Flying Tom Update

I've pretty much got it down what I need to do to get Tom out of Korea. I'll be heading back to the Vet about a week before we fly to get his final documents in order. I've got his carrier all ready to go, although I'm not sure whether to add a frozen cup of water for him in there.

Then I started to think about what's going to happen once I land in Seattle. After browsing endlessly on the Seattle International Airport website I wasn't finding the right answers. If you have ever traveled internationally you know that there are several steps to going from the plane to the sidewalk, at the airport. After some investigation I found the procedure at Seattle's airport to be much different from the experience I have had flying into San Francisco International Airport. What they do is have you first go through immigration, then you pick up your luggage and go through customs. After this you put your luggage back on a conveyor belt that will spit it out at the main terminal where you can exit. Where in that process do I pick up and show the papers for Tom?

I called the airline (KoreanAir) to see if they had the answer, since on the Seattle airport website it said, "Call your airline for further information" about picking up pets. After calling twice the answer I got was to get the cat via customs. Well where was the customs office or what did that mean? Their response was mostly that I meet up with my cat in the main terminal. But that didn't make much sense considering I go through customs before getting to the main terminal where you pick up your luggage. I finally found the number for the customs office at the airport and gave them a ring. Keep in mind I'm on Korean time and America was going to sleep (around 1am). Thankfully a nice gentleman answered the phone and told me the whole procedure.

I get Tom during the Customs process after I get off the plane. I'll have to give up my luggage a second time so it can go to the main terminal, but I'll be able to keep a hold of my pet after that. A few concerns I have is that they better have carts available during that middle process of picking up your luggage then letting it go. Otherwise little me is going to have a tough time hauling 2 large suitcases, a carry on and Tom through Customs and out again. I'm also concerned Tom might have done his business in the crate and things will be smelly at the airport. They have relief areas for dogs outside, but something tells me cats wouldn't do well in that space. I would buy those "pee pads" but you can't just buy one, the sell them in large packs. Maybe some paper towels stuffed inside would do?

After I get my luggage and can go on my way, my plan is to get a taxi and make it to my new home. Taxis allow pets right? I'll give an extra tip if it really is such an ordeal.

If you asked me whether I was starting to get nervous about the trip, I would tell you that it's a little bit. I think I'll mostly be on edge wondering if Tom is okay under the cabin and when I will see him when I get out. But many people do this all the time and so I'll have to trust the system. I just hope Tom has a good ride and doesn't come out too traumatized by this whole thing.

Tom, you can do it!

The Launch of "American-Joy"

Even though I will be leaving Korea my ambition to blog about my life isn't going to stop. It was mulling around my head for a while and I finally got down to it. I have created a blog for my new life back in America.

It's called, "American-Joy" and you can click the name for the link. Like this blog I intend to fill you in on my adventures and thoughts. Also I hope to pepper things with posts about being a graduate student and learning in the field of TESOL.

So head on over there and become a "follower" or whatever you need to do to keep up with my posts. I'll still post on this blog until I leave.

Thanks so much to all my readers and hope you enjoy the new blog!

Winter Camp Week 1: Wrap Up

Those last five days of winter camp went really fast! Thankfully I had prepared enough before camp to jump into it without that dreaded feeling of, "What do I do?" At my school camp is from 8:50 - 12:10, with various breaks in between. Most of what we teach is academic, like Science and Reading, but there are also fun stuff like a Drama unit and Museum unit.

I try to engage the students as much as possible with questions, and I also found setting up the material works well. Before we get into the book I brainstorm with them about the topic and play a short video for them to get the connections visually. This really helped when we were going to make a craft based upon cavemen wall paintings. The video showed the wall paintings from Lascaux in France, and the students were quite impressed.

I admit I miss the days of designing the whole camp and having "cooking" and other themes that were more hands on fun. But you make due with what you got!

For the next week of camp the students will practice their short drama and enjoy making a wooly mammoth out of recycled materials. I look forward to more time with the kids, but as the days swiftly pass by I'm reminded of how little time I have left. Thankfully we have a week off after camp so I can see about squaring everything away. Mostly just need to sell off my stuff. Ok see ya!

The Varying Incarnations of Foreign/er

If you have read my blog for some time, you would know that I often change the picture header-image on the top. Over the years this amounts to several different headers and schemes for the layout of this blog. Since this blog is heading towards it's end I thought I would celebrate all the different incarnations the header came into being over the years.

Please feel free to comment on which was your favorite and not-so loved header. I'll definitely miss finding the right picture, tweaking it in Photoshop and updating this blog.

(In no real order...)

The January Ahead

It's a freezing start to January and still lots of winter weeks ahead before things could potentially warm up. But I seem to be doing well staying warm this winter with my fantastic Marmot down coat I bought a few years ago. It helps to have a reliable coat, hat, scarf, boots and mittens to last through this season. I can't help but say I'm looking forward to the endless rain in Seattle, because at least it doesn't get too cold there!

January is going to be a month with Winter Camp, a week off and then back to regular work. I'm looking forward to camp, that starts next week. For one I miss the kiddos and also it's my last camp. I have the high levels this time with a few spunky kids in it that are really fun to be around. So I can't wait to get all goofy and giggly with these kids. I know that teaching and being in the classroom is going to be what I will miss the most when I leave.

I have a few projects I'm working on for the students. These are a few things I've planned to give and show them as a way of saying "thank you" to them, and so that they won't forget me. You'll see later on what I've been working on.

This month also means continuing to square away my plans for moving to Seattle. I have a lot for sale that you can check out at waygook.org. If you want anything please let me know. Other than that I already found a place to rent in Seattle and am super excited about it. I know it will be a cozy place for me and Tom. I'll consider posting more about it later.

Otherwise just hope to get to the pension office later this month to file for that....

And generally trying to enjoy my last two months here in Korea. Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit and I can take on more expeditions around town.

Hope your new year is shaping up nicely!

Anish Kapoor: Leeum Samsung Museum of Art

A mirror only reflects, it doesn't retain the image forever. However, Anish Kapoor's "Vertigo V & VII" made of stainless steel, do more than just reflect. They shift, morph and construe the simple view of yourself and surroundings into mind-boggling size and shape.

This work of art succeeds so well because it brought me into it by the way my reflection moved about it's shiny surface. You have to watch yourself grow and shrink, enter and exit as you circumambulate this larger than life sculpture.

But that's just the beginning of Anish Kapoor's current exhibit at the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Hangangjin. The work, "Tall Tree and the Eye" is so tall and bulbous you can't help but feel slightly miniature.

The spheres, seen above, seem to be a main theme of Anish Kapoor's work.  Not really mentioned in the brochure, but the shape of most of his works were in a sphere shape, if not close to it. What is so special about the sphere? Does it resemble the feeling of a womb? "Inside and outside" is a theme mentioned and indeed, the reflective mirrors, orbs all protrude and recess in such a way that is eerily encompassing.

One monumental example of this concept is the work, "Cave" made of Cor Ten steel. As you approach this work you do so cautiously because you notice it is balanced upright in a tilting manner and laying to rest on a horizontally-rectangular rod. Is this safe?

Curiosity takes you close to the work, just enough so you don't cross the "line" put down by the museum. And the work succeeds in drawing you in under the canopy of the deep steel opening. "How was this made?" You stare up in to the darkness looking at the differing shades as you notice the rivets and corners inside the piece.

Color introduces itself beyond the rust on "The Cave" on some of Kapoor's early works. Here you can tell he was fascinated with objects and their placement on surfaces, as seen in how these pieces seem to melt into the platform. "To Reflect and Intimate Part of the Red" mixed media and pigment.

That melting or dissolving into the ground transformed itself into other works on the walls. Looming large is a perfect yellow square, yet with a sphere punched into it's center. This concave beast, although smooth and in a "friendly" shade of yellow, seems to scream out into the gallery. You want to get up and climb into it or at least touch the smooth entrance of where the wall turns into itself. Titled, "Yellow" and made of fiberglass this was definitely a fun one to look at.

In the following work, "Untitled" of blue spheres attached to three walls, you definitely feel a trick of the eye as you get closer.

At first you think they are solid forms, but as you peer in closer they become shells of velvety blue. A color so dense it was as if looking up at the night sky.

Other works played more on these concave and obtuse forms, but the one cube above with the shattering splotch in the center, I felt, played tribute to the practice of casting objects.

Heading up the escalator to the 2nd floor you are greeted by the presence of a large wax circle that still has that smell of melting candles.

The work, "My Read Homeland" could look like many things to different viewers. It could look like a gigantic record player that is having a really bad day on Mars. It could look like what would happen if a teenager got a hold of too many red candles.

After reading the description the work makes itself more clear, of course.

Like the hand of a giant clock, a massive hammer makes one rotation per hour around a circular vat of red-pigmented wax, scraping and reshaping its surface in the hammer’s path to produce a vast, continually changing sculpture in red wax. ...As its title suggests, the work is a metaphor for the universal homeland, an organic place of creation and birth, rather than simply referring to the artist’s own homeland, India. 

I don't think it was rotating at the time I saw it, as I am sure that is something I would have noticed. I'm not sure if his wax pieces are a success, as the texture and material seem to detract from his other works that seem a lot about precision. This work hails from 2003, so perhaps it was during a time he was reaching out.

Overall, I enjoyed this exhibit but not as much as the Do Ho Suh one I saw last year. However, Anish Kapoor is one of the artists I studied in college, and it felt good to see a plethora of his works.

The show is running till February 4th, so why not head down to Hangangjin (Itaewon's neighbor) see the show and then grab a tasty bite to eat down the road. (That's what I did!)