Happy New Year

Some of the boys practicing the proper way to bow- before all sixty children bowed down to me and the other foreign teachers. 

Often called Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year is also shared by a number of other Asian cultures including my new neighbors the Koreans. The Chinese receive the credit for this holiday probably because of their elaborate parades and alternative views on dragons. Korea's celebration is far less ornamental. It involves bowing to one's ancestors, eating rice cake soup, washing the old year off with some soap, and a couple of good games of Yoot. Yes, Yoot here is more than just a wonderful My Cousin Vinny  joke. It's a great board game  involving sticks used as die, and rocks for place markers (we used pompoms at school for their aesthetic value). The game is quite fun, and often played by the Korean youth (with an emphasis on the "th") as part of the Korean Lunar New Year celebration.

With no ancestors on this side of the world to bow to, friends and I decided to go north on a snow adventure. We went to Hyundai Sungwoo Ski Resort. There I saw my first real snow of the year, and successfully navigated the many turns and hills of the intermediate level slopes (not bad for my 2nd time on skis). We also explored a winter wonderland, complete with ice sculptures of Egypt (Korea really does have almost everything- well, except the REAL sphinx), and an almost-bobsled run. And the best part of the new year- it started out with a four day weekend. :-)

Gretchen Outside King Tut's Tomb

My First Twenty-Eighth Birthday

Sometime in 2008 I was transported to the future, and I didn't realize how jet lagged I was until my twenty eighth birthday.

At 12am on January 1st, 2009, I watched people ring a bell in Seoul with a giant hammer. I was nestled warmly in my bed (I'm old now, so I'm allowed to have low key New Years Eves), when it occurred to me that I was magically 28 (even though my birthday is in April). Since this realization, nothing has been the same. 

My father got me a beautifully modern Canon Digital Rebel xsi for Christmas. Eric brought it with him on the plane, and brought much joy to my picture taking. Sadly though, my Digital Elph (Canon Powershot) was a few years behind the times. In Seoul, the tiny camera decided to spontaneously combust. There are currently two competing theories on the combustion: 1. The time travel had a delayed, but powerful side effect on the tiny and delicate elph. 2. The elph was overcome with jealousy for my newer, bigger, fancier toy, and took its own life. No matter which theory you subscribe to, it just adds to the chilling feeling that time is moving more quickly than I'm prepared to accept. 

After my camera's tragic suicide, I decided to try to make time stand still to the best of my ability. I took as many photos as I could (without my fingers going numb from the chilling cold of Seoul), and tried my best to live in the moment. Unfortunately, there is no escaping the aging process, and the snow boarding pics speak for themselves. I'm so old that I couldn't even stand by myself without falling down.    ;-)

But at least a few questions are answered about the future world.

1.In the future (or at least in Korea) it is common for people to celebrate New Year's Day by watching the sun rise on the beach.

2.My boyfriend cannot iceskate or snowboard now or in the future. 

3.The future has a huge market for food chemists. Only yesterday did I discover pizza flavored rice puffs, which far surpassed the salad flavored potato chips in quality.  

4. Technology continues to get better.

5. Despite global warming, winter sports continue to have mass appeal (which really sucks for Eric).

6. You don't have to understand a movie's language to laugh a lot at bad acting.