A Letter for October

Seoul, Korea

October 21, 2012

Dear Kith and Kin,

The month wanes and I continue to lack any topical focus on which to launch a blog post.  Hence, I shall resort to the letter format and actually post it instead of emailing it to selected  individuals . . . as I did with my last letter-formatted post back in February—the one in which I confessed  my surrender to a $50 Botox injection from a doctor here in Seoul!  (After all the subsequent confessions, hilarious anecdotes, and interested queries of friends and family members, I have concluded there is no shame!)

Since my return to Seoul in August, a lot has not unfolded as anticipated—or even hoped for.  Still, all is really quite good, and maybe that is one of the truths about living a life. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, this school year I teach eighth grade English Language Arts all day every day, and, while in the classroom with my students, I regularly have these “Oh, how I’ve missed you!” moments.  I smile, for I am content and often just down-right excited!

Averaging three runs per week, I advance my distance in seriously small but ever steady increments and tell myself, “See, you just ran farther than you’ve ever run before in Seoul!”  A week ago Saturday, though, I missed the post-sponsored 5K because of a “cold” (that’s how my mom always explained these symptoms to me) in my back shoulder muscle that somewhat crippled my upper body movement for about six days.  The garrison events calendar for November lists another 5K, so perhaps I will run that one instead.

This fall I’ve also accepted that my allegiance has shifted regarding the preferred delivery system of one of my premier beverages of choice—Diet Coke:  I no longer belong with the fountain drink contingent and have joined my nephew Justin in believing that the optimal way to imbibe soft drinks would be via a bottle!  In fact, I’ve become enormously picky about my soft drink of choice and frequently choose water over a Diet Coke that cannot be “delivered” in a preferred manner.  The bottle format reigns supreme now although I do indulge occasionally in the fountain styles despite their often lackluster calibrations of flavor to fizz.  Generally the canned versions enter my gullet only when I travel and arrive at that juncture of “great need” that cannot otherwise be assuaged.  But truly, despite this delivery system discussion at hand, COLD—and the icier the COLD, the better—remains the prevailing requirement for any Diet Coke.

Recently I have read a few books which have left an impression:  (1) Graham Joyce’s Some Kind of Fairy Tale, (2) Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son,  (3) Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and (3) Tony Wagner’s The Global Achievement Gap.  By impression, I mean I find myself replaying in my mind lines or ideas or some combination of both that lie within these works.  Two books I would recommend to my readers at large:  The Global Achievement Gap, which speaks to much of my own concern and frustration with the current state of public education, and The Orphan Master’s Son—a novel set in North Korea—which just bent my mind and may haunt me for weeks to come.

And when I’m not teaching school or running or reading books, I’ve been watching entire seasons of TV shows, courtesy of Netflix:  season three of Glee—a show with which I’ve developed quite a conflicted relationship here in season three—and the final season of House.  I have a few more episodes to view before the House finale, and I’m beginning to be afraid I might cry.  Will I cry?  Okay, don’t tell me; I really don’t want any spoilers.

On Sundays I conduct a regular perusal of two Seoul neighborhoods—my own and the one where my church is located.  In between the jaunt through each neighborhood is a subway ride.  I peruse on the subway, too, of course, because how can one not be fascinated by people on a subway?!  Apparently, many are not so fascinated, though, because most are totally engrossed with their phones (music, video, games, or social networking)—even when the true love is seated right beside—or else they nod off.  (On multiple occasions I have had someone lean onto my shoulder before jerking awake!)  Still, I do catch people staring at me at some point in every subway journey, but fair’s fair because I’m definitely looking, too, . . . in a polite way, I hope!  Now, I do own a smart phone with its own array of apps and an ever increasing library of music, but I don’t care to be lost inside its realms while walking or riding the subway.  In fact, I’ve even forsaken the playlists while running.  I don’t want to miss the sounds of the world around me—birds, voices, engines, footsteps, breaths, even my heartbeat.  My favorite smart phone app while traipsing the neighborhoods is the camera, and I will conclude this letter with a few shots rendered via my iPhone camera!

Until November,

E

Here is the neighborhood near the church.

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 This is my neighborhood after leaving Seoul Station and heading toward home.

What I've Been Doing Lately

(1)  Abiding in a perpetual preparatory state for rain.  Tuesday marked the third typhoon to find Seoul since school started the last week of August:  The prevailing weather patterns seem to spin them upwards from Okinawa along the coast of western Japan and then up through the Yellow Sea to Korea.  First Typhoon Bolaven showed up on the second day of school—Tuesday, August 28.  In anticipation, those so empowered actually chose to close all the schools on military bases in South Korea.   In Seoul Bolaven rather fitfully howled and gusted but never really dumped rain in amounts to even cause gutters to flow high.  Two days later, though, Typhoon Tembin arrived with negligible wind but rain galore.  (School remained in session.)   Then Typhoon Sanba, in a drenching sort of rage, rolled in this week.  (Only the schools on Seoul military bases were open.) 

And in between typhoons?  Well, mostly it rains.  Summer is Korea’s “monsoon” season, but these past four weeks mark the rainiest start of school I’ve ever experienced.   Although summer 2012 began with a mini-drought lasting through the month of June, it apparently shifted into overachiever mode in July and then retained said modus operandi.  Seoul has had over a meter of rain fall since July, and that was before Typhoon Sanba . . . which, I’m sure added 4-6 inches to the total.

I personally have quite an affinity for rain.  It calms me; it restores me.  I love the sound and the smell and the wet . . . not to mention the green and lush beauty it brings to the planet.  Still, there was a moment there in the midst of Sanba when dire need mandated that I leave the building housing my classroom to head to the nearest building housing a restroom, and the only word I could think as I scampered through what had become a never-ending puddle at a depth to cover my ankles, all the while struggling to maintain my grip on an umbrella—generally useless, by the way, because the wind drove the rain to an angle surely approaching horizontal—was REALLY?!!!!

 

 

(2)  New in sustenance.  Although I have little desire to ever actually prepare food myself, I am interested in nutrition and, strangely, I do enjoy reading recipes.  In fact, I talk food and food preparation with my brother Phil every summer.  Before I returned to Seoul, we somehow broached the topic of Sriracha hot chili sauce, a condiment I actually have in my fridge—thanks to my friend Beth’s suggestion.  Phil mentioned that I could make a good and easy dip for vegetables or chips by adding it to plain yogurt or sour cream.  I opted to try it with plain yogurt since I am not a fan of cream in any form—sweet or sour.  (Okay, okay, I confess, I do like a baked potato with sour cream.)  And-man-oh-man, is the dip GOOD!  And easy, too.  But mostly GOOD!  I like the dip with vegetables a lot, and, to my chagrin, I really like it with Ruffles Have Ridges . . . only the ones with reduced fat, though . . . which means 25% less fat than regular Ruffles . . . which, in the long run, I know in my heart of hearts is not nearly enough . . . especially when I have already purchased two separate bags of Ruffles Have Ridges in a month . . . dispensing with my long practice of not buying chips for my home unless I am entertaining.  Alas and alack!

 

 

(3)  Still running.  On week days—two to three of them, anyway— I run in the mornings during Yongsan Garrison’s dedicated PT time:  6:00-7:00.  On Saturday mornings I usually head out a wee bit later.  Last Saturday, though, along with a small group of fellow middle school teachers—some with family members in tow as well— I ran an official 5K event, one sponsored on post.  Yongsan Garrison is hilly but this course wended its way through the areas with gentler “clines”—up and down.   With probably less than 100 participating, the atmosphere was definitely convivial and supportive.  Several of the first ones finished with the race returned to positions on the final stretch to cheer on those coming in behind them.  The overall winner finished in just over sixteen minutes.  I took almost twice as long, just under 33 minutes, but I know I placed first in my gender/age category . . . because I was the only one in my gender/age category who actually ran!  (There were a few walkers in my gender/age category.)   The garrison has another 5K scheduled for the second Saturday in October, and I’m planning to run—and to actually run ALL of it, as in no walking moments whatsoever.

 

 

(4)  School.  When I signed out of school last June, my pending teaching assignment for school year 2012-2013 read 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts.  To help relieve issues elsewhere in the general schedule, my assignment changed on the Thursday before students returned to school:  only 8th grade English Language Arts.  I was happy with my original assignment, and I am still happy.  Eighth grade is my favorite of all the grade levels I have ever taught.

Due to school bus funding issues, school start times were staggered on Yongsan Garrison this year:  Fewer buses/drivers employed overall, but they run the routes twice in succession for the starts and the finishes.  Actually heeding the conclusions drawn from research*, the district decided that the elementary school would start first at 7:55 a.m.   The middle and high school begin at 8:40. 

Later mornings definitely aid the morning-run schedule for me, but I have noticed that it often seems late when I finally return home, especially if I have errands to run after school.

 

*Research shows that teenage sleep patterns make a later –in-the morning school start time a better option for teenagers.  Their performance at school improves.

 

The Summer Vacation Recap

I lapsed and, for a summer at least, scuttled all goals and commitments with regard to posting on my blog.  In this first attempt to redress my breached blogger status, I shall synopsize—how’s that for a verb form generated from a noun—my summer, a summer very much structured by my job description for ten months of the year:  teacher who works overseas!

Bangkok, Thailand, and round about:  It began the weekend after the teachers’ last contracted day of the school year.  I traveled to Bangkok with my friend Lori and spent a week there, largely in the city itself.  Although in two previous summer trips to Thailand, each about six weeks long, I connected travels through Bangkok on multiple occasions, I never spent more than two days in a row in the city itself.  This time I repeated the experiences of three of my favorite Bangkok memories—Wat Pho and The Reclining Buddha, the floating market at Damnoen Saduak, and daily consumption of pomelo—but I added quite a range of new Bangkok adventures and enterprises…perhaps enterprises being the operative word because Lori is a shopper!    I visited a whole lot of markets, and there are actually several I would revisit with any future travel buddy because they fully cater to entertaining and memorable travel moments whether one is a serious shopper or not.  (As one who has a diminished shopping gene, I can attest to this fact.)

 

Medical Appointments in the USA:  Unless something arises during the school year that requires medical attention or intervention, I have my medical check-ups, tune-ups, and screenings taken care of in the USA.  Certain summers—like this one—they wield a heavy hand in shaping my overall summer schedule.  All of this summer’s appointments evolved in generally conjectured ways except that I had one more crown inserted in my mouth—for a grand total of TWO—than originally anticipated.  (I broke a tooth on a miniscule fragment of walnut shell lurking amongst actual walnuts.) 

 

10K:  I ran a 10Kfor the first time in over ten years—okay, I did walk a bit of it.  My brother Dan and his son Justin ran several 10K races this summer and invited me to join them in the 10K held in conjunction with other events during Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Day celebration on July 24.   Although I had undertrained for the race, I did finish.   Not with Dan and Justin, of course!  I told them—we can start together and then maybe you can wait for me at the finish line.  And that’s what they did.  All three of us finished the event with times in the mid-section of our gender/age group, Dan at the highest position in that middle range.  My sister Diane played photographer at the starting line and at the finish line.

EPILOGUE:  Even before the race, I had extended my morning runs to farther than I had ever run during previous summer stays at my father's place since he moved there over ten years ago.  When I returned to Seoul in August, I ran farther on my first run than I have ever before run in Seoul.   Now I’m wondering if I have another 10K left in me.

 

DG Hatch Family Reunion:  At the end of July, I drove to Spokane, Washington, with my dad, his wife Clarine, and my sister Diane to a reunion of all the descendants of my dad’s father, Daniel George Hatch.  Organized by my cousin Dana and sister Diane, the reunion was a grand affair, and I saw cousins I had not seen in over twenty years and met some of their posterity!  Our route to Washington included a piece of western Montana, and I fell fast in love once more with the lay of the land in that part of the country.  (In fact, one night after returning to Seoul, I plundered my box of DVDs in search of A River Runs Through It, found it, and settled into an evening of western Montana landscape schlepping characters and a story.  The next morning I located the book on my personal shelves and reread it.)  We spent one night in Deer Lodge, Montana, the location of an old prison now established as a historial site.  I found its aura intriguing.

 

 

Water Park with the “Grands”:  The week before I returned to Seoul, my nieces Kimberly and Ashley (Justin’s wife) invited Diane and me to a waterpark afternoon with their families.  (The men, Justin and Chris--both definitely responsible sorts--showed up after work in time for a pizza supper.)  Since I’m not a grandma, being a grandaunt must be the next best kind of magical designation.

Love these kids !

(Thanks to Kimberly and Ashley for the photos.)

 

 

A Week in Bangkok

Bangkok is the preamble to my life in Asia, the city that inaugurated my mind to the notion that I would really like to learn this space; I wanted to explore and experience the endlessly diverse endowment offered to the planet by its largest continent. 

June, 2001, marked my first arrival in Bangkok, Thailand.  I returned in June, 2002.  Then ten years slipped away before I found my way back to Bangkok this June.  In the interim, though, I visited Sri Lanka in 2004 and then moved to Japan in 2005.  Asia became my place of residence, work, play, and on-going discovery.

Even if Bangkok now ranks behind a few other Asian cities on my list of favorites, it will always hold a sentimental advantage in my heart.  Until this summer, I never spent more than two nights in a row in Bangkok; it was merely a necessary stop on the way to somewhere else--Thailand's glorious beaches, Chiang Mai, Cambodia, or Laos.  A week of days all in Bangkok was something I didn't realize I could truly enjoy, but then I did. 

I had such fun checking out some of my remembered highlights from a decade ago and then learning Bangkok in ways I never could have before because I had not given myself time for such a venture.  Transport (foot, tuk-tuk, taxi, Sky Train, boat) and food (and I will refrain from listing these) options evolved into moments of engaging entertainment in and of themselves.  The hotel where we stayed was located in a very Muslim section of Bangkok, a part of Bangkok I had never seen before. Each day of the week ultimately unfolded its own tale woven with a rich cast of characters, humor, uncertainty, discovery, an "oops" or two, another insight, and unexpected pleasures.  Now these tales are added to my story.

Here are some photos . . .

One day we took a day-trip to Ayutthaya, an ancient capitol of Thailand, and visited the ruins from centuries gone by.

This is a Buddha image set in the tree.

We took a boat back to Bangkok from Ayutthaya, and these photos come from that excursion.

 

And, here are ones taken in Bangkok and its environs:

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho.

I do love his feet!