...finding gravity...: February 2012

1.Silent Night - I am finding that a full night of silence after work is amazing. Children make you appreciate the quiet of your thoughts.

2. READ - When working in a foreign country, especially when you are around Non-Native English speaking people daily, READ a lot… or you will surely lose to the brain’s ability to naturally adapt to a culture’s way of speaking English. Enter Exhibit A: Jenn - when she first arrived in Korea.

3. The Way Things Are - Give up the search for reasonably priced peanut butter. It ain’t happenin’ Jenn.

4. Libraries : Face it, libraries are for the ‘University Kids’, that’s why they lock them up on campuses and the ordinary people just go to bookstores. Korea – Library Extinction = Jenn Homeless

5. Button Mystery : I don’t know about everyone else, but growing up I remember on many separate occasions when I used to stumble upon lost buttons - a lot - maybe even more often than the average person! They were in parking lots, in the booths at restaurants, even at the park in the grass. I always wondered…How does one go about losing a button? – I swear I am going somewhere with this. Ok, One morning I don my favorite sweater and head out to work. I deviate from the normal route by taking a detour through some parked vehicles and then… it happened. My sweater was caught in a button snatching and the button was pulled from the sweater! Where it fell I cannot say, but that, my friends, is how one loses a button. Mystery revealed and I was ecstatic! Haha. C’est la vie!

6. Volunteer in foreign countries –volunteering to do dishes for your housemate doesn’t count, in case you were wondering – Change some lives. You meet the best people.

7. Korea’s Winter Season – necessity- thermal socks, trust me.

8. The Solve All : drink wine by candlelight while reading a book in bed – remedy for everything.

9. Face the facts: Kids like anything with sound effects and the elderly will always find something wrong with you. Last, but not least, Moms and Dads can be wrong about many things.

10. Learn the Language and the Culture – It’s fun to be able to say more than Kimchi and Gimbap.

More to come and stay tuned.

Love you all,

Jenn

Where shall I begin?

Wonderful comrades! Ode to thee! Too much?

How about this I have class in about OH let’s say 7 minutes and I am trying to see how much wit I can get out before I have to leave. Ultimately to erase this, only to start over later and really let you know the true story about what I have been up to here, on this peninsula, across the ocean, far, far… far… ok… far away.

WELL?

Deep breath.

I have been writing extensively on my book and reading like a maniac. I might as well have sensors on my fingertips, because my brain has been on overdrive absorbing everything in its path…kind of like a juggernaut?

Who says that?
*taking a moment inside Jenn’s brain* The echo of the question ‘Who says that?’ hits the direct line to the brain cells and the uniform regime takes a tally to see if Jenn is to actually agree to the terms of admitting that she says stuff like this or not. “Brain cells, all in favor stand up” and a lowly brain cell stands, out numbered by the rest. “Sit down soldier!”

So, by unanimous vote, no I don’t say stuff like that. **smiles**

I have been thinking as of late about where I want to be this next up coming year, but the conclusion to this whole agenda eludes me. The answer seems further the more I try to think on it; my white rabbit? Alice, where are you when I need you! Do I really want to catch the beast that is driving my search into the unknown? Now that’s a thinker. Winnie the Pooh would love me, as I would sit on that log right next to him, THINK. THINK. THINK.

Alright, down to business, haha, I hope you enjoyed that lovely introduction and I swear my sanity hasn’t left me—today was just an “overly creative” day; no, that is not a euphemism.

I have been having a great time with my volunteer group here called Mannam. I attended a few functions and have met oodles of people. They are truly a nonprofit organization and by saying this I mean, they have absolutely no funding from corporate sponsors and they are fully funded by the people. Personally, I think this to be a triumph. The people that attend these events are from all walks of life. I have to say in the past few days, I have laughed more than I have in a long while. They are all genuinely good hearted and people of real substance. This upcoming Saturday I am going to help families who lost their homes to fire in a small village outside of Gangnam called Guryong. There are at least 20-30 families with no homes, living out in the cold right now—the cold in Korea at the moment is record breaking. Mannam is going to bring coal briquettes, blankets and clothes to these families, who because of disenfranchisement cannot rebuild their homes. I will let you guys know how this goes. I am happy to be donating my time to such an endeavor.

As far as the sights that I have been going to, the most recent was the Gyeongbok Palace. So grand in its structure and everything you would hope for in an epic Korean palace. The elegance, history, and tier system of the soldiers was both intriguing and gives off a slight romance with the bright colors, chambers, and art.
My cousin and I walked around with a volunteer guide, who divulged the special nature of each building, marker, statue and even the very stone paths had a purpose in their intricacies and placement. The palace colors, she told us, were colors only to be used by the king and queen—forbidding any other buildings to have them. For protection the king had not only his soldiers, but the twelve legendary animals (Chinese Zodiac) dispersed throughout the palace grounds and atop buildings. The most profound piece of mastery, I found, was a painting, which is always sitting behind the thrones of the king and queen. It’s of two circles, red and white resembling the Sun and Moon, king and queen. Beneath the Sun and Moon, there are the mountains resembling the 5 great peaks of Korea, (this ties into Korean Mahayana Buddhism which was linked with Shamanism – a belief that all things had a spirit including mountains). Beneath the great peaks were the trees resembling the great advisors to the king. The colors were so vibrant, my eyes did not seem wide enough to absorb them…my brain felt like an overly saturated paper towel.

We moseyed around the palace grounds and saw an area where only the king and queen were allowed to go. Surrounded by water and one footbridge across, no one else was allowed to cross. Our guide pointed out a great hall, which was the only two-story building. This was where all of the grand parties and gatherings were held. Amy, our guide, also pointed out that Korea had a king that liked to throw grand parties and never liked to work –there is one in every culture, isn’t there? It was a wonderful tour and ended with smiles and iphone snapshots with our guide, Amy. It was an awesome experience.

After we left Amy, we witnessed the changing of the guards. Their stoic appearances were a tiny bit intimidating, but I took pictures with them anyhow, that’s just me.

Here are some pictures! Enjoy <3