When I have my 15 minutes of FAME...

I will hire this photographer and fly him across many oceans to make me look amazing in every shot. Minseung. Lupe Studio. http://www.lupestudio.co.kr/

Take THAT, Potter Kids....

Yeah, so I know you're all perfect and wonderful and musical and artistic and beautiful and spiritual and funky and dread locked and cool and librarians and world travelers and communicators and bloggers and aunts and uncles and hipsters...yeah, I know all this...but WHO was at the potter house decorating sugar cookies with Ma Potter and groaning at Pa Potter's puns on Easter Sunday in KOrea??? That's right...your decidedly less cool dopplegangers. So take that, Potter kids. We're moving in on your territory and you better get here to Korea fast, or it's gonna get all Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation up in here.

xoxoxox,

Ninny Beth Potter

PS. this photo is blurry so as to create a creepy single white femalish vibe. Also, your parents acted willingly and knowingly to help us make this post.

an offer you can't refuse

Even if you're new to this blog or you've never met me, this offer STANDS... Read below:

I've replaced the laptop and harddrive now (see last post), even though I feel a bit disloyal to my old electronics and I'm ready to start rebuilding...To that end, I'm starting a song drive called

Songs for Stickers

Here's how it works:

1. You send me some of your amazing music via yousendit or another big file sender. This can be one song, an album or an entire zip of a band that you adore and think I should have. I download it and love you.

2. You send me your mailing address and contact info (my outlook was among the casualties) to karyn.daley@gmail.com

3. I send you via korean mail some very cool, very korean stickers. A different kind of sticker for every artist that you help me replace and/or discover. And we get the chance to connect or reconnect in a genuine exchange of love and music!!!! The grand prize for those who go above and beyond the call of duty in this little project are some truly fabulous Korean StandUp comedian SOCKS. No, seriously.

4. I will let you know periodically what I got so that we don't double efforts.

5. I will worship you in spirit across oceans and thank you personally when I return to the USA next year. In the meantime, I will think of you every time I run across some Iron and Wine or Depeche Mode on my reconstructed itunes.

Wanna play??? I hope so!

I'm pretty sure that I only know people of impeccable musical taste so I'm excited to see this disaster turn into something memorable. If you can't do the music, still send me your contact info. I don't want to lose you in the craziness of the electronic age.

love,KaRyn/ ninnybeth

Enjoy the Silence

I'm writing this melancholy post to the crappy "This thing is about to crash" whirling sounds of the korean university computer in my officetel.

Yesterday, in what can only be called a true disaster, I lost my ipod, my laptop and my external harddrive in one fell swoop. A friend was carrying the aforementioned electronics along with his $1,000 camera in his backpack on the way to a party where I would be providing the music. He left the backpack in the front seat of the taxi.

All my music. All my poems. All my song lyrics. All my pictures. gone.

We've put out an APB (I don't even know what that stands for) to the police stations, cab companies and foreigner services, but for now, my life is as quiet as a life can be without a past and without itunes.

If you know me well you will understand when I tell you that I cried for a moment, threw a churro across the room and then shrugged my shoulders and got my guitar ready for a performance at the party. I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe that we lose things so that we can make room for something new. I believe in the goodness of friends to help me replace memories and music. I'll let you know when the time has come to rebuild.

In the meantime, shoot a little prayer up to the Big Guy if you will. He knows the taxi driver's name. He knows where I am and he knows where my harddrive is and he can make the two converge if we send out enough faith vibes.

kamsahapnida.

Note To Self....

One year in Korea does not a Korean make.

To inaugurate my little brother's entrance into the MTC (FINALLY!) I thought I would update everyone on the progress of my mission. I'm at the one year mark with one more to go and things are moving right along. This has been a really challenging year for me, but not in the way that I thought it would be. When I loaded up my life and put my dreams in the hands of asia, I had a few rational fears: Will I have any friends? Will anyone be able to feel me? Would I be bland, unknowable, unrecognizable because I can not communicate with words? Will I get lost? Will I be safe? Will I love Korea? Will I love myself in Korea?

The answer is of course, Yes, Yes, Yes!!!! and NO NONONONONONONONONONO!

In the last week, I have had lesson after lesson that has reaffirmed the dichotomy of my life in Korea. I got lost/found. I choked/and recovered. I spoke/with my hands. I wrote/and I listened. I cooked/bought. I fell/got up. I sweated/and chose lazy. I sang/ I danced/ I loved/ I missed it/ I misunderstood/ and I finally got it.

I discovered that the 5500 bus goes to Suji, NOT bundang (a freshman mistake) BUT I also discovered that I am resourceful enough to figure out a way to get to work when I am lost in a strange city with no wallet and a dead cell phone. I am brave and functional in Korea.

I had a conversation on the telephone with a mom at school in Korean and we understood one another. I can communicate in Korea.

I almost suffocated on a triangle tortilla chip that was lodged in my esophagus sending home the message that WESTERN FOOD KILLS and that chewing your food before you consume it is a fine, fine idea. I am still myself in Korea.

I am creating masterpieces again in the kitchen and on the guitar. I MADE tteokbokki! HOMEMADE TTEOKBOKKI! and it was delicious and I made it. And a song is gestating almost ready to pop. Just in case you think this is a small thing, more than anything food and music are the hallmarks of my family culture and I will bring home something more valuable from Korea than some refrigerator magnets and hanbok. I can create in korea!!! I can make beautiful things inspired by this place. I am still an artist in Korea.

Ilsun, my cell phone patron and sister-in-law to one of my dearest friends, lost her father suddenly in a car accident. My friend called me to share her grief. I was touched and honored. Somehow, she knows me and trusts me. Somehow I am family to her and she is family to me though we operate under different cultural mores and expectations. I am known in Korea and I love in Korea.

And the first week of school is over and over and over. I still don't fully understand the differences between asian school culture and western school culture. I don't get it and I don't really like it. I'm bridging the gaps though. And somehow, I'm more moderate in all of my hard work. I can let the kids be kids. I can touch and giggle and let a lesson go if it isn't really working. I can stop and realize that this is about them and not about me. I can love them even when they don't listen and I can see all the complexity of a 5 year old's world. I can change in korea.

So that's the report. I realize this was more for myself than anyone, but I think it's important for me to write it down; to look for the clues to see it and see it how it really is.

Congraduation! It's Gradulation Day

This Kindergarten graduation was more involved than that one where I finished 4 years of University. They got more swag too. Seriously.

School Daze

Here's a robot for you.

It's the first week of the new school year. Korea does it a bit differently but not unpleasantly. We start in March just as spring is starting to rev up and I kind of dig it for the obvious reason...everything dies in Winter including my motivation to teach small children and Spring brings with it new students (which bring the possibility of new weird ticks and stories), new books (which bring the possibility of cracked spines and feeling of a year well done when they fall apart) and new energy. I'm starting to get excited about the next year of my life which seemed a near impossible feat just a few short days ago...here's a brief update of life events:

I spent a full day at immigration last Friday, breathing other people's air and hating on Korea and the leap year (ask me if you want to know the full story). I picked up our new teacher/friend Krisanne from the airport Sunday night with little to NO trauma (evidently, the gods think that i have had enough airport adventures to last a lifetime). I discovered Monday that I have bronchitis (not TB or whooping cough as previously self-diagnosed) and acquired medication that appears to be working HALLELUJAH! I've decided to apply to business school (as counter-intuitive as that sounds) so that I can make my dreams about Sixteen Stones a reality. AND I signed another year contract...one more year in Korea, friends. That's 12 more months of wonky pictures of konglish signs, pathetic stories of miscommunication mayhem, and jonesing for baked cheetos and chili dogs. Tada!!!

Shall We Game?

DVD bang. Noraebang. Boardgame bang. Korea has no shortage of bangs...(bang is Korean for room)...since everyone lives with their parents until they get married, wild Korean youth are forced into these "parlors" where they sing, game and if it's a DVD bang, makeout on a crusty used couch with some Chris Tucker movie playing in the background. Not that I would know about that one. But the next few pictures are documentation of my foray into the world of boardgamebangs. Let us make you fun.

Ok, ok...so I didn't have the heart to tell them that my attention span for board games is about the same as for a chris tucker movie when there's a man and a crusty couch available. It was fun anyway.

The winners circle! Look mom! I won the dongdaemun!

Here's How We Do...

Nesting and homemaking take on their own definition in Korea much like everything else. We cook in bedrooms and on desks...no space is sacred.

Something Like a Phenomenon, Baby

I've been thinking this for a long time...LDS women are NOT the only ones trying to figure this whole dating, settling, man thing out. It's a societal trend. Thank you to the ever watchful TODAY show for making it clear.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=c5c10e25-5dd1-462a-8202-e8165c95fb48&from=im_f_25-34&wa=wsignin1.0

I wake up exhausted....

Normally I would think I am depressed, but I'm not, I SWEAR! It's just that I woke up this morning and my first thought was, "How soon can I get home so I can get back into bed?" I blame it on my flannel sheets, down comforter, memory foam SPACE pillow and stone heating bed. I'm planning to log some serious hours this week during the lunar new year break.

sweet potato this...

I'm back on weight watchers but this time I'm doing it online. After all the holiday americationing, I needed to do something drastic to feel in control of my health and so I'm attempting to count the points in unidentifiable korean foods and cook at home a bit more. I'm losing weight like a mother so that's good. I guess I just needed to kick start it again. I also discovered something so taste tempting that I think it should be in a book somewhere (or maybe it is and I'm totally behind the curve.)

SWEET POTATO OMLETTE.

So the name is not very catchy, but neither was the mixed berry oatmeal cobbler that I invented last year. It just tells it like it is which I have apparently mastered in the realm of culinary delights but still aspire to in all other parts of my life.

that's eggs, a bit of milk with sweet potatoes (remember my stint as a migrant farmer in September?), red,yellow and green peppers, laughing cow cheese wedges, baby portabella mushrooms sauteed with a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Seriously. I dream about eating this everynight. Which is good because it's filling some very yummy craving shoes (no more ttaekbokki on the fly :( ). Who knew?

Whys Everybody Got To Run?

Today I counted approximately 8 women doing it and that was just on my way to work. If there is one thing that drives me over the edge of culture shock induced anger it is this: Korean women in impossibly high, pencil thin, overly ornate heels RUNNING with their hands up in the air. Running in the rain. Running in the snow. Running when it is obvious there is nowhere to go. (hey that rhymes!) Running to cross the street (when the light is still VERY green and will be for another 10 minutes). Running to get to Burger King. Clickety, Clickety, Clickety, Clack! Running, running, running and then...... oddly enough....... just stopping. That's right. There was somewhere really important she needed to be two seconds ago, but suddenly it's not that important. She can slow it down. Stroll a little. Wait, wait...she just remembered! RUN RUN RUN!

And the irony of it all? We get to the corner at the exact same time and cross the street at the exact same time and get onto the same bus at the exact same time. Are they running to stay warm? because after all, skinny = cold as al's mom always says. I don't know. I hope I never really figure it out.

Of International 7-11s and Goodwill for all

Well, you knew what would be first on my list, didn't you? A daily trip to the local 7-11 to create and then consume my very own fountain drink. But what did I discover upon my arrival???? Nothing short of a Christmas miracle. They have new machines (god bless america) that simultaneously infuse your beverage of choice with any number of delicious enhancing syrups. Think Jamba Juice power boost in pure sugar form. Lemon? check. cherry? check. vanilla? check. Do you wantALL THREE in your 44 ounces (that's right OUNCES!!! take that metric!) of brown caffeine free bubbly water? OK! Done with simplicity and privacy from the comfort of your own machine. No more bulky bottles of syrup with messy pumps. No more nosy neighbors watching with disdain as you overflavor your beverage. This is the gift that I have been dreaming of. But finally, no more dreaming. 7-11 made it all come true again and again and again for approximately 8 days of my 10 day vacation. This is Christmas.

Then of course I met up with my friends!!! Landy Lou and Alie were still up for some thrift store hijinks...so we left children& husbands (alie), boyfriends (Caitlyn) and televisions (sadly, that's me) behind for a jaunt through the treasures of nursing home castoffs. I found a dress...

Can you believe they didn't let me keep it???? (actually in retrospect, I'm starting to wonder why I DIDN't keep it. It could have been cool.)

I've still got pictures to post of my family, but I knew psychmom would start to wonder if I didn't get these up and running...WE ARE FRIENDS!

Back on the Bus

So I've been home from my americation for a little over a week now. I realized that it was really over when I loaded myself back on the bus and sat for 1 1/2 in commuter traffic with the overwhelming smell of garlic wafting around me and then struggled to get my 3+ bags of luggage into a cab only to have the driver tell me he didn't know where my apartment was. No more driving to the place you are going and wheeling a cart full of familiar things right up to your car. No more talking to strangers and being able to say more than just, "how much is this?" and "yes, no, I don't know."

I was a little bit dejected until I rode up in the elevator to my school and heard the voice of one of my students screaming, "Who wants to drink the water?" ahhhhhh home. Oddly enough, it's these little people that made me happy to be back. I struggled a lot over the break with sleepless nights dedicated to how to make coming home a year early feasible. Maybe it's like being on a mission...you don't go home because coming back is harder. Well I did it anyway, and now that I'm back, I'll stay in Korea for another year. But that's it. One more year. Korea is not for the faint of heart. But I am not faint of heart so there.