Oh, Canada

After months abroad, coming back to your own country can be an amazing feeling. You've come home to your family and friends, homely comforts and soon enough you'll be back to the daily grind. Some though, have quite a difficult time getting used to what was once instinctive in their home life. Some call it reverse culture shock, others call it reality, no matter what you want to call it, there is no question that coming home after a significant time away, can have its challenges too. Here is a list of 9 encounters that you may struggle with after the hugs, kisses of loved ones have subsided...

1. Nothing has changed: You've experienced so much. You feel different, your life feels different, and surely this is not simply internal. The world must be a different place! Wrong. Your hometown has stayed exactly the same as you left it, and they like it that way.

2. You can drink the water: After living in a country where the water can be hazardous to drink, remembering how lucky you are to live somewhere where water everywhere is drinkable and, infact, good for you, can take a few days to sink in. That's when you realize how lucky we really are.

3. The economic situation still sucks: You've lived under a rock for the past few months, holding onto outdated economic predictions that this financial drought would be over by the time you returned home. But you've come home only to realise that it will still be a struggle to find yourself that dream job, and you will be back to serving tables before you know it.

4. You can speak to everyone again: The language you know is the language everyone speaks in your home country, which means you can finally talk to everyone again! Coffee shop baristas, taxi drivers, and bus drivers, beware - this girl has been longing for interactions and she's out and about and ready to chat!

5. Tipping: Servers hate foreigners for this, and, once being a server, so did I. But I finally get it. Tipping is hard to remember to do when you haven't done it. You mean I have to put more down then the bill asks me for? Huh?

6. People actually follow traffic laws: After spending months somewhere were traffic lights and stop signs are simply a suggestion, it's shockingly difficult to remember that jaywalking is, in fact, illegal, and others aren't comfortable doing it.

7. Google maps is my friend again: Because of Korea's hidden alleys, winding roads, odd street names and random clusters of apartment buildings, Google maps could rarely give you door to door instructions. Instead you'd have to look up lengthy walking directions from subway exits or just have someone meet you at the station. What a pleasure Google maps is to have in your back pocket once again. Goodbye organization, hello reliance on technology!

8. Garbage cans: Korea has an odd garbage collection system where some sort of infrastructure picks up random smelly garbage piles from every corner, but garbage cans are few and far between. Being back in Canada, garbage cans are so plentiful, how anyone can even imagine litering is beyond me.

9. It smells so good: Canada's wide open spaces, beautiful mountains and plentiful greenery makes our country smell so fresh and fantastic. Take a breath, doesn't that fresh air smell amazing?

There can be difficulties to coming home, but being away can also remind you of all those small things we forget to appreciate about our home, that makes it such a very special place. So drink the water, breath the air, and put a smile on your face. This country rocks.

Korea, Spammed

Spam: we all know it and we all hate it, that useless junk mail clogging our inboxes. Have you, though, ever thought about where the word 'spam' comes from? Interestingly enough, the name actually comes from that 1970 Monty Python skit SPAM. Do you remember the spam song? I have clear memories of my cousins singing this annoying song over and over again “SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, lovely SPAM!  Wonderful SPAM!”, in the play, this song was drowning out other conversation in the pub, thus 'spamming' the conversation. And voila, the word spam enters the electronic world, unwelcomed. Thanks for a great word, nerds.

Korea had themselves an unexpected introduction to the world of spam. This time, though, the spam I'm referring to is not the electronic spam, but the canned meat Spam. The stuff you see in a grocery store and wonder 'how does that stuff pass food and safety regulations?' The stuff you've watched someone eat an entire can of, on a dare of course, and then you were genuinely concerned for their health. Yes, that spam. Spam is so popular in South Korea that is actually a very respected hostess gift to both give and receive. On Valentines Day one can even find heart shaped boxes full of spam.

 But how did this American made, shameful meat become so popular in such an untouched foreign culture? Well during the Korean War where food was scarce and meat was rare, Koreans often turned to the food rations left over by the American Army. Because spam had such a long shelf life, it was ofter sent to troops overseas and became a popular food on base. Despite it being commonly found on base, the Americans still could rarely stomach the stuff and it was often leftover. At the time, food was so scarce in Korea, that the Koreans couldn't be as picky as the soldiers for their proteins and took their rations of spam, mixed it with their own recipes to create a few surprisingly palatable outcomes. Here are two spammed foods that are actually worth a try:

Gimbap: Literally meaning 'seaweed rice', gimbap is the Korean version of sushi. It is a handroll made with seaweed, rice, veggies, and, you guessed it, spam! It is especially yummy with tuna. Gimbap shops are amongst the most common in Korea and you can find a roll for around $2.50 at almost any street corner.

Budae Jjigae: literally meaning 'army stew', this is a soup that perfectly symbolizes the mix of Korean tradition with the effects of scarce means and desperate measures. This soup mixes hot dogs, sausages and of course, spam with the traditional Korean tastes of red chili paste and kimchi. Yummy! This is often eaten with rice. It is easily found at most places where Jjigae is bought for about $5.

Due do it's popularity, Spam apparently tastes better in Korea than in other counties worldwide, as it is apparently made with better ingredients, although this is a taste test I don't plan on trying any time soon. I can though, now cross 'eat spam and enjoy it' off the ol' bucket list. 

With Eyes Wide Open

As I navigate myself through Seoul's populated streets, I find myself continuously wrongly recognizing Koreans as someone I know, or worse, seeing someone I know and not recognizing them. I am sure this does not come as a surprise, as the 'they all look the same' effect is a well known joke made about people from different races. Thankfully, I don't have to fully blame myself for this blatant racism, but I can actually blame this mistake on my brain. What is called the Other Race Effect is a well documented effect that proves that our brains, which have extremely efficient biological skill in recognizing faces, actually does a much poorer job of recognizing faces of another race, or at least of a race that, through experience, we have not learned to distinguish as well.

The outcome of this effect on its own makes living in Seoul, with a population of over 11 million people, confusing. The features I rely on to distinguish one face from another is different then what I am used to, and I often find myself lost in a big giant sea of my own racism. But this confusion is burrowed deeper than just the basis of my experiences. Seoul has the highest population of facial reconstruction surgery in the world: where one in five woman has had surgery. Most commonly among women is the double eyelid surgery, a surgery to make woman's eyes larger and more circular. This surgery is so popular, that I assume most of the woman I meet here have had it done. It is often bought as a gift for high school graduates and some parents even force their children into it, knowing their chances of success will be higher if they are more beautiful.

Like Westerners, nose jobs are another popular surgery amongst Koreans, but, unlike the Western craze to have your nose made smaller, Koreans actually aspire to have a bigger, longer nose to make their features more distinctive. Lasly, Koreans aspire to have smaller, more V-shaped faces, and recently, an even more extreme surgery has been growing in popularity. Both men and woman have been going under the knife to get what is called a double jaw surgery: a surgery that chizzles away your jaw bone and leaves with a long and painful recovery, and ultimately, a beautifully small face.

Smartphones apps have even kept up with this plastic surgery craze. You can download apps where you enter a picture of yourself, see how much better you can look with just a few snips and cuts, find out how much it will cost, and book it. It's that easy, right?!

Veni, Vidi, Vici

For the first time in weeks, my alarm clock's snooze button remained undisturbed as I bounced out of bed and hopped into the shower. It was time to start my one week journey through Italy, and I was excited! My easy 1 hour route to the airport left a lasting impression, reminding me how fantastic Seoul's subway system is, and had me dreading my future experiences back on the TTC. Costing only $3 and offering almost door to door service, it was a delight.

On our first day in Italy myself and my bestie delighted ourselves just as much with our 'Rome in morning' tour, as we sailed through the extremely limited time we had to explore Rome's ancient streets and wondrous ruins. Being fairly well travelled ladies, we deemed ourselves the perfect travel pair: a pair who cares, just, not that much. And this, my friends, was the attitude we brought along with us in the meagre 5 hours we had to tour Rome.

Don't judge us, we were here for the pizza and wine.The Colosseum is simply an added bonus.

Here goes our itinerary. Fellow non-history buffs, this is for you:

-9:00 am: Wake up
-9:30 am: Out the hostel doors, enroute the 20 minute walk to the Colosseum
-10:00am: Arrive at the Colosseum. It's already swarming with tourists and tour groups. Thank the emperor we didn't come any later.
-10:05am: Decide to trail behind some of the tour groups to see if we can learn anything
-10:10am: Remind ourselves how smart we were for not signing up for one of those things. Wikipedia is all the tour guide these ladies need.
-10:15am: Snap the typical Colosseum photos.
-10:30am: Head north west towards the Fontana Di Trevi, walking along the Roman Forum.
-10:35am: Grab a cafe latte and a classic Italian pastry. Yummy! Not only will this walk be rich with history, it will also be rich with flavour!
-10:40am: Gaze at our surroundings. As the coffee hits, the realizations kick in. The Roman civilization was pretty cool. If only those columns were still standing. *sigh*
-10:45am: Pass Il Vittoriano. This massive structure is a monument built in honor of King Victor Emmanuel, the King who unified Italy. Although finished being built in 1925, it's adorned architecture fits in well with the rest of the cities beauty.
-10:55am: Arrive at the Fontana Di Trevi. sit down and take a rest. We deserve it. This is amazing spot to get some gelato and people watch as lovers and honeymooners flock the fountain to take the photo they travelled all this way for.
-11:05am: Make a wish on a penny! (Hey, my wish even came true!)
-11:10am: Keep on trekking. We are now on our way to the Pantheon.
-11:13: Walk past the Colonna Marcus Aurelio. This thing is absolutely stunning and I've never even heard of it! It's spiral  design tells the story of the Marcomannic wars from around the year 166. So you don't say...
-11:17 am: Arrive at the Pantheon: standing Columns! Woohoo! So that's what they once looked like. Pretty impressive Romans, pretty impressive.
-11:23am: Take necessary Pantheon photos.
-11:30am: My travel partner and I consult our time limits. Do we have time to make it to the Vatican? Let's see if we can! Speed walking it is....
-11:54am: We made it it the Vatican, and wow was it worth it. It's breathtakingly beautiful. But why oh why are they're so many people around? There must be something exciting happening...?!
-11:56am: Investigate with some fellow Vatican visitors: "Hey, do you know what is going on here? Why is it so busy?" Answer "Uhhh, it's Sunday mass and the pope comes out at 12...."
Okay, Okay we should have done a little bit of research. That was maybe really dumb of us to not know. But hey, we are Jews. That is a good excuse, right?
-12:00pm: See the pope.
-12:10pm: Hurry back to the hostel to pick up our belongings and catch our train!

And that, boys and girls, is how we saw Rome in a day and still had time to eat pizza. It's not for everyone, but it was good enough for me*!



*Okay, okay, I went back to Rome and did enjoy having some extra time to actually tour a bit more, and I'll get more into that in another post. But on budgeted time, you can't say we didn't do well!

Lipstick and Tentacles

There once was an octopus who lived in a tank. Then we chopped off his legs, one by one and watched his tentacles squirm around. Then we ate him.

I'm sorry poor octopus.

The Courtship of a New Culture

Summer is here: the sun is shining and the streets are booming. People are happy, and, of course, the couples are out: couples in restaurants, couples cuddling in the park, couples, couples, couples everywhere. Being single, this could get pretty annoying, and being single in Korea, couples are so adorable, it makes you want to throw up. You'll see more couples riding tandem bikes around the city than riding regular bikes. Couples have matching cell phone cases, couple cell phone charms, couple glasses and, on a daily basis, you'll see couples wearing the exact same outfit from head to toe: shoes, socks, hat and probably even undies, taking corny pictures of themselves giggling their way through the streets. Couples in Korea do everything together, and in this collectivist culture, being single is basically unacceptable. One is never single and happy. One is either in a relationship or looking for one.

What does this mean for the dating scene? Well, throw your North American, Individualistic views out the window. The idea of playing it cool isn't necessary, the ball is never in anyone's court, and the lines are never running blurry. If you are being courted, you are fully aware, as your Kakoa Chat will be chirping away with cheesy emoticons and way-to-forward confessions of like.

Couples are so celebrated here that Valentine's day isn't enough day to express your love to your partner. The following is the list of celebrated days for couples in Korea:

-The 100th Day: You and your mate celebrate 100 days of knowing each other.

-Valentines Day: February 14th. You know this one. In Korea, though, Valentines day is when woman express their love to their men. Better known to us Westerners as Steak and BJ Day. Here, it's actually official!

-White Day: March 14th. Men, don't start packing your bags and heading to Korea quite yet. You're not off the hook. White day is your day to express your love to your special lady.

-Black Day: April 14th. In this country, singles get their own day too! On this day, singles get together and eat black noodles and revel in single misery.

-Pepero Day: November 11th. This was actually a brilliant marketing campaign done by Pepero that shockingly took off. Peperos are delicious thin cookie sticks, dipped in chocolate in a variety of flavours. Each printed Pepero box looks like a big post card and even has space for a note and a postage stamp, and, on Pepero day, you send these delicious chocolates to everyone you love. This marketing idea works so well that the company sells more chocolates on Pepero day then the rest of the year combined. The reason they chose Novemeber 11th: The date looks like 5 Pepero sticks (11/11).

The point is, relationships in Korea are pretty intense and it seems that everyone who comes here ends up coupling up, and often exploring the dating scene of their new culture. Don't though, come here with any prior expectations out of your relationship: stalker-like actions, public displays of over-affection both on social media and in real life and too-serious, too-fast relationships are all signs of a normalcy here. Crazy girlfriends, rejoice!

The Travel Bug

We've all heard of the term 'the travel bug' and if your anything like me, the travel bug has consumed the greater part of your early 20s. The travel bug has lead me parts of the world I never imagined I'd be, smelling, seeing, feeling and exploring experiences that most people could only dream of doing. The travel bug is usually used in a comical and positive intonation, leading those who use it to make fun of their (some would say irresponsible) decision to once again give up family, friends, and homely comforts for an exploration of the unknown. Up until recently, this has been the only travel bug I'd known. Up until recently I was in love with the travel bug, up until recently, I hadn't come across an evil travel bug: this travel bug was more consuming, and more annoying than any I had experienced before. This travel bug's name was scabies.

To break down scabies into one simple word, it is referred to as 'The Itch'. Why? Well, simply because it is one of the itchiest skin infections around. It is extremely contagious, extremely annoying and of course, extremely itchy. I have no idea how I contracted it, because scabies can live on it's hosts body for up to a month before showing any signs, but my efforts to get rid of scabies has forced me to witness the much less positive side of travelling: foreign health care. From a huge language barrier, to sketchy prescriptions, to obscene diagnosis, my experience with the Korean health care system has been sub par, to say the least. But thankfully, I have been treated and if all goes well, the itch will disappear. It is sadly, though, a long and torturous waiting game that can take up to a month before I'm back to my normal, itchless self, and let me tell you, this itch is one that I cannot wait to get scratched.

From the Eye of the Storm

Last Saturday afternoon was a gloomy, rainy one and, as one would do on such afternoons, I was sitting on my friends couch watching some brainless comedy. Suddenly, we heard a siren coming from outside. I looked at her, she looked at me, and we shared a confirming glance:  this siren did not sound normal. In an adrenaline filled Google search (yes, a Google search. What would you have done?), a peak out the window, and a mass text, we realized that there was no cause for concern and we had simply overreacted to a police siren. Funny? yes. Eye opening? Definitely. This was the first time I realized that this was a situation that I was taking seriously.

Though, false alarms aside, the only reason I am feeling anxious about the rising tensions in my newly claimed home is from the sensationalized news. Walking through the streets of Seoul, South Korea, an easy 6 hour drive to North Korea, and of course the North's main target, you would have no idea that a war, let alone a nuclear war, was feasible to arise at any moment. South Koreans are going about their daily lives, making plans for tomorrow, next week, next month and next year as if nothing was happening. We haven't spoken about it to our students nor even brought up the idea of practising an evacuation plan should anything happen. People are happy, parties are still being planned and a unconcerned attitude remains throughout the flow of daily life. This, to me all seem pretty shocking. If Canada was being threatened with an imminent nuclear war, you'd think at least, our schools would plan a 'what if' scenario. A threat this huge and hardly anybody has even blinked. Why? Well frankly, nobody here takes North Korea seriously. These threats have been happening every spring, each year for the past 60 years, while basically nothing comes of them. Some think the threats are fuelled by Kim Jong un wanting to establish power within his own country. Some say he wants more money and resources for the North. We've heard it all before, and so far, these theories have been correct. I, personally, don't quite know what to think of it all, but for now, I still feel safe. North Korea's threats have become an undeniable case of the boy who cried wolf. Lets just hope this one has a happier ending.

Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?

There are some things that you don't realize how much you appreciate until you go somewhere completely foreign, and stumble upon that comforting feeling of 'home'. You may not be home at all. You may still be far, far away. This feeling came to me for the first time in my 3.5 weeks of being in Korea, on the eve of Passover, at the Chabad of Korea.

The Chabad of Korea

As I walked into a room filled with over 70 strange, smiling faces, wishing each other a 'Chag Samearch', I felt almost as comfortable as walking into my Bubby's living room. The worldliness of the evening's guests should not come as a shocker, as most Jews in Korea come from somewhere else: America, France, Israel, and so much more. We were of different ages, of different races, and all in Korea for different reasons, all brought together under one roof. All brought together solely because we are Jewish. And despite the vast differences that spanned the room, the evening was filled with such connection, as strangers sat together, singing the same songs, having memorized the verses, all knowing the same tunes. Complaining together about the length of the evening and all equally accepting of each others devotion, or non-devotion, to the religion.

As the rabbi worded quite well, It is not the matzoh that makes a seder, it is not the wine (although, that doesn't hurt), it is the people who, despite their differing lives, are brought together not just at the Chabad of Korea, but around the world to celebrate a chag samearch: a happy holiday. This 6 hour long night filled with everything from the rabbi's lengthy speech, to the overdrawn Dayenu, to the mediocre gefilte fish and the nasally whines of those around me, brought such a feeling of comfort, and reminded me that Judaism really is special, and I am really lucky to be a part of it.

Chag Samearch!

What's in an Age?

Age: We have measured ourselves in age literally, since the day we we born. Our parents based landmarks on it. We celebrated our coming of ages in many different ways, from Bar Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s, learning to drive, drinking legally, and so much more. This was a number that, up until this trip, I assumed was simply universal. Well, my friends, I thought wrong. Here in Korea, age is measured differently. I, for example jumped from the easy and simple age of 24 right into the ripe old age of 26 as quickly as a 12 hour flight (talk about a quarter-life crisis!).

Now you're probably thinking "Huh?! This doesn't make sense? The earth doesn't rotate around the sun any faster in Asia...Or at least I didn't think it did..." Well, don't worry, you are not crazy. I will explain how this age thing works.

 Firstly, everyone pops out of the womb at the age of 1. Why waste any time counting those measly months?!

Secondly, although individual birthdays are recognized, nobody actually changes age until the lunar New Year where everyone changes age at the same time.

 Make sense?

Well it's true and it's crazy. This means that, layered on top of the ridiculous expectations schools in Korea are putting on their young children to learn, these young kids are in fact 2 years younger than my Western brain thought. So, the 6 and 7 year olds that I have been teaching are actually 5 and 6? My brain is about to explode.

On top of this, age is a really important defining factor in Korea, and the term 'respecting one's elders' is an understatement. There are seats in every subway car designated for elders and this is taken extremely seriously. You could be in the most packed subway ever, hardly breathing, while that section remained empty, just in case an Ahjumma (Korean older woman) strolled on in.

This has an interesting affect in the workplace, where younger employees will not criticize an employer even if their work and ideas are horrible. A story floats around that there was once a Korean Air flight that was in trouble, and, although the younger co-pilot knew how to solve the issue, out of respect for his older pilot, didn't speak up, and the plane crashed. Now they only hire co-pilots who are older than their pilots.

This age thing isn't all weird and bad though. It also makes for very strong family bonds, creates respect for elders in one's life like your teachers (me!), and people who hold authority. It even helps limits the country's crime rate.

...But age is just a number...Right?

Of Greasy Hair, Bomb Shelters and Screaming Children

Noksapyeong Station: my nearest subway stop

My first couple of weeks have been quite a whirlwind as I've been trying to settle into this foreign land called South Korea. From new grocery store brands, to crazy traffic, to peculiar smells and so much more, the world I once lived in has been turned upside down.

My morning bus ride takes me from my comfortable neighbourhood of Kyugnidan, Itaewon, an area dense in foreigners like myself, meaning easy access to late night pizza, a weekly wing deal, and some pretty fantastic coffee, where I travel over the beautiful Hann River into Seocho. Although I realized the air quality over here was going to be much poorer than the beautifully fresh air I was taking advantage of in Canada, the clear evidence of it's effects are impossible to ignore, as smog wades like low clouds each morning, surrounding the city, and causing me some fast-acting hair grease...and we all know how I feel about hair washing. This though, is apparently at it's worse now, in the spring. C'mon summer!

Now you are probably all reading this just waiting for me to get to the juicy goods. Is it the spice factor of the kimchi you are wondering about? Oh no, maybe its how often I hear Gagnam Style? Ohh, you're probably wondering how I feel about the whole North Korea - South Korea situation? Yeah, that whole thang.... Well, despite the fact that each subway station doubles as bomb shelter, (Oh, by the way, Toronto, have you seen Seoul's subway system?! It is sparkly clean, HUGE and plays beautiful birds calls while you wait. TTC, you should be comparatively ashamed.)  and has vending machines filled with gas masks, nobody seems to be worried about it. They are all going about their everyday business, because apparently something along these lines happens every single year...so, although when I ask people about it, they say they are a little bit concerned, there is nothing even close to feeling alarmed.

I could really continue this post forever, but I'll end it by talking about my experience at my school. I work in a Montessori type school in Seocho. Seocho is a wealthy area that lies just south of my apartment. from 9:40am - 2:30pm I teach kindergarten students who are learning English for the first time. It is quite the challenge. In the afternoon from about 2:30pm - 4:30pm I teach afternoon classes. Each afternoon class is 1 hour long and these children's abilities range based on class. The school is called High/Scope Korea, and there are about 10 High/Scope schools across the world. The school's philosophy is based on much of Jean Piaget's research in childhood development and says children learn best in a social setting where children have the opportunity to choose materials, use their own ideas and choose who they want to interact with and how. Basically, it is one of the only schools in Korea that promotes individuality. The philosophy itself is great, the implementation of the philosophy I am still questioning. As I get more used to making creative, interactive and choice filled lesson plans, it is getting easier, and this second week has been easier then the first. But if you have any ideas you'd like to share, send them on over.

In the meantime, TGIF! Enjoy a weekend filled with green beer and leprechauns. Cheers!