Krys Lee Book Reading at What The Book?

On a warm early summer evening I joined some friends for a book reading at What The Book?, in Itaewon. There the author Krys Lee shared a few stories and thoughts from her book, "Drifting House." I mostly came to the event because it was something different to go to, from the usual line up of weekly things to do. I didn't know who this author was, but was interested anyways.

Krys Lee was born in Seoul yet raised in California and Washington. This book of hers portrays stories of Korean immigrants who come from North Korea or head outside of the Korean peninsula. The stories in her book have been called dark, and she even mentioned this herself.

The stories she selected for reading dealt with an arranged marriage and also the experiences one have when reuniting with family. During the Q & A session I could tell she spent a lot of time thinking about the issues surrounding the hardships of refugees from North Korea. She mentioned having many friends who were North Korean defectors.

I didn't pick up a copy of her book, but you can if you like on your next visit to What The Book?. Altogether, it was a fun event to attend and from what I hear there aren't many book readings at this site. I think it would be nice to have this more often, even it were in Korean.

Yeoju Ceramic Festival ~ Video

I put together a little video here about my trip to the Yeoju Ceramic festival a while back. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was lovely. Enjoy~

Gobbled N' Go

I was surprised to find myself in a part of Itaewon I didn't recognize, recently. It had been just a year since I traversed the back streets near the 3 Alley Pub, and I didn't realize what changes had occurred. Now there are more restaurants and the street seems wider itself. Plus the crowd seems to have diversified and opened up as well. Before it really felt like Itaewon was the "foreigner place" in Korea. This is so due to the plentifulness of foreign-food restaurants and just the sheer presence of non-Koreans wandering around.

However, these days the place is starting to attract all sorts of people. Maybe the hype that Itaewon is a scary place, is fading amongst Koreans. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, or whether locals to Itaewon are griping or not. In the meantime, it means new restaurants to try out.

I did a little researching and app handling to come up with Gobble N' Go, a kind of brunch restaurant. They have one in Gangnam, too.

The interior had the feel of a cozy cafe that also feels like a diner. Their menu has a list of Po'boy sandwiches, soups and salads, pastas and hamburgers. Seoul Eats did a review of the Gangnam location and mentioned that the prices were decent, and I would have to agree. Since the meal came out fresh and with bountiful portions I would say the price of a sandwich for 15,000 Won, was good enough.

I ordered the Po'Boy sandwich and it was an interesting conglomeration.

One half of the sandwich was mozzarella with tomato and the other half was a ham sandwich. It was a split personality thing, but with fresh flavors and thick bread. It came with a little side of salad and a small cup of soup.

All together it was a good meal, and very accommodating for this solo traveler who had other business in Itaewon. I would visit here again to try another item off their menu, or bring in friends to share the atmosphere with.

All together, I would recommend it to my readers as another place to try out in the new 'hood of Itaewon.

Milestones

Today I completed my second time of open classes at my current school. When I went through this last year I was way more nervous. I really wanted to make a good impression last year, and so rolled out high energy and a lot of activities. This year, I was still a little nervous but seemed to calmly get through it.

When the parents are squished inside the classroom staring at you, there is a sense that you really are putting on a show. However, since I have been teaching the same set of kids since last year I felt like this show was familiar to everyone. Anyways, my open classes went well and I got mostly excellent reviews with a few touchy comments. One parent observed that I did not correct their son who made a sentence error and that I should spend time helping them on this. That is obviously something I should do, and I guess I haven't really considered making time for it in my lessons. Usually I just roll through the lessons only stopping a few times to correct students. This is bad to admit, I'm realizing. Ah well, good medicine!

I find passing through this semester's open classes as coming to a milestone. It means the semester is almost over, and all the paper work is soon to pile up. Report cards, final tests and so on, will be on their way.

As a team leader I've had some ups and downs, and definitely have more respect for people in any kind of managerial position. There were some times there that I lost my head and ran around a little spazzed out. Thankfully the members on my team are forgiving and I learned what buttons I shouldn't press. I also came to the conclusion that I'm not in charge of the choices they make concerning how they teach their class or how they manage their equipment. (We aren't allowed to use the airconditioner at certain times.) I'm the kind of person who naturally likes and feels the need to follow all the rules. Sure I break them too, sometimes. But I'm just a stickler for these things. However, I have to realize that I can't go around pressing the rules onto my team. In the end, I want to keep things peaceful and running smoothly and not be a nagging person. Anyways, I realized that people are adults and can be responsible without my interference. So I mostly just try to be a team leader in the sense of keeping up with the due dates, transpiring messages from the Korean staff and informing my team on any updates or procedures. Otherwise I just want to be a part of the team and keep my work going.

Another reminder for me at this milestone is knowing that I am nearly halfway through this year. At some point the question of 2013 is going to come up. For now, I want to stay at this school and continue where I am. But I should think of Plan B just in case the school, for some unknown reason, doesn't want to keep me. The, "What do I do next?" question lingers around me, these days.

Well summer has planted it's feet here in Seoul and the temperature is up in the 80's these days. I'm hoping to do something for my vacation this year that involves beaches and a quiet get away. :)

The Lovers: Life drawing session at Jankura

The recent life drawing session at Jankura art space involved a male and female model with the theme as "Lovers." It was a fun mix up of the usual life drawing session, and my first time getting to draw a male model at Jankura. I had a good time and tried my best, of course.

The way things work at the life drawing sessions is that you have 3 5-minute poses at first, which are great for getting you warmed up and accustomed with what is in front of you. Then things graduate into longer poses, where you can work on value and structure more.

My favorite pose of the night was the following one, where the models were laying down. I really enjoyed the diagonal lines created by the legs.

I hope they host another fun session like this one, and as a bonus here is a shot of Seoul from the studio.

Field Trip at the Seoul Forest

For our June field trip the kiddos headed out to the Seoul Forest. It was my first time going to this place and so I enjoyed seeing the sites alongside the students. When we first got there we went to a green house with moths, insects and plants.

There was also a section that housed small animals, and the kids enjoyed pounding on the walls of these poor animal's homes. I've tried in the past to get them to stop, but they don't really listen.

The highlight of the trip was when the children played in the spouting water fountain. They headed over to the fountain after lunch, and it was really fun to watch them get soaked and scream with glee.

One thing the kids really enjoyed doing, was laying or sitting on top of the spout before it shoots up and then squealing when the water came out.

Afterwards, the kids toweled themselves down, changed their shoes and we all headed over to a play ground. It was a pretty simple field trip but nonetheless good in that way. I'm tempted to go back with swim clothes on and enjoy the fountain myself, someday!