A week in Cambodia

Ashley and I at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

Angkor Wat

Devatas (Hindu deities) at Angkor Wat

Charming (begging) kids at Bantay Srei


I've been avoiding this post, because I couldn't think of a way to sum up my experience in Cambodia in a short & sweet posting, but I have to do the Cambodia blog before going to Thailand on Saturday, so here goes. (I know, it's a rough life I lead)

I didn’t love Cambodia at first. In fact, the first few days there, I wondered why I had spent the money to come to a poor, dirty country full of mosquitoes, cockroaches, and half-naked children begging everywhere.

The guesthouse where we stayed in Phnom Penh was reminiscent of some of the nasty hostels I stayed at in Europe five years ago, when I was younger and slightly more adventurous. Actually, in terms of giving up creature comforts while traveling, I’ve never been that adventurous. I need a bed, a shower, and a toilet that has a seat cover; the last of which our room was lacking. After only a day our room wreaked of sweat, body odor, and general nastiness due to poor ventilation. I am adventurous; just not to the point of sacrificing personal hygiene.

I did a complete 360, however, when we went to Siem Riep. The 6-hour bus ride there was quite unpleasant; the roads in Cambodia are awful, we were packed in like sardines with no air conditioning, and we had to break often for cows crossing the road, but I loved Siem Riep itself. It was cleaner, seemed a lot safer, and the guesthouse we stayed in was infinitely nicer than the one in Phnom Penh. In this city, I began to love Cambodia.

People come to Siem Riep to see the Temples at Angkor. I’ll try not to go into a lengthy history lesson here, but at one time in history, Cambodia (or the Khmer Empire) was one of the great powers of Southeast Asia, and the hundreds of temples at Angkor built between 800 AD and 1432 are a testament to that. We spent three days touring only the major temples; you could spend a week there and not see it all. It was nothing short of amazing, and I went on a picture-taking spree; filling up a 2 GB memory card (which holds about 700 pictures) and then borrowing one of Eugen’s to take another 200 pictures. I went just a tad overboard, but I think that the Temples at Angkor are a must-see for anyone traveling in the area, and I’ve heard they are closing them down for restoration, so you need to see them soon.

By the time I took another miserable bus ride back to Phnom Penh to catch my flight back to Seoul (this time wedged between the chattiest Buddhist monk ever and an Australian lady breast-feeding her 6 month old) I was in love with Cambodia; even Phnom Penh. Here’s an excerpt from my notebook that shows how euphoric I was at the end:

“It’s official: I love Cambodia! People here are so friendly, the shopping is great (and cheap!) and the kids are charming. I’m sitting here watching the mottos go by while sipping red wine ($1.80 a glass) in a classy little joint along the river. This morning I watched the sunrise over an ancient temple. I’m wearing a tank top and shorts in February! It doesn’t get much better than this.”

Quite a change from Day 1. So much so that I want to go back to Cambodia someday and volunteer, maybe at the end of my stay in Korea (whenever that is). Temples and palaces aside, it was a very sobering experience that put things into perspective. My friend back home saw my pictures on Facebook and wrote me a message saying it seemed like Cambodia was "slightly less developed than Korea." I told her that was a huge understatement. Seeing the poverty and begging children and landmine victims really tugged at the heartstrings, and I feel compelled to go back and help out in some way, either at an orphanage or teaching English.

Check out the pictures at my Flickr site.

Beware the Ajumma

(Written January 19)

This morning bus 147 pulled up to my stop completely empty, with another nearly empty bus right behind it. In spite of the obvious availability of seats, as a younger, maybe 30-something man was getting on, an ajumma shoved him aside to get on first.

Really ajumma? Was it that important to be the first one on the empty bus? You were guaranteed a seat. This is something I don't like about Korea. The idea of personal space doesn't exist here, and it's not considered rude to shove someone out of your way. During the after work rush on the subway (which lasts from about 6 pm until well past 10pm) it's not uncommon to be pushed aside multiple times before making your way into the train. When it's really bad, you might not actually have to push to get in at all, as the mob of people behind you will shove as one and sort of carry you into the train. (Whenever this happens to me, for some reason I always think about how much my mom would hate Korea.)

Ajummas are the worst perpetrators of the pushing and shoving. Those of you don't live in Korea are probably wondering what an ajumma is. The word literally means, "married woman," but it's used to categorize a certain type of married woman, usually older. The ajumma is jokingly called "the third sex," by some Koreans because of her(?) fierce demeanor. This is definitely a stereotype, but along with the pushing and shoving, they usually have short, permed hair, wear ridiculously large plastic visors (Koreans fear the sun tanning or wrinkling their skin more than anything) and often sport hiking gear. And according to this blog entry I've been using as a reference, they talk very loud on their cell phones, which for everyone else in this country is a huge faux pas. The rest of us get yelled at, but again, the ajumma is a different breed.

They are also very bossy. When Angie was here, she was using chopsticks with her left hand to eat some street food. (She's left handed) The ajumma working the stand came over to her and placed the chopsticks in her right hand; the proper one. Angie was too scared to disobey so she tried unsuccessfully to finish the mandu. This is just one example of ajummas telling people how to do things.

Even though they can be kind of rude, ajummas are another thing that makes living in Korea a unique and often humorous experience. They were also a very popular Halloween costume among us wagukins (foreigners).

Me dressed as an ajumma for Halloween:

Real live ajumma on my street:

Just Dance!

(Love that song by Lady Gaga even though it’s cheesy pop)

Dancing is one of my favorite things in life, and I’m just now fully realizing this. In Korea, since I don’t have mountains of essays to grade and my lesson planning takes a fraction of the time, I’m finding myself with lots of time on my hands to do whatever I want. As it turns out, what I want is to take dance classes.

I started out taking drop-in jazz/hip hop classes at POZ studio near my school, but it’s kind of expensive and I haven’t been going very consistently. Then my friend Vicky wanted to try out salsa, so I went to a studio with her in Apgujeong. It was fun learning the short routine they taught us, but during the open dance time I felt like the guys I danced with managed to suck all the fun out of salsa. Koreans take their hobbies very seriously and study them to perfection, so when I was slightly off on the steps, they stopped me and made me practice the steps over and over. One guy also told me I was moving my hips too much and needed to make smaller, more controlled movements. That’s when I realized salsa dancing in Korea wasn’t for me. I’ve never taken formal salsa lessons, but I do know that “it’s all in the hips.”

Then in December one of my favorite coworkers, Giryoung, told me that she was taking swing dancing lessons and had a performance coming up. She didn’t exactly invite me, but I told her I would love to come watch. I brought my friend Ashley along, who was really excited about getting her swing on. We were very impressed by the couples cutting a rug like it was 1939, and Ashley begged me to start taking lessons with her. I wasn’t super excited about the idea, but Ashley was quite insistent and I gave in.

I’m glad I did, because we’ve been taking classes for 3 weeks now, and I absolutely love it. The lessons are all in Korean, but luckily Giryoung is there and helps translate when necessary. After our hour and a half lesson, they have open dancing for a few hours and that’s when the real fun begins. Many of the guys have been studying swing for years and can dance really well, and since most partner dancing is all about following the guy, all I have to do is stay on beat. Afterwards the whole gang usually heads to a restaurant for some food and maekju (beer). They are a really fun, laid-back group and have welcomed Ashley and I with open arms. Only a handful of them can speak English well enough to carry on a conversation, but that’s only motivated me to take studying Korean more seriously so I can talk to them.

Vicky getting a salsa lesson


Giryoung’s swing performance. How adorable are the outfits?

Torn

(Written January 17, 2009)

While Angie was here, she and I had a lot of really intense "life" discussions. I've made some really close friends here in Seoul, but it's not the same as having someone around who has know you since you were the weird hippy chic that moved to town in 7th grade. So I really appreciated having her here, not only because we always have a blast together, but for her insight.

I told her that lately I've been thinking I will stay another year in Korea. I don't have to sign the contract until May, but I've been going back and forth about it in my head pretty much since the day I arrived. She wasn't a fan of the idea, but after a few days here, she said she realized why I liked it so much and wanted to stay. She could also tell that I was really homesick.

I said I wasn't homesick, I just miss my family a lot. She said; that's what homesickness is Taryn! For some reason I don't like to admit that. Honestly I would be happy as a clam living in Korea another year, but I do miss my family a lot. Actually "a lot" isn't a strong enough word to describe it; more like "tremendously."

I miss picking stupid fights with my sister Alyssa, going to cheesy romantic comedies with Natalie & dishing out sisterly advice, teasing my 13 year old brother Luke about anything and everything, (it's so easy!) my 10 year old brother Matthew's sharp wit and piercing honesty, my Dad and his nerdy jokes, my Mom's practical advice (and nagging), even if it's not what I want to hear. I miss Tink, our little shih tzu poo who I tried hard not to get attached to when we got her last January, but who quickly wormed her way into my heart. Being away from them is really hard. I also have cousins who I am very close to who are getting married and having children, and I hate missing out on important events in their lives.

At the same time, I'm happy here. I have far less job-related stress, I'm learning Korean, meeting new, interesting people all the time, and doing all sorts of random things I never would have imagined, like going bungee jumping, taking swing dancing lessons, singing impromptu duets with ajusshi's (old men) on the subways, the list goes on and on. I never know what is going to happen next in Korea, and I love that.

So right now I am really torn. Actually last night, my friend Jamie and I were chatting with a guy who is really into philosophy and studies Tao te Ching, an ancient Chinese philosophy. He said he could consult the I Ching for us, which is "a symbol system used to identify order in random events" (Wikipedia). I asked the I Ching if staying another year is a good idea, and the symbols I got represent both "gathering together" and "splitting apart," basically two opposing answers. Looks like I'm on my own for this one. (The fact that we were consulting the I Ching in an Irish Pub in Korea is just another example of how random my life is here)

I wish I could just set it aside and worry about it when the time comes, but sadly my brain doesn't work like that. It's always contemplating the next step. However, writing lengthy blog postings about my worries is quite therapeutic. Thanks for putting up with it :)

Angie's visit

Seoul Tower

Gyeongbok Palace

Like I mentioned earlier, Angie, one of my best friends from home, came to Seoul to visit for a week. It was really fun to show her around and have her experience all the things that I love (and loathe) about Korea. In only 8 days, she got to experience quite a bit of the Korean life.

There are a lot of funny stories I could tell, but probably my favorite was when I brought Angie to school one day and had my winter camp students interview her as a speaking activity. They asked what her favorite Korean food was, and she said she really loved mandu. My students all gasped in shock and horror, because mandu is actually Chinese food. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was nice to not be the one committing cultural faux pas for once.

Other highlights from her visit:

* I introduced her to all my favorite Korean foods: mandu (which of course is actually Chinese), bibimbap, kimbap, galbi, kimchi jiggae and ramyeon, just to name a few.
* We found her the perfect purse at the Dongdaemun underground market and bartered to get it 25,000 won cheaper. I was pretty proud of that.
*We went to a hot springs spa in Icheon where we met a dinosaur who gave us free, giant chocolate bars (see pic below)
*We went to noraebang, twice :)
*We were invited to watch one of my student's bands play, which happened to be heavy metal. My student gave each of us a gifts and a letter when we showed up! I also somehow ended up singing in impromptu song with the band.
*We also visited Seoul Tower, Gyeongbok Palace, The National Folk Museum of Korea, saw the Cheonggyechoen all lit up at night, went swing dancing, saw a martial arts demonstration, went to Nanta (a live performance like "Stomp," but with kitchen utensils) sipped traditional Korean tea at a tiny tea shop in Insadong, and browsed sale racks in Myeongdong.

Hooked on Mandu!


A Friendly Dinosaur at the Spa


See the rest of the pictures here

Snow!

As much as I despise cold, I LOVE snow. (Which is why I’m starting to think Colorado might be the ideal place for me to live.)

This morning as I was walking to the bus (I'm lying, I actually took a taxi so I could press the snooze button 4 more times) light, fluffy snowflakes were falling. This has happened a few times this winter in Seoul, but it usually melts before hitting the ground.

Well it finally stuck. I just peeked out the window at school and our soccer field (which is really just a dirt clearing between high rise apartments) is covered in white! I love it. Every year at the first snow I get really excited. In my youth, before I turned into a big wimp, I would spend hours outside in the winter sledding, building snowmen and forts, skating on the rink my dad would make in the front yard, and then go inside to warm up and drink hot chocolate. I didn’t realize how much I missed snow and I hope it sticks around for a while.

I realize that my MN readers are probably not sharing in my giddiness right now as temperatures reached -20 today. I definitely don't miss January in Minnesota ;)

I was way too excited about a few centimeters of snow:

Some kiddos playing soccer at the school

Korean Acts of Kindness

December and January have been pretty eventful, and I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but before I get into that, I wanted to share yet another example of the extreme kindness and trust of the Koreans that I've met.

Tonight I had to bring my friend Angie to the airport in Incheon, which is an hour bus ride from Seoul. I used the last of the won I had on me to buy the ticket there, and figured I could take cash out for the trip home at the airport. Well, in true Taryn fashion, my Korean bankcard was nowhere to be found, so I tried to take money out of my American bank account, which I have done here in similar emergency situations. For some reason, none of the ATM’s were taking my card, so I stopped at the KB (my Korean bank) kiosk to see if they could help me out.

They couldn’t issue me a new card or let me withdraw cash because banking hours were over, but the manager said he would give me 20,000 won (of his own) to get home, and I could just transfer money into his account tomorrow.

I think my eyes were popping out of my head in shock because he asked, is that okay? I said, Yes! Is that okay with you? This man gave cash and his bank account number to a complete stranger, without thinking twice.

In any other country I might have been out of luck. But I live in Korea, where people trust their bank account numbers with complete strangers.