Autumn has finally arrived in Suncheon!

I am still not sure if I'm 32 or 33 . . .?

  It all started around midnight- the beginning of my most important day. I was preparing to cozy up with my book, in my jammies, and be such a good girl (with a good night sleep so I would be busy-tailed for the next day) when there was a surprising knock at my door. (I have lived here for four months and my door has only been knocked on once, so this was quite startling.) I opened it to discover a couple of my near and dear friends equipped with flaming birthday cake and a backpack full of libations and about 9lbs of cheese. A few soju cocktails later and midnight soon turned into the wee hours of the morning, time seems to pass so effortlessly amongst the perfect balance of many hearty, fulfilling laughs and introspection. A rather unexpected trip to a undisclosed location which will only be described as  . . . . .  . 

  Well needless to say, the next morning came rather abruptly and I, having the unusual duty of teaching Kindergarten which meant I, still groggy from the unexpected excitement from the night before, found myself staring into the eyes of a dozen four year old Korean children. Class consisting of me saying things like "Color the Cat's belly yellow" and "Color the monkey's tail purple . . . "

      The day progressed into an endless promenade of birthday serenades from my grade school students (which always ended with a chorus of 'we love you' with arms above their heads in the shape of a heart) and various and random gifts from an orange to a hot pink colored pencil. Then there was the stack of cards - the cards!  All hand made on colorful paper and folded meticulously with tidings of health and happiness in broken konglish: "Teacher, you are butt-iful" and  "Happy Birthday Teacher. Sorry, I don't do presents."  

   With the finish of my last class, I strapped on my blue flame helmet and hopped on my scooter for a cool ride home. As I passed under the neon Hangul street signs, I took a deep breath with of the sensation of being officially one year older. It was by far one of the most surreal and meaningful moments this humble girl from Ohio has ever experienced. 

Jinju Lantern Festival- cont'd

Jinju Lantern festival : Formal, floating, and handmade wishes.

I'm so blogging this . .

Not sure if anyone is reading this anymore, but I will keep rambling all the same. So spontaneous trip to Gwangju, one of the larger cities in Korea. A couple expats and myself trying to find only the foreigner shop where they sell the prized possession of SOUR CREAM and perhaps a block of large and imported yellow cheese. All the meanwhile keeping are eye out for the secretive and infamous TATTOO shop. As we were doing our rounds, I saw it from across the street- the scrolling letters in neon red - T - A- T - T- O- O. Before I could blink we were climbing the three flights to a tiny studio that indeed was perhaps strange but true to its sign. My companion had been searching for such a shop for awhile for for those of you who do not know, tattoos are quite taboo in Korea. They are to such an extent unaccepted that you will see a plethora of television actors with strange bandages applied to their arms and legs in order to cover their "atrocities". No matter, she wanted a tattoo. So we climbed the ambiguous staircase passed the "twice fried" chicken house up the stairs to a small studio that promised tattoo service. The entrance was enshrouded in bamboo and  it was clear to us that we should remove our shoes before entering. (Yes. You must remove your shoes before entering a tattoo shop in Korea.)

     The walls were accessorized with various amazing and exquisite tattoo artistry. These images were so much more that tattoos, they were Art. The assistant made a call to the 'on call'tattoo artist, meanwhile helping us with the technical aspects of the tattoo: how big, what color; we used the Internet to complete the task. With out us realizing much time had passed a young Korean women appeared in the door way "I'm sorry I'm late" she said in perfect English. 

   This girl, hardly nineteen was going to imprint my companion forever and with out too much time passing she inquired " Do you know Amercian Idol?" "Why of course," we replied. "I was on it- season seven Chicago." she said as a matter of factly. "What? you were?" I surprisingly asked. " Yes " she said, " I made it through second audition." "What did you perform?" I inquired. She responded "Maria Carey and Alicia Keys." She lit a cigarette and held it so that the filter bent over in a way I had never seen a cigarette go flacid before. She flicked her ashes carelessly into a paper dixie cup.  Post cigarette, my companion reclined over a modest table and was being inked away. 

    Mariah Carey was playing in the background. Mid tattoo the girl who told us her name was 'So Young' (so serious) paused to answer her cellphone only to keep tattooing mid conversation! My friend pleaded causally "uhh maybe, no cellphone?" So Young seemed to not hear her words. Within less than an hour it was finished, done flawlessly with the skill of a veteran. Her tattoo: the Chinese character "Energy". The symbolism in this was almost overwhelming.