So we checked, and Wild Mountain Honey is definitely a Steve Miller Band song (see the I Heart Cookie post for clarification).

Also, over the past month we’ve concluded that the children we teach are small, wise sages, miniature Buddhas if you will, with great insight into us and life.

For example, today one of my students told me that Texas is not a state, rather, it is a country. I corrected him, “no, it’s part of the United States, so it’s a state.” He insisted, “Many people believe it is state, teacher, but really, it is country.”

I refuted his statement, but really, I think he might have something. After all, this is the same student who three months ago told me, “Jesus had a six pack.” Touche wise one.

Also, our students have on two occasions called us wolves. AJ’s older kids decided to call him “nagdi sonsaenim” or “wolf teacher.” One of my kindergarten children looked at me a few days ago and said, “teacher, wolf.” The class began howling like little dogs. For those of you who don’t know, we’re affectionately referred to as “he wolf” and “she wolf” by many a friend back home.

Aside from teaching, we’re preparing a big move up the street to a bigger apartment! It has three rooms instead of two! We’re packing not only for the move but for our week-long trip to Japan. We leave Saturday for Tokyo, and we’ll be traveling around Kyoto and Hiroshima.

We hope to post while we’re there, but we might be too busy drinking sake!

Love you all.

Rainy season is upon us, and as it poured and poured this afternoon, there was only one thing that could move us from our apartment. A great cultural experience? Nope. Learning Korean? Nah. Exploring this strange little country we’re in? No, no, no. Pancakes!

We were recently informed that only three subway stops away waits a small mecca of pancakes and foreign goods tucked away in the town of Jeongja. Only the truly adventurous can find these places hidden down windy streets, past numerous love motels and in some building complex (this is how it was described to us) a 10 minute walk from the subway station.

So with our fellow teacher’s hand-drawn map in hand, we set off in search of breakfast foods and western wonders.

A misty Jukjeon Station waiting for the train.

Butterfinger Pancakes is an amazing restaurant that sells Denny’s-esque breakfasts that taste right (i.e. they don’t put corn and potatoes where they shouldn’t be, and the pancakes were delicious!) It was worth the soaked shoes.

This may seem a little ridiculous for pancakes, but it’s been six months. After gorging ourselves on eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns (and of course pancakes), we stopped at a store called “I Heart Cookie” that sells a lot of foreign goods…

including “Wild Mountain Honey.” (Isn’t that a song by Steve Miller Band?)

And where would you be without U.S. government, ready-to-eat vegetarian meals? We didn’t buy any, but not because it says commercial resale is unlawful. It just probably tastes awful. We did pick up miracle whip, black olives, ranch dressing and dill pickles (not to be eaten together, of course).

The store was located in some building complex, but it had a lot of cute stores, restaurants and outdoor landscapes, like this tree, which looks cool in the rain.

On the way back to the subway, it was still raining, but this is some water we could actually laugh about.

We’re such losers for not writing more, but then again, we’re not sure you want to hear about our boring routines.

Oh well, here goes. We hit the five month mark here in two days, and we figure it’s as good a time as any to reflect a little on being in Korea (no worries, we have no plans of getting too deep).

There have been days, and weeks actually, where we were fed up and tired. One of those occurred not too long ago. The bosses were stressing us out, and it was the Fourth of July.

What does Independence Day have to do with anything? Especially considering we hardly celebrate it when we’re home?

Well, it was just that. We weren’t home, and I found myself at the NPR Web site, listening patriotically to the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

It’s not just the familiarity we miss, it’s the essence of America that we can’t even really put into words. Yes, I know this sounds cheesy, but I suppose one effect of leaving home is learning to appreciate it all the more.

At this point, we’ve traveled to the northern, southern, eastern and western most points of Korea, or at least to the places we’re allowed into concerning the north.

We can finally stomach almost all Korean food, though I’m still not having anything to do with those silk worm pupa.

Have we figured out Koreans yet? Not totally, but we don’t worry too much knowing that we probably never will.

We miss everybody at home so much, and it’s sad knowing we’re not there for birthdays, holidays and those days when you just need to throw back a beer with the family.

On that note, I’ll end this post with a bit of American optimism. For all the craziness involved with being at this job, in this country, we’re finally at a point where we can say, “it is what it is,” and mean it.

We’ll take the bad with the good and put another check on the bucket list because really, what else would we be doing?

One thing we’ve been astounded by since we’ve been in Korea?  Something I suppose people would call fashion — man purses galore, 80s inspired get ups and bohemian something. But over the weekend I saw a dog that, well, I lack the words to describe. Just take a look.

Poofy paws dyed blue, a yellow tail and a dress that says “princess.” Just fabulous.

We’ve been bumming throughout the last week, mostly because of work-related things…more on that later…and part of it was dreading a required work trip. Friday was the Fourth of July, and rather than BBQing it up with the fam, we were packing for team building exercise Korea 2008.

A BBQ was involved (so was a beach, dodge ball, twister and a mini dance party inspired by James Brown). And while we got on the good foot, we realized the weekend would be, as AJ likes to put it, legendary.

On the ride up we saw a massive bike race.

And stopped at a “good restaurant.” Hey, signs don’t lie.

Our bosses rented out a really nice pension (like a big cabin with a couple of rooms, kitchens and a deck). Although we don’t like posting pictures of people from parties and such (it’s just bad taste), we will post this one picture of AJ and one of our coworkers on the road to glory…

We’ve had these photos for a while, but we keep forgetting about them. On the way home from North Korea, we had to stop at the Hongik Subway stop in Seoul. (At least I’m pretty sure that’s where these pictures were taken…we were tired.) Anyway, I just love this little shadow saying “hi.”

Warning, the next one has a four-letter word (turned five-letter word by either a drunk native speaker or a sober Korean).

Last, the full painted wall.

What do television dramas, sets and famous Korean actors have to do with our kindergarten kids? If you’d have asked me a week ago, I would’ve said “nothing.”

(If you asked me today, I’d still be tempted to say “nothing.”) Except that this week we took the kiddies on a field trip to the Korean Broadcasting System television studios in Yongin.

And though their time seemed a little less than enjoyable, I think our bosses really liked seeing the sets of their favorite Korean shows, such as the one called Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace, which I believe has something to do with this set…)

We got to disappear on a blue screen and walk around different sets. The most interesting thing? Apparently the outdoor set is meant to look like 1970s Korea.

The kids were so hot and sweaty as we raced around the set that most of these shots were snapped in motion.

Cool bike, though…

On our way home from the soccer game Sunday night, we ran into the biggest police presence I have ever seen. They stretched out for more than a block, and they were four or five rows deep in a couple places.

We could only see a few protesters on one of the street corners. This is the continuation of the U.S. beef protests. What I’ve read is that Koreans are protesting several of the president’s policies. What everyone talks about is this irrational fear of mad cow disease.

Sunday night we went to a soccer game with some other teachers to watch North Korea play South Korea in a World Cup qualifying game.

It was really nice to see the World Cup Stadium in Seoul (it seats 64,000!) So it was fairly crowded as soon as we got off the subway…

The stadium is huge, and it gives a cool view of Seoul.

Most of the crowd was cheering for the Seoul Devils.

But there was a huge section cheering for both sides. They pulled out a giant re-unification flag (it shows the entire Korean peninsula as one).

The game was pretty good (it would’ve been more exciting had somebody scored). I guess it’s all the same to the guys cheering for both teams.

Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty lasted from 918 to 1392. What does this have to do with North Korea? The capital of the dynasty was Kaesong, which means the city is absolutely brimming with history from Korea’s Age of Enlightenment. (We photographed what we could).

Bakyeon Waterfall

Bakyeon waterfall is one of the most beautiful waterfalls on the Korean peninsulas, according to our tour guide. We hiked up a steep hill to take some pictures and marvel at the hundreds of people who were trying to do the exact same thing.

It was a nice waterfall, but the day was getting hot, and you can only stare at it for so long. We wandered back to where the buses were parked, and a North Korean woman offered us some of the berries she was eating. We sat and watched the North Korean guides watch the South Korean bus drivers smoke cigarettes.

(Yes, there was a lot of waiting and watching on this trip).

A traditional Kaesong lunch

We drove back into Kaesong city for lunch, which consisted of 9 side dishes (banchan). Women dressed in traditional Hanbok served us in what looked like a 1950s dance hall. It actually was a restaurant called Tongilgwan.

It was pretty good, typically Korean food. AJ and I tried a beer, as well, and it tasted ok. (It made us want a beer from South Korea).

The end of Goryeo

From lunch we drove to Seonjukgyo Bridge. It doesn’t look like much, but it represents a pivotal moment in the Goryeo Dynasty (actually, the end of it).

Here’s the story we got: A Mongol General marched into Kaesong and removed the king from power, sending him into exile. In 1392, a poet and loyalist to the king named Jeong Mong-ju was murdered on the bridge by the general’s son and four other men. The exile of the king and death of Jeong marked the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon, during which the capital city was moved from Kaesong to what is now known as Seoul.

Apparently, the blood stain remains on the bridge. You can sort of see a brown streak on the stone…

Our last stop was the Goryeo Museum. It had a lot of older looking temples, quite similar to the refurbished ones you see in South Korea. The most interesting part were the gift shops, where women sold over-priced souvenirs (a lot of them anti-American) to Americans who paid with American dollars.

Before leaving the North we had one more encounter with immigration. We had to wait in line and allow soldiers to go through our pictures (to double check that we hadn’t been sneaky).

After I showed the soldier how to review my pictures, he flipped through them. He looked pretty bored. Wouldn’t you be after looking at 400 pictures of the same waterfall everyday?! He gave my camera a once over and handed it back, apparently satisfied, and then we were allowed to leave.

The whole trip was strange and parts of it absurd. We left not knowing what to think or what to make of any of it. And maybe that’s the way they wanted it.