she giggled and said, "I am overcoming my scary."

There is a frequent mistake that students make here, and that is getting the phrase "in the case of" wrong. They skip the article completely, and just say "in case of." This phrase is most often used when the student is making a point about differences between Korea and other countries, so I often hear people say, "In case of Korea." I've decided that if I ever write a story/novel/script about my teaching experiences here, that is what it should be called. In Case of Korea.

Christmas creatures

I (heart) Engrish

I just found an empty chocolate box on my desk, left over from Christmas. Printed on the front: "Ghana Mild Chocolate. Let's feel its richness of cacao mixed with the mild taste." I like how this command is given in the first person plural - it's very fuzzy and feel-good.

In the realm of other Engrish-y things, I saw the following printed on a sweater in an underground shopping center: "I (heart) Naked." Grammar confusion aside, does this strike anyone else as profoundly ironic?

Two of my students today have taught me a little bit about naming traditions in Korea. The first student told me that there is a tradition of consulting a certain type of fortune teller who tells the parents what they should name the child. There was one particular man (no longer alive) who was very well-known for it, and she hypothesized that more than half of the Koreans in Seoul her age (she's in her 40s) will have gotten their name from this man. My other student explained the practice of using the Chinese characters for Tree, Fire, Water, Iron, and Earth in names. It's sort of done in rotation - a particular man has Tree in his name, and his sons must have Fire in their names, and his grandchildren must have Water in their names, etc. But apparently this is only passed down through the men.

More amusing Konglish coming soon!

Corn beard

Happy new year, all you who are several hours behind Korea! It's been 2009 here longer!

So wow. It's been a really weird week - first I, then Andy got sick (some sort of freaky chest infection), so both Christmas and New Years were a bit quieter than usual. No raucus parties for us. Lots of medicine, juice, and lounging instead. But I'm up to 90% healthy, and Andy's just about broken 50% I think, so hooray. Sorry about the slow postings, but as you can see I have my excuses, and I think more frequent posts should be a New Year's resolution of mine.

Obviously, we couldn't take part, but one of my coworkers told me about the New Year's party in Seoul that is akin to what goes down in Times Square. He said that instead of a ball dropping, they ring a big bell at midnight, followed by all the merry people letting off many haphazard fireworks in the middle of the crowd. His coat actually got singed by a stray. But this party seems like the exception rather than the rule - in general, my students tell me that they did basically the same stuff they did on Christmas: watch TV, chill out with their spouse, maybe go out to eat. Nothing special.

Ever since coming here, I have been puzzled by the ambiguous tea bags in the waiting room, and today all my questions were answered. One of my students was drinking the tea, so I asked what kind of tea it was. Answer: corn beard tea.

What is corn beard, you ask? It's those annoying long, fine stringy things that get in the way when you're husking corn. Apparently they can be made into a (kinda weird tasting) tea. Who knew.