Happy Xmas from the Sacred Jiri Mountain of the Southern Provinces of South Korea!

~Sus~

This is Not What I Should be Telling You

I should have something more interesting to tell you.

I should be writing about snowboarding at Yongpyong resort in Gangwhan-do.

I should be showing pics of me smiling at the to of a hill with my buddies and windchilled and sunburned at the bottom. I should be telling you about how we knitted in the evenings and how the bus was long and crowded but hey at least I got to go snowboarding. I should get to tell you this, but I had to cancel it all! I am SICK. ick ick ick. SICK.

knew it to be so on Thursday morning, when I woke up achy and with a runny nose. then I felt awful Friday morning, and terrible Friday night, when I traveled all the way out to Wangsimni station to meet Matt, and Army guy who so kindly picked me up the monster party-pack of assorted Quils (Day and Ny), and turned around only to return to my east-side burb of Guri and wallow in the post NyQuil stupor while trying to knit this hat which I am now wearing. Boy it's hard to knit on NyQuil! As Dennis Leary says, "Big N, little y, big F****ing Q!" holy hell. well thanks to my mixture of hater, Gatorade and Quils, resulting in a 20+ hour-resting period on Friday~Saturday, I awoke Sunday morning to notice a regaining of the use of my nostrils. Hooray! and though I am not all well just yet, I am over the worst. I am SOOOOOO angry that I couldn't go boarding. Sooooo sad that I missed socializing with my friends, by so incredibly relieved to have given myself the rest my body truly needed. Sometimes, the best choices are not the most popular ones. this was one of those.

All I have to say, though is By golly! Thanks be to God for NyQuil!

ROADTRIP!!!!

....that's what she said....

Thank goodness for friends with cars and navigational systems to boot! This weekend I hopped in a car with these two monkeys and went to the High 1 Resort in Gangwon-do for a Saturday night and Sunday morning/day of snowboarding.
As I am fairly new at this sport, Joowon made me rent a helmet. She said not to worry about it. That I am new and I could think less about falling down if I wore one. At first I felt like Such a dork! But ultimately, I was glad for it. I never worried for my brains each time I fell. Night skiing was colder than I've ever felt, and it was SOOOOOOO windy! I remember going up the ski lift with Joowon & Liam and scooching so close to them, praying for a little more warmth. the chill was made worse by the powerful wind. I've done this sport 3 or 4 times before going on this trip. and I was nervous because Liam's a massively awesome skiier, and Joowon's not so bad on the board. Joo told me, "Don't think about falling!" and "Just look where you want to go." So I tried that.

Joowon watched my first run, nervously, wondering if I was going to give up, but I got up and surprised myself as I started to ACTUALLY carve across the snow in a zig zag. Oh, I fell A LOT. I face planted once; I skidded on horrible patches of ice, and it took me maybe 20-30 mins to get down the run (ATHENA) which was the only one open at for nightski. but by the end of the night, I had gained a whole bunch of confidence in my ability. I wasn't so nervous about going down the hill, it was more the GOING UP that freaked me out. ten or 15 mins on a ski lift can feel like a lifetime when you're being pelted with below Celsius temps and your fingers are stinging and your snot is frozen inside your face by the time you reach the top. By that time I'd be looking forward to the descent as a warm-up, just be OFF the damn thing, and the way down would feel warm comparatively.

Sunday morning was bright and sunny. We woke up and I saw the sun rising over the mountains as I lay in my ondol bed on the floor of our hotel room. we reached the mountain aftera quick breakfast and immediately rode the gondola 20 mins up the mountain. We spent our lift time at the peak, ski/snowboarding up and down the slopes called Zeus (easy), Hera (intermediate), and Apollo (advanced).

I did a run on Zeus 2. The hardest thing by far I've done is the low land slopes on this run. It's virtually impossible to get moving, your feet are strapped in, and what's the worst is that the moment you get up, someone falls down right in front of you with a pathetic yelp of some sort and you crash into them because well, you're moving too slow to do anything but crash. So I got stuck in what I like to call Zeus's Pergatory for a while on my first run, and the second time I did it, I seem to have carried half the mountain snow down with me on my board. but once I cleared the lowlands, Zeus was a pretty gentle run. it zig-zagged down easily, and I made it all the was down without falling. the downside, being however, that my feet would fall asleep and I would HAVE to take a break to get the feeling back in them.

This is us at the top of the Gondola ride, just before parting ways and just before I got stuck for a while in a snow drift on the stupid lowlands of Zeus2.

Unfortunately, the mountains get VERY crowded, especially with novice boarders. It makes the beginner slopes not only a frustrating obstacle course, but also very dangerous. The worst wipe-outs were because of stupid newbies who weren't paying attention, or just sitting down in the CENTER of a slope--usually just over a hill where fast skiiers/boarders couldn't see them. So my friends quickly convinced me to try the Hera slopes (intermediate), which I did twice and really liked! and then somehow they got me down the Apollo (suuper steep) twice, too.

At 130, our lift time was up, so we began our descent on Zeus1 toward the High One condos & lift center. Here is where I encountered many of my worst wipeouts at the hands of several tricky obstacles. (It seemed the sitting ducks were piling up...and across...taking up the entire width and not giving anyone room to pass.)

Our trip was full of snow-sport, hard work on the slopes, and lots of time outdoors. It was highlighted by awesome weather, great company, good food, and a positive, encouraging and easy-going spirit. I am so lucky to have these two! I hope to look forward to more trips like these to come! For now, I'm going to read more about snowboarding, and watch some videos. I want for next time to figure our how to carve with my toe-forward and backward--without my face landing in the powder. I hope everyone is finding ways to enjoy the winter weather.

Love and Peace Y'all.

~Sus~

Snowboarding @ HighOne 하이원 Resort; Gangwon-do : December 2009

Thanksgiving Dinner With Friends

We Celebrated thanksgiving this year on Saturday, Nov. 28th at Matt's Apartment in the Seoul Neighborhood called Haebongcheon. Matt is in the military and therefor has access to things like fresh cranberries, pumpkin pie filling, and stuffing mix, as well has having a real working oven in his apartment. The apartment is up a crazy steep hill in a maze of short-red brick apartments that all look the same but--a little but different.
Cari, Mikhail, and I arrived early and started cooking. I made a lentil-based stuffing, cranberry sauce, and sauteed beets/carrots/onions; and later on I made some spiced rum-apple cider. The rest of the cooking crew came to the house much later, I have no idea what took them so long, but they came in and the chaos began all over again. the only difference being some random girl sitting on the couch like a lump shouting jokes she thought were funny over the crowd that had formed.
At around 6pm, we were all ready to sit down and eat. It was a lovely meal Eun-mi made the most impressive bread and a lovely green bean casserole, and everyone loved my fresh cranberry sauce. it seemed things were going along smoothly. We somehow ended up with four pies. really we could have done fine with one or two. but nonetheless....4 pies....and we all went home with xtra pie.
I carved up the turkey for spare parts, Tasha took home some bones for stew makin,' and Cari and I split the wishbone. We decided that to make it interesting, that the wishbone would be a slap-bet. The person with the bigger piece of the bone got to slap the other person. and guess what??? I won! So I slapped Cari.

Happy Slapsgiving: 2009

Cari's First Slap.

I love you more than ponies.

I am thankful

for K2 world; a rock climbing gym that's actually close to my part of the world.

for strong hands.

for a stubborn but humbled personality.

For my climbing buddies, who push me physically & mentally when I don't think I can do any better.

for my job, which I love, and for my sweet students.

for teaching aids & curriculum and DVD teaching materials.

for my coteacher who is awesome and patient even though our cultures cause misunderstandings sometimes.

for butterfinger pancakes on a Saturday morning.

for Joowon & Nina & Mer & Cari & Kate.

for my sister and my niece.

for my brother...most of the times.

for good, strong coffee on dry, cold days.

for smiles and hugs and reasons to laugh.

for funny faces.

for music and audio books.

for technology. my phone. my ipod. my computer.

for youtube

for meetup.com, most of the time.

for living in a big city that is populated by hills & mountains

for a stellar public transportation system

for bullet trains

for turkey on Thanksgiving.

for friends with whom I can share my dinner.

for airplanes

for skype. thank God for SKYPE!

for electronic dictionaries.

for snail mail!

for pen pals.

for holidays that give us a reason to send a silly picture of a dog dressed as a turkey.

for changing seasons.

for friends with cars!

for snowboarding weekends and climbing vacations.

for knitting by the fire and twister in the sauna house.

for gifts of donuts simply b/c I'm cute & can knit.

for deeper conversations

for getting to know friends just a little bit more than acquaintances.

for fashion and art.

for only having to work with 6th graders once/weekly.

for awesome hair products.

for hot showers and long baths.

for chocolate.

for empathy.

for loyalty.

for freedom of expression and choice.

for the rights to my own body.

for my passport.

for kimchi-seafood pancakes and makoli (or dong-dong-ju)

for an apartment that is paid for by my employer.

for cheap liquor and all-night danceclubs

for korean people who've lived in the USA and understand a little bit of what I go through during holidays.

for used bookstores.

for pants that fit (of which I sorely miss!)

for zuchinni, and other gourd-like veggies.

for carmex.

that I don't have to worry about rent or food.

that my dog is happy and healthy and loved.

that I can eat KIMCHI with every meal if I choose

that I won't be eating any KIMCHI tonight with my turkey!

that the world is round and diverse.

that I have a chance to see it!

that people are different and for the most part kind with good intentions.

that it's cold but I know it'll get warmer again someday

that I am a 27 year old with decisions ahead of and behind me.

that I getto spend my days with kids and my afternoons & evenings waway from them.

that sometimes when I go away on a business trip, I get to leave early.

that I live in a city where it's more convenient NOT to own a car.

that I have the chance as an adult to live in a foreign country and learn a new language and feel what it's like to be treated like a minority.

that Casandra writes me letters. sometimes it's all I have to look forward to.

that Bellingham never really changes, no matter how forward-thinking and progressive its residents try to convince themselves they are.

that two halves make a whole.

that i'm a glass half-full girl most of the time

that my niece is happy and healthy and sweet as all hell, and that I get to be a part of her life even though I live on a different continent.

that I have twice as many holidays to celebrate because I live in one country and belong to another.

thats all I can think of right now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I will post more to come later.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been doing the same thing every night and weekend--rock climbing. In fact, I climbed at my indoor gym for 8 days in a row, only breaking the streak to go shopping for Saturday Thanksgiving dinner essentials. (Since everyone works today, we decided to cook all dayon Saturday) Matt has access to the military base commissary. He got me fresh cranberries and did some shopping for items that are hard to find here, and we will take over his house this weekend, since none of us has an oven in our homes. Boy, it feels weird to work on Thanksgiving day. Even though this is my third working Thanksgiving holiday, I still feel a little melancholy on this day.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Please try to be mindful of why we are thankful.

Love,

Sus

Subway Surfing

So heres how it works.

Get on the subway and stand in the center of the car.

Put your feet together.

Bend your knees because you're not holding onto anything, and it's about to get bumpy.

Ride the train like this over bumps and around turns. try not to fall over.

Brace yourself when it comes to a stop!

Next time you're on a train, try it out!

It's a great butt-workout =D

And It's trickier than it looks.

Peace.

Sus

This is What I'm Asking For

You can't expect to get something if you don't ask for it.

If you want something, you should ask, and your chances of getting that improve.

I'm not a terribly high maintenance person.

I don't demand things from the people I love, and I do things when I can to remind you how I feel about you.

I'd like to think I'm an thoughtful-type person. I write letters, send mail, gifts, and try to let you know I'm thinking of you.

HOWEVER, I can only write for so long without getting a reply before I begin to feel my efforts are utterly useless.

I am very lucky to have a wonderful penpal. Casandra, each of your letters brings me joy, and although geographically we are so far apart, hearing from you via snail mail makes me feel close to you still :) thank you. Even Crystal, who is super-busy with a little baby and feeling unwell manages to send out a card from time to time. Thank you, Crystal. And thanks to Olivia for painting me pictures for my refrigerator.

It doesn't take a lot of material effort to make me happy. a piece of paper, a stamp, perhaps a trip to the post office to send it off. What it takes is the sentiment. whether it's a few second to write your name, or a few pages of your thoughts. I couldn't care less.

But please don't promise me you're going to send something if you don't think you'll get around to it. It's been two years that I've lived here. Many of the people I love most in the world live very far away from me, and the longer I am away from you, the harder it feels to connect sometimes.

I miss you!

I have sent out my address a million ba-ZILLION times to you. Via email, text, or scraps of paper.

I'm asking you to write to me.

If you can't manage that, shoot me an email from time to time. (Thanks a bunch, Sandy, I love getting your emails & pics)

But really, send me a letter.

I'm not wasting my sentiment to send you a xmas card, if you can't give me the same respect.

Here's your chance. My address is on the envelope. your move.

Olivia Belle is Three Today!

It's Olivia's Birthday Today! (well yesterday in Korea, actually) I can't believe my sweet little baby niece is a monstrous three already. She is a great little kid, and I'm sad I can't be there for her b-day, but here's my cheers that she's happy and kicking about in the world! I love you Oli! Happy Happy Birthday!

My First Ever Outdoor Lead!

It's not a terribly difficult climb.

It was marked at 5.8 but felt much easier.

Climbing above your anchors always adds

a little bit of a perilous feeling to the element,

so I am happy to have attempted this lead slowly

and confidently.

And also, I totally redpointed that sucker!

Night Hiking in Seoul: Bukaksan

T-T-T-Turn and face the strange Ch-ch-changes! Hiking Seoraksan for the 3rd time

Three seasons on Seorak down...one to go!

This hike through Seorak Mountain was the most epic so far.

We began our drive down at midnight from Seoul, arriving in the parking lot below Bekdamsa temple around 330AM. after a most dissatisfying nap in the bus, we de-boarded, made breakfast and lunch fixins forthe next two days, and started walking up the road toward the temple. after 7kms hiking up a winding road we arrived at a temple where we enjoyed aa warm cup of traditional Korean tea and culture. After this, we would begin our hike through the backside of Seorak Mountain's River Valley, and Up Up Up to the shelter, where we would spend the evening trying to get some snoozes. The them of this trip Was too hot..too cold. I wore so many layers and believe me, I wore them all. The hike is INTENSE. and I sweated a lot, so when we would take a break, the cool Autumn air would chill me within minutes.

I like it when the leaves turn red.

I like it when the leaves are the color of my head.

I like it when the leaves turn brown.

I like it when the leaves fall down, down down.

Oooh the colors oof the fall! Ooooh the colors of us all!

We can name them alllll....

We can name them alllll....

Yo! Britches! look at the leaves!

See how gently they're fallin' from the trees!

Yes I see colors, I see them all around.

I see red, orange, yellow...and a slight touch of burgundy.

The group we traveled with was large--the 20 or so folks who stayed on the mountain seemed to split into two groups, and stayed that way. First, there were the hardcore, "I'm gonna sleep out in a tent in freezing conditions and theres no time to rest--gotta power through it" team. I called them the Tiger's Head. Large head, large mouth. always up in front.

I was in the tiger's tail team. Since it was my third hike, I feel I've powered up this mountain in the past, and since the scenery in the fall is so incredible. We took a great deal of time out to sit by waterfalls, take pictures, and enjoy each others' company. we played rock, scissors paper; Cari and I made up a song about the leaves. It started out as a way to annoy Mark, who said his wife would have chatted about the leaves had she come on the trip. and then it took off and it was just a way to keep breathing as the Mountain incline got more steep and we thought We'd drop if we had to see even one more staircase.

As we were nearing the shelter location, we took a break at the top of a particularly hairy incline. As Cari came over the bend, she stops with a huge grin on her face and tells us, "best story ever: William (our fearless leader) sits down, pulls out a cheeseburger." We all burst out laughing. It's 3pm and We have been hiking for about 8 hours. We are all dying for a warm meal, and William has a CHEESEBURGER? This would later incite a new song to be written over ramen noodles and soju at the shelter that evening.

The hike was wonderful. cold, tiring. We were all so tired, that between the hours of 6 and 7pm, we all fell asleep, 18 people crammed elbow-to-elbow into two tiny rooms. There were 3 snorers, noisy neighbors, and very verrry hot, but we were so exhausted that it didn't seem to matter. Until my Ipod ran out of batteried and William's Chainsaw snoring had me done and fed up with the sleeping arrangements. Ifound myself out in the hallway at 3am with my headlamp and sudoku, nestled between everyone's shoes. A few minutes after I got comfortable in my new chilly locale, Cari tromps up the stairs with her sleeping bag in hand. Her nose is bright red.

Apparently she had also gotten annoyed with the snoring and went outside to sleep on the bench in front f the shelter. We sat up and chatted, sang some tunes, and did sudoku in the chilly hallway. By 430, our whole group was up and dressed. We wanted to reach the Peak by sunrise. We were hiking in groggy silence guided only by the light of our headlamps. after an hour or so we reached the peak and watched as the dark mist turned gray, then got lighter and lighter...until, lo and behold. it was a dense bright gray fog. Wow. how magical. hmmm... still, totally worth it. We hiked then all day to arrive at the park entrance and meet our friends the day hikers by 4pm. A dinner of bee-bim-bap, a quick trip to the hot springs, and we were on our way home. Seoraksan....once more!

Victory! beautiful! I love hiking! Doing this mountain makes me feel I can do anything.

Ajumma elbows bride

Wait for it....wait for it....oh no! she didn't just...oh yes...she did.

Auto-Send Apologies

If I auto-send you these posts, I'm sorry about all the re-sends. I am still figuring out how to compose pictures & words and I am picky. You may have gotten that Everland post about thirteen-million times!

Everland Happy Halloween!

Everland is Korea's Disneyland theme park dealy-type place. It's located about 45 minutes outside of Seoul, in a tiny little town called Yongin. you can't see it until you actually get IN there, because it's nestled inside all those wonderfull sloping hills that makes up Korea's landscape. The theme was Halloween, and honestly, have you ever played Kingdom Hearts? I swear this place was built off those blueprints. I was walking around the first little "town" in there, and it was totally "traverse town" the place where the main character meets Donald and Goofy. There's a little cafe and a clocktower, and I was just imagining myself in giant shoes and holding a keyblade, fighting off black heartless creatures and doing cool flips off the rooftop awnings. Ah! just thinking about it makes me want to play the game! and to quote Joowon from the other night, "Gosh, Susan, I had no idea you were such a geek!" Well yes, Joowon, yes I am.

The rides were fun! We waited in line to ride the T-express for over two hours. It was the largest roller coaster I've ever been on. (the second time I've ever been to an amusement park) The jerky motions or upside-down moves aren't that bad, and it's not even really the falling that freaks me out, although it's scary. The scariest part is when you're being dragged in a downward motion sooooooooo fast, faster than you could physically fall, so as you're going down, you're also falling up. I HATE that part. ugh! Why do people do this to themselves? Why do I do it?

All of this line waiting had us acting a little crazy.

There was strange music in german town that had us doing the polka and bobbing around a lot. Cari and I got into a fake fight in the Rock and Roll line at "little America;" she pushed me & I ended up slapping her. All in good fun, I swear!Happy Slapsgiving everyone! ;D We texted our good friend William, who was on his way to San Francisco for the next few weeks. We sent him a month's worth of texts while waiting in line.

PS. Thanks to Joowon who took these lovely pictures!

'Walk of Shame'

With friends in Hongik Univ. Dist.

in a gigantic mirror sculpture

the morning after

-an all-night-

of dancing

Wooriwei /Oooh-ree-whey/ Korean Farming Experience

Wooriwei means us-together, I think...The groups' idea is to bring together foreigners and Koreans to learn about Korean culture and exchange--well our cultures, I guess? with korean college students from around Seoul and the surrounding province. We arrived in JinWi Station around 7pm on Friday night and ate dinner together (Boodae jjiggae) it is jjiggae--orange with kimchi and veggies and hotdogs in it, sefved with a side of rice. It is soooo tasty. The farmers we would be helping out for the weekend donated to us fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and makoli made from chestnuts. I've never had such sweet makoli, and it kept coming out in those containers you might use to carry gasoline in when you need it for your lawn mower, and it seemed endless. We drank and played drinking games and learned silly chants. Drinking local alcohols in Korea is as natural as drinking guiness with your cornflakes in Ireland. It's more common than water! Especially in Korean college culture. We stayed up and socialized until about 1am, and we all tucked in for a few hours' sleep. This was the farmer that had weeding for us to do (ick) my butt got all wet and it was unpleasant. but at least I got to ride there in a tractor! It was scary sitting in there riding along narrowly paved roads, as the farmland is RIGHT THERE, and it dips down pretty steeply into rice beds. Me, Kelsey, and Hyunbeon (i'm probably butchering his name)...and Haylie/Helen behind the camera. Our litte foursome took on this cuke greenhouse. We pinned up each baby cuke to a string.

As we worked, H. taught me a korean kids' song

it goes like this:

In the woods there lived a family,

Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear.

Papa bear is very Fat.

Mama Bear is slender.

Baby Bear is very very Cute.

They all do very Well.

To say the least, it was quite a new experience. I was disappointed that the farms we were working on were more factory type farms rather than the traditional korean farming experience we'd been promised. But Hey, I got a new t-shirt & gardening hat, and met a whole bunch of new, and different types of people than I'd meet in my day to day life. I got to get Soooooooooo dirty, and it felt good. But in the end I think I prefer to do weeding on my own terms and for my own needs.

The Korean Harvest holiday, Chuseok, is upon us, coming up this Saturday. Koreans will get together and eat Seongpyeon (rice cake) and jajamyeon (sweet potato noodles) and apples and stuff. If they are buddist or practice old confucian traditions, they will honor their ancestors and pray, many will go to temples and perform a bowing ritual, 108 times! I plan to get together with my friends in the park and bring a picnic.

I'm excited for this coming fall, probably more than the other two I've had in Korea. I'm here for the change from Summer to Fall; I've experienced it, so I know what to expect, and it's settling in my bones comfotably; and I don't know. it just feels so nice and chill. It's really put me in the mood to buy vegetables and fruit while they're still cheap, and cook and freeze.

A friend has been talking about freezing and cooking and planted the idea in my head. I have the next five days to myself. I plan this Thursday to be my cooking day. I will make applesauce/applebutter, some soups, and other things. I want to just get creative. Here's to Fall, Y'all! I hope your harvest season is settling in well with you, too!

Phonebooth

Fun at Olympic park, 9/22/09. before all the glass and the cuts and the nervous laughter.

Hiking with SHiTY: Bukhansan

Sunday Hikers into Trekking Yet (again) hiked up to the fortress wall of Bukhansan (translation: South-Korean-Mountain). It's a really intense hike that's right on the subway line in Seoul. Just up in the NorthEast end of everything. It's straight uphill with lots of steps, and it was plenty sunny out--no worries, Mom, I wore my sunblock (actually it was Kim Bo Hyun's, but whatever)--so we sweated a lot. My whole back was all sweaty! the group was a mix of a few familiar faces and lots of new folks to meet. Mia, who I met through the venerable Rob Cherry, was leading this SHiTY hike, and she was hardcore. rest, move, let's go. The thing about Korea and hiking, is that it is HARD. always it's a challenge--although it's nothing in elevation compared to hiking in Montana--and when you reach the top, the scenery is magnificent..AMAZING...so worth it; it's like you remember what all the work was about.