Stephanie in Suwon

I am currently lucky enough to be teaching the highest level English class that my school has to offer. These kids are incredible, barely sixteen years old and fluent. The literature we read comes from the worls of Walt Witman, Maya Angelou, Ray Bradbury, Pearl Buckman and Henry Longfellow. And they dig it. I dig it. They are the quietest bunch that I teach, but rather then being due to disinterest or sullen resentment, I find them to simply be shy in that painful, junior high. I'm-one-of-the-smart-kids kinda way. I can actually talk to them, and sometimes, they actually talk to me. One of their assignments was to write a poem for me. During class we had talked about being young, getting older, and what growing up can be like for different kinds of people in different cultures. They acknowledged their cultures obsession with education and the stressees placed on Korean students as opposed to students in the western world. We then talked about high school drop-outs, teen pregnecy,...

Chatting with friends last night over dinner about Korea got me thinking. There is so much to be said, too much to be said really, about the ups and downs you go through living here. How you have to be here, to see it for yourself, before you really understand what people mean when they say, “That’s just so Korea”. We talked about work and the attitudes that go along with it, Korean and Western, respectively. How, without even realizing it, we’ve been slipping into new habits, thinking in new ways. How it feels when you first arrive here, and slowly but surely, learning to live between the beats of this place and the beauty of that rhythm. And it never stops, the music that vibrates the air. Went to Gangnam with Dave and Shannon today. Bought a few books, and grabbed Mexican for lunch. We browsed a few random shops before settling on a cafe for a quick afternoon pick-me-up of coffee and cake. The three of us sat in a window overlooking one of the side streets off the main strip, chatti...

Inspired by another.... but for different reasons.... "World Spins Madly On" Woke up and wished that I was dead With an aching in my head I lay motionless in bed I thought of you and where you'd gone and let the world spin madly on Everything that I said I'd do Like make the world brand new And take the time for you I just got lost and slept right through the dawn And the world spins madly on I let the day go by I always say goodbye I watch the stars from my window sill The whole world is moving and I'm standing still Woke up and wished that I was dead With an aching in my head I lay motionless in bed The night is here and the day is gone And the world spins madly on I thought of you and where you'd gone And the world spins madly on

For the past few weeks, South Korea has been graced with the presence of one Shandi Petersen; vegan, animal lover, and world traveler extraordinaire. Also known as my oldest and dearest friend, someone who has kept me in check during some of the most tumultuous years of my life (no easy feat…just ask her), someone who has been both the angel and the devil on my respective shoulders depending on the situation and someone who has been more of a sister to me then anything, my family really. A few years back we decided to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our friendship by escaping to the mountains just a short drive away from our hometown and ring in the New Year in our own special way. We rented a suite in a charming cottage-style inn that boasted a view of the surrounding Rocky Mountains and our very own fireplace, gorged ourselves on delicious Japanese food for our last meal of 2005 and went back to our hotel armed with champagne and other assorted goodies, ready to bid adieu to a...

Life has returned to a somewhat semblance of normalcy here in good ol’SK. My month at the head office of my esteemed company proved to be a learning experience but not in the way I was expecting it to be. To sum up; I hate working in an office with the fire of a thousand samurai warriors and want nothing more then to remember this fact the next time the very notion of possibly considering taking on a job in an office nudges the back of my brain and somehow convinces me that sitting in front of a computer screen day in and day out WON’T suck the very soul out of the marrow of my bones while rotting my spirit from within. Now. Allow me to elaborate. Since graduating from university, and prior to coming to Korea, my day to day life was a flurry of activity, be it socializing with a plethora of interesting and wonderful people whom I am lucky enough to call my friends, eating my Dads BBQ chicken while simultaneously battling homicidal tenancies at our regular family dinners, rushing off to...