Good Beer

Do you know what I miss a lot? Good beer. I mean gooooooood beer. I came to Korea under the impression that there was an emerging microbrewery market. It might be here... somewhere. However, I haven't found it. I've been drinking the Korean equivalent of Natty Ice, Coors, and Bud: Hite, Kloud, and Max. Due to the heat, it was.. (I hate to admit this)... refreshing to have a very light bubbly beer. Now that the weather is cooling down, I'd like to have a pint of something craft, something unique, something Seattle. Oh, I miss you, Seattle breweries! You are the jewel in the crown of beer making.

Speaking of great breweries, my good buddy is launching his brewery this weekend. I've tasted a handful of the prototypes, and he has listened patiently to my unqualified two cents. He is a saint for putting up for me, and he is a demigod when it comes to beer brewing. So, if you're in the mood for great beer, you should go support him this weekend!  He'll be at the Hop and the Hound on September 3rd from 5pm-8pm. You can visit his website for more information. I'm secretly hoping he'll move business to Korea. A girl can dream.

Now that I've been overly dramatic, there are a couple microbreweries here in Seoul. I just need to seek them out. Here are the breweries that I've found through a little research:

1. Korea Craft Brewery

2. The Hand and Malt

3. Magpie Brewing Co.

4. Galmegi Brewing Co.

5. The Booth

6. Craftworks Taphouse

I just want to point out that there are only six breweries that I could locate online in the greater Seoul area. There is literally hundreds in Washington state. Hundreds! Okay, whining is done.

Week 3: Stinky Sweaty Me

So, it's hot here. I mean HOT. The weather is about 34 degrees Celsius daily, which is about 93 degrees Fahrenheit. That doesn't seem too bad, but then you add the relentless humidity hovering between 50 and 90 percent. It's absolutely dreadful. I really wish I could stop complaining about this, but the whining is constant. I whine to myself, to my coworkers, to strangers. I feel a great suffering, because I am naturally a very, very red and sweaty person. This weather has taken a toll on my personal comfort and emotional welfare. As I've shared with some of you, there is a deeper underlying reason for the emotional trauma. It goes back to childhood... as all things do (shoutout to Freud!).

In high school, I had first period PE. Yes, first period PE. Isn't that awful! I would get real red and real sweaty on running days. It was unavoidable. When I would walk into second period (I believe it was math), the kids would shout out, "It's a running day! Leann is red!" This planted a seed of embarrassment around my sweaty red face. I had many more experiences in my adolescence and adulthood that reinforced this negative relationship with my sweat. Such as the time I went to hot yoga, and a sorority sister asked me if I went swimming. Or the time I went on a run, and a little girl loudly asked her mom, "Why is that lady sooooo red." When I workout, I get red and sweaty. This took me years to accept, and I just recently overcame this very vain embarrassment. With that being said, I have not accepted being red and sweaty for no good reason. Me + Seoul + August = Sweat Machine. I stand, and I sweat. I sit, and I sweat. I just exist, and I sweat. This is very bothersome indeed. Seoul's terrible August weather has aggravated an old emotional wound, and has forced me into a torturous form of intense immersion therapy.

Sweat Immersion Therapy:
1. Sweat through your dress shirt two days in a row. Realize that the salt from your sweat leaves giant marks on dress shirts. Wash shirts in sink and let air dry. Pray that undershirt tank-tops won't get you pulled aside to have a "dress code talk."
2. Coworker asks if you're "okay" because you look "really sweaty."
3. Force coworkers to move mid-meal to another table, because it's closer to air conditioning.
4. Buy 10 handkerchiefs to use as sweat rags. Realize you should pack two - one is not enough.
5. Ask your awesome parents to send you light weight dresses that don't show sweat. Realize everything shows sweat if you sweat enough.
6. Realize that cutting your hair in a cute bob with bangs was an idiotic idea. Bangs are a sweat tent for your forehead, and it's hard to put your hair in a ponytail.
7. Wonder if you smell, constantly.
8. Stain your leather bag's cross strap with sweat.
9. Go on a date. Look soooo good the first 10 minutes. Look drenched the following 2 hours. No second date.
10. Write a online confessional for everyone to read.

I cannot stop sweating. Cannot stop. And, to make matters worse, not everyone sweats. No joke. I look around, and I have a giant sweat stain on the front of my shirt, and some people look so dry and fresh. How do they do this? I did a little sweat research, and here is what I've found:

Sweat 101 Video
Why People Sweat Different Amounts
Another Complainer - Blog Post About Sweating in Seoul

Sorry, no photos. I promise I'm doing everyone a favor. :)

Week 2: Working It!

I haven't posted in a while. Sincerest apologies! I started work, so things have gotten busy. For today's post. I'm going to translate a menu for you. Actually, it's more for me. I really need to understand this particular menu, because it's from a "hof" which I plan to frequent. However, before I translate the menu, you should know how I landed myself in this neighborhood hof. It started with me looking for a group on Meetup. I was hoping to find some friends in the area. This particular Meetup was for people who wanted to practice/speak English. This was perfect, because I am fluent in English. My Korean is still very, very primitive - caveman-esque. So, I let a handful of my coworkers know that I was planning on doing this Meetup and they were welcome to join. All three ladies wanted to join. They met me in my neighborhood, and we walked a block or two to find the café where the Meetup was happening at.

Now, I need to pause for a moment, there is something very fascinating about how Korea organizes it's shops. You MUST look above street level to see all the shops/stores/restaurants. In each building (a bit like a strip mall), there are 3-5 levels of shops. While on the street, you need to look up and read the signs to know where everything is. Then, you go inside the building and travel to that particular floor. It's really wild! It makes sense, because it's more cost effective to build up than out. However, it's a really new concept for me. I'll be taking pictures for you all soon.

At the café, we were the only people who showed up! Although disappointing, we were in good company. The café had a bookshelf full of board/card games. We played a game, and we chit-chatted. In this time, we also got to know our waitress a little bit. She was taking a break before returning to school in Germany. I believe she called it a "working holiday." She is the lady who recommended the hof! There you go! That's how we learned about the hof.

Here is the translated menu...

Woah, woah, woah! You think I've lazily only translated one item!?! Well, you're right. I've decided to make this a participation segment!  My lack of motivation can be your gain!  If you can translate an item or two on this menu, (1) you'll know a little more Korean and (2) you'd be helping a friend. This means, that you all have a thrilling opportunity to translate Korean into English!!! Let me know if you figure out any of the other items.  Next week, we'll work on the inside of the menu. Let's be HONEST about our translations. I don't want any surprises!

Day 5: Homebody

Somebody was a homebody today. That would be me! I stayed home reading and bumming around the internet. I should give myself a little credit; I did leave my apartment for a wee-bit to meet up with new coworkers at my new principal's home for a social gathering. So, it wasn't a complete loss of a day.

Here are some videos to entertain you:

... just kidding...

I cannot figure out how to embed my videos into my blog, because Blogger switched to Korean since I've moved here. I've been just clicking random buttons to figure things out.

Oh well! Can't win them all. You'll just have to click the following links:

- Me talking into a fan like Tommy Boy
- Cool fish near my apartment

Day 4: Pancakes, yum!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of my adventures today. I'm a little embarrassed to pull my camera out and take pictures of everything and anything - which I would do if I was more bold/secure. I am honestly worried about looking like an overeager, silly tourist. After talking to Tricia, she called me out, "They know you're not a native Korean. Just use your camera!" So, I'll do better next time.

And, yes, they know I'm not Korean. In fact, people (more often than not) start with English when speaking with me. I went to the story yesterday, and several customers and employees begun their conversation* with me in English. This is comforting on some level, because I hardly understand any Korean. However, it makes me realize how my western European looks scream, "I speak only English." I really wish I could surprise these people with my awesome Korean speaking skills; alas, I'd actually have to start seriously practicing Korean. :)

*In this instance, conversation means a spattering of words to get across a general gist. The longest conversation I had was with a sales lady helping me pick out a hairdryer and straightener. She was super helpful! She even plugged in a hairdryer to show me all the features.

Today, I...
- ate delicious pancakes at a American breakfast joint called "Butterfinger Pancakes."
- went on a tour of my neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods with a neighbor and coworker.
- went to a different Emart. This Emart was similar to a Target, and I was able to purchase a soft serve ice cream cone. So, I was pretty happy.
- bought a fan!!! Best purchase ever.
- tried some new food. It looks like sushi. It's called kimbap. It was pretty good.
- decided against being social. I hung out with my new fan all night, and I watched a Amazon original TV series called "Man in the High Tower."

Alright, folks, no pictures for you today. Sincerest apologies!

Day 3: Gangnam Style

All by myself! Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore!

**the alternate title to this particular blog post**

For those of you who worry about me, the alternate title is in good fun. I promise I'm not moping around the streets of Seoul. However, as suggested by Eric Carmen's famous lyrics, I would've appreciated doing this outing with a buddy. There is something great about having a friend to adventure with. I know people push the "traveling alone is amazing" agenda, and I see their point. With that being said, it's definitely an acquired taste. I think with more experience traveling alone; I'll learn to enjoy it more.

Now that you feel so sorry for me... ;) ... let me tell you about my adventure to Gangnam! I woke up with three goals (1) travel to Gangnam on the subway, (2) say "hello" & "thank you" in Korean, and (3) do a little shopping. I am proud to say that I met all three of my goals. Woohoo!!!

To travel to Gangnam, I needed to get on the yellow line at the Sunae station. The station is only two blocks away from my apartment. If you look at the maps below, I marked my station with a black star. Then, I traveled to Jeongja station to transfer to the red line. The red line takes you all the way to the Gangnam station. Without a hitch, I was able to get myself to Gangman. I noticed a couple of things about the subway travel that was interesting:

 - A lovely musical number that plays when a train approaches. It sounds similar to music from Super Mario 64; I kid you not.

- In the tunnel from Jeongja to Gangnam, there was a long line of TVs on the side of the tunnel. As you looked out the window at the TVs, it gave an illusion of a flipbook. I imagine each TV had a still image that turned into a short film by just flying past them so quickly.

- There are boxes/cabinets filled with gas masks in the subway station. I'll be asking someone about these, and I'll get back to you about them.

Once I arrived in Gangnam, I looked for a place to get coffee. About two blocks into my walk, I saw a Starbucks. I had a "I can't go there, because that isn't adventurous enough" moment. I didn't want to be unadventurous. So, I paused for a brief moment to decided my level of security in forging forward to try something brand new. As you can tell from the pictures below, I caved and went to Starbucks. On the bright side, I tried by "hello" and "thank you" with the baristas.

Korean Tip: Don't just read the Hangul or English translation of the word without carefully listening to a native say it first. It might not sound exactly how it looks. I know this from firsthand experience (arrrrgh). You might want to YouTube before trying it aloud. I was running around saying "Cahm-saw-HAM-nee-duh." Here is how you actually say it.

After butchering my "hello," I sat down and drank my coffee and read a little. Here are some photos of my quick trip to Gangnam:

Day 2: PUPPIES!!!!

This morning, I woke up at 5:20 am. My jet lag has turned me into an early bird, and I am enjoying all this morning time to drink coffee and eat toast. Nom, nom. Also, I got a chance to Skype my family and my Tricia. It was lovely catching up, and I was able to give them a tour of my apartment.

Side Note: I haven't quite figured out the time difference thing. I created a little chart that outlines the time difference between Seattle and Seoul to help me decide when to Skype my family.  I still haven't figured it out. I sometimes read it backwards, and I'm the one who created the damned thing! I probably should label my chart. I mark kids down for that kind of sloppiness. ;)

After my relaxing morning, a coworker of mine met me at my apartment building to teach me how to use the subway system. In Seoul, you use your T-Card (basically Seoul's version of Seattle's Orca Card) to enter and exit the subway system. Isn't that interesting? I don't remember doing that in New York, and you definitely don't do that in Seattle. Then again, Seattle's public transportation is mostly buses. We went south one subway stop, popped off, and grabbed some lunch. In this time, I realized that I really need to learn the word "thank you" in Korean - kam-sa-ham-ni-da. Whenever I say this word from memory, I skip a syllable. So, I'll be practicing. My coworker tilts/bows her head when she says this. I just smiled really big; I figured it would translate loosely as the same thing.

Alright, folks! Finally! I'll tell you about 'dem puppies. I went to Emart (Korea's version of Walmart/Costco) to pick up some household items, and they had a whole puppy section! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

This was the best part of Emart. Hands down. I hate shopping in crowded areas, so this was a little treat.

One last Animal Channel update. I walked from my neighborhood to the neighborhood across the river, and there was critters in the trees making a huge racket. It sounded like rattlesnakes in the trees. I stopped and stared for awhile, trying to find these birds. No luck. It turns out that the sound is a bug called the cicada. I found a short video that gives a quick introduction to the bug, and I found a long artsy film. Does anyone know if Seattle has cicadas? I tried a half-hearted search and found nothing. I did find an article about the Midwest's cicada population appearing in 2007.  I guess South Korea and the United States are on different 17 year cycles.

A picture of me alongside the river enjoying the cicadas' harmony:

Day 1: The Doctor's, The Bank, and Korean BBQ

I woke up bright and early to catch a school bus outside of my apartment building to go to a mandatory medical check-up and bank appointment. There were already five fellow coworkers on the bus. To be honest, it felt a little like the first day of summer camp - getting on a bus, hoping to make friends. As my friends and family know, I'm secretly a giant introvert, and I'm not the best at meeting new people. I am proud to say that I purposefully put myself out there, and I talked to all my new coworkers that were on the bus over the course of the day. I will consider this my first "Expat Badge" - battling Seattle introvert tendencies and actually being social.

Our first stop was the doctor's office to get a medical check-up/screening. It was relatively quick and easy. Unfortunately, I did misread the directions given to me by our school nurse. I thought that I couldn't eat or drink after midnight. It turns out, that I could drink small amounts of water. I tortured myself into a state of thirst for no good reason. Note to self: read emails better. Here are some fun things that happened at the doctor's office:

1. Putting a urine sample in (no joke!) a drinking cup. I used the very same type of cup to drink water from the office's watercooler. Then, walking across a public business hall to put my urine sample on a tray.
2. Getting a chest x-ray. I've never had one, so I thought that was rather interesting/exciting. It turns out that my chest looks great!
3. Getting measured in centimeters and kilograms. Oh, the metric system!

Fun Side Note: An Australian coworker asked me if there was an actual rhyme or reason to the US measuring system. I took it upon myself to explain how everything isn't base ten, rather it's a bunch of random base numbers: 12 inches in a food, three feet in a meter, etc. As I was explaining, I realized that our system is ridiculous. So ridiculous.

After we finished up at the doctor's office, we went to the school to collect our work laptops and eat lunch. The lunch that was served was all Korean food, and it was super delicious. I should have taken a picture for you all. I regret not doing it! The big take away - I like kimchi.

Last stop, the bank. The bank visit took a long, long time. It took about 4 hours to get everybody's bank accounts setup. I would know this, because I lost a giant game of rock-paper-scissors, making me the last to leave. Lucky me, one of my awesome coworkers waited for me to finish. So, I had a buddy to walk me back to my apartment to drop off my stuff. Then, we walked together to meet up with some other coworkers for Korean BBQ. Yum!!!

One of my coworkers lived in Korea a couple of years ago. This was mighty handy, because he ordered all the food. Phew. There was no need to pull out my phrasebook and speak in butchered Korea. However, I'm considering doing a blog segment called "Leann tries her Korean out on a real Korean."  I can post a video, or just give you a narrative of the interaction. I'm sure it'll be mighty entertaining.

Also, I'd just like to let you all know about the weather here. It is muuuuuuuuggy. Super hot, super humid. I'm sure this is a TMI, but you need to know - I sweated through my dress. There was a huge wet spot on the front and back. I won't be wearing that dress again anytime soon.  Yikes.

Below is some pictures of the yummy Korean BBQ, and there is an action shot of us walking through a building to get to the Korean BBQ place. If you look hard enough, you may see the big, dark sweat spot on the back of my green dress. :)

Day 0: Welcome to Korea

My amazing parents dropped me off at SeaTac airport on Wednesday, July 20th to catch my plane to San Francisco. From San Francisco, I would catch a flight to Seoul/Incheon Airport. Overall, things went really smooth at SeaTac.  It was a little slow to get checked luggage checked and secured. Because my connecting flight was through Singapore Airlines, the Alaska Airlines attendant needed to charge me for my luggage using an old school, handwritten, carbon copy paper system. As you can imagine, this took some time.

Traveling Tip: Okay, this is a pretty slick tip. I got this from a fellow coworker. If you're planning on moving overseas, use cardboard boxes instead of suitcases. Once you get to your final destination, you simply recycle your cardboard box. This saves you from having pesky oversized luggage. Also, according to my mom who works at FedEx, it's super important to tape all the sides and corners really well. I thought I did a good job, but my boxes probably could use a couple more strips of tape around the sides.

I checked my four bags (actually boxes) filled mostly with clothing, shoes, and children's books with the Alaska attendant, and I prayed that they'd all make it to Incheon - which they did. Phew! This is the first of many things that I worried about. Here are some other events that gave me the "OH NOs!!!" I had while trying to get from point a (Seattle) to point b (Seoul):

1. The slow, yet expected, crawl through security at SeaTac
2. Being detained on the plane for an extra 45 minutes in San Francisco, because the moving tunnel/hall that connects to the plane wasn't working
3. Realizing that you had to leave the gates/terminal and reenter security to get to my Singapore Airlines flight.
4. Getting a boarding pass that says that the plane started boarding 10 minutes ago... and I still have to reenter through security.

Now that I made myself sound like a giant worry wart, I'm going to switch gears and tell you the "YAYS" of my flying experience:

1. My parents drove me from Camano Island to SeaTac, and they stayed with me till I got into the security line.
2. I didn't have a lot of waiting to do, because of all the strange delays listed above.
3. My flight to Seoul was delayed by an hour, so I had just enough time to order a beer and tacos!
4. I watched a bunch of movies on my international flight: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Zootopia, Brooklyn, & Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. All movies had strong female leads - of course. I strongly recommend Zootopia!
5. I met a coworker while boarding the tram to customs. Creepily, I saw her luggage tag and recognized her name from work emails, so I introduced myself.

I arrived at 7:30pm-ish Seoul time. By the time I got to my apartment, it was 9:00pm-ish. The apartment was fully furnished, and a support staff team member showed me the ropes. I'll post pictures of my cute little place soon!

Homegirl?

Yep, homegirl. My good friend, Tricia, and I had a rather lengthy (considering the topic) conversation about the word "homegirl" and "homeboy." Why did it disappear? Why don't we use it anymore? I know "homie" was a thing for a while. Is it still a thing? After a couple minutes of our very serious conversation about "homegirl," we decided it needs a comeback. So, here it is: Homegirl in Korea. This new blog, per my adorable mom's request, will be about my day-to-day experience working abroad in a suburb of Seoul, South Korea. I'm excited to share my adventures with you (and, of course, my mom).

Also, you should read Urban Dictionary's definition of homegirl. Once you're done with that, you should look at Urban Dictionary's definition of your name - uplifting and soul crushing. Still have more time? You should look up your best friend's name... mom's, dad's, siblings', neighbors'... soooooo addicting.