A Vignette Or Two For You~

안녕하십니까? 잘 지냈어?
How have you been? I am back for you, my dear Internet creatures~

(everyone: She's back! Run!!)

Today is Day 268~

At this point so much has happened since I last wrote I don't even think I could attempt to convey it to you chronologically as I have been before. So forget the past GOLO blog you once knew. That Gabby is gone! All the comfort you once had in this world is lost. Like dear Tyrion and Cersei Lannister enjoy saying:  A day will come when you think you are safe and happy, and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth.
That day has come! Though I really have no cause to hurt you dear reader, and no evil debts to pay... just a debt to write more as soon and often as possible...
From now on I introduce you to Gabby's Completely Not Chronological In Any Way Vignettes!
Enjoy~


I Heard it from the Bees

I went on a run this morning. It's my favorite old route, but the last time I went that way was a good three or four weeks ago, when there was still snow on the forested trail.
Today is a beautiful day. Sunshine and happiness.
I even wore short sleeves and felt completely comfortable!

It was quiet on my side of the river. Just the occasional duck quack and the distant sound of cars from across the river.
Allow me to give you a glimpse into my train of thought:
La di da. Happy Gabby. Look at how fast I am bzzzz~ I have quite a bit of energy bzzzzzzzzzzz~ considering I just had orange juice and a quarter of that Fazer chocolate bar from my Finnish host family (kiitos!) for bre- BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
breakfast?
Wait. Why is there a sound like the SFX used in movies when a bee swarm attacks someone? (HUNGA GAMES!!!!)

The bee sound fades slightly, so I know I'm not being chased and soon to be killed.
That's good.

I turn to see a starling amount of yellow. Hwacheon is still, for the most part, brown. The snow is almost all melted, leaving the surrounding mountains that once, for most of winter, looked like a very pale person's unshaven legs, turn into fuzzy brown-haired buzz-cut heads. Brown and brown and dead plants and brown and oh hey a few conifers so there's a bit of dark green (ain't got nothing on the PNW) but then there's this yellow. Yellow? Is this what the Southern folk call "color", this yellow?

I realize, OMG A TREE IS STARTING TO BLOOM!
All the bees of Hwacheon certainly realized this too. Because every little yellow flower on this tree had a bee busily buzzing away and rolling around in pollen like I would roll around with baby seals, Baymax, and marshmallows if ever given the chance.

Oh yeah~

The little blossoms had tiny tiny petals and a bunch of mini stamen, though there was very little of their fluffy, thick, yellow pollen left on the stamen themselves. The bees were so enthusiastic about these first flowers, they'd unabashedly draped themselves in pollen. All the bees looked about twice their size, and covered in yellow sprinkles. Like this (except I definitely never got this close to examine the bees)

I continued my run like the fool I am, singing songs and swinging my arms in windmills~
Spring is finally coming to Hwacheon!


Friends for a Day

It was nearing the end of my very long winter vacation. I was in the middle of a 3 night/4 day get-away in Seoul.

Today I had signed up for a day tour through SM Entertainment. It was a new program, so we got the tour for free in return for our opinions shared at a survey at the end of the day.

Our tour group was truly the most international group of 12 people I have ever spent a day with. There was me, a white American girl, a Chinese girl, two Malaysian men and a Malaysian girl, two men from Nepal, a boy from the Phillippines, a girl from Germany, a girl from Japan, and two more men who I don't remember if they were from Laos or another country... (야~ This vignette is from over a month ago, and I didn't really talk with those guys)

Now I've been doing a lot of solo travel. And to be honest, I've always been fine with good ol' me time. Doing my own thang. As Rap Monster says: do you. So I got off this tour bus at our first stop, politely smiling at everyone, but clearly heading off on my own to explore. I shared a few short greetings with some people, but once we have completely discussed the wonderful small talk of weather or where we're from, I, as usual, see no point in forcing further conversation. Silence and peace for me~

Our first stop was Namsan Tower, a tower on a mountainy-hill in Seoul, so it has a very good view of the city. Here's how it looks normally, in all it's glory:

And here's how it looked the day I went on this tour:

Beautiful as a painting right? And what a great angle for a shot too!

It was extremely cloudy and we couldn't see any of Seoul from the mountain...
But no matter! It wasn't that cold. The fog has its own quiet beauty. I was determined to wander around and observe happily like usual.
Just as I was beginning my peaceful wandering, two of the guys from our group beckoned me over to them. One was a student in Seoul from the Phillipines and the other was a worker from Malaysia. More often than not, just talking to the opposite sex makes me uncomfortable and I almost always doubt their intentions. Why talk with me? This day, maybe it was the calm of the fog, or my super sensitive part of the mind was on vacation, I honestly just thought these guys were good people.
They were friendly and I then had a very strange thought, "Why not hang out with these people today?"
And that, my dear readers, marks the first day Gabby socialized with humans she didn't already know nor was required to socialize with for a day. At least since the time Gabby was a very small human and had no conception of self-awareness (that Gabby lived up to her namesake and talked to everyone).

Our initial meeting was photographed by the German girl who also joined us for the day.

(yes, she joined in too despite this internal dialogue of mine)

Despite our inability to appreciate Namsan's main features (the view and locking romantic locks for couples...) we had a pretty great time hanging out. We played traditional Korean games: spinning tops with a whip, chasing wheels, and throwing weighted arrows. And we took so many photos...

And when we went to our next location, COEX Mall, I went ahead of everyone, automatically preparing for normal the Gabby solo wandering routine... and the next thing I know, these three all are by my side again. So again, we have fun together and get lunch.

And we never saw each other again.






The end.

Hey this is a vignette, I can't tell you everything that happened that day! Maybe you'll get more about this day in another vignette later ;)

And thank you dear person for reading this here blog. This is a gif I used in a PowerPoint for my 6th graders and they loved it:

(Yeah I teach 6th grade now... a story for another time...)

BYE!
G-g-g-gabby!

A Poem

The river is noisy these days

Though it's often noisy

There's the echoing whiplash of ice cracking

Waves murmering

The wind's hollow scream

These days it's the wind

That makes such a commotion

On my way home

I walk along the river

And the wind strikes

Hair everywhere
Eyes tighten
Warm clothes feel like the frailest silk
(I should've worn more layers)

I walk on the river

Crossing the floating footbridge

And I shift sideways

The bridge is moving.

Sudden bounces

Like someone bounding from behind

Even the noise

Like footsteps

 

But I'm alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking home these days makes me feel super poetic. Hwacheon is so beautifulf! And when I think I should write something down I remember... oh yeah I haven't written a new blog post in FOREVER.

So sorry about that everyone! Hope to get back to regular posting soon.

 

And before I leave you, It's Day 251!!

 

Bye~

 

GW

Gabby Really Ventures South. Really. (TO TAIWAN)

Hey there!
Here is your promised continuation from my last post. When I really get to the southern sunshine and warmth.

But first! You need to know what day it is.
No, not what day of the week (It's Tuesday if you're curious) but what day is it on the great Gabby in Korea counter clock. Today is DAY 200!! It's been 200 days since I landed in Seoul and began my adventures last summer. Wow. Let's celebrate.

Great.

Now that that's over and done with...

Back to me! In an airport! Travelling from Shanghai to Taiwan! Woohoo!

Oh. Sorry. One more thing.
Guess what I got for Christmas from my host family?

It's a selca pole! 셀카봉!

I actually don't really know how to use these... So I experimented a bit in the hotel:

Okay~ now let's leave the hotel and get back to the travels!
Finally!

I arrived in Taipei and took the really awesome high speed rail to Tainan. It was pretty straightforward. I did arrive at a different airport than I thought I would, and so I had to figure out how to take the subway to the main Taipei station to get the high speed rail train, but, hey! I've made it through Boston, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, and Busan subways, and they are all basically the same... so Taipei was no sweat.

I arrived at Tainan station to these befuddling signs...

What does it mean? I wondered. Is this where really cheap taxi drivers pull up, you give them a kiss and then you're free to go wherever you need?

I did have a while before my friend, Brenda would arrive (lots of traffic) so I walked around the station a bit. There wasn't much to see. A convenience store, a burger place, and a coffee shop with questionable messages.

Outside were trees and lotus plants and, most importantly, THE SUN. Oh that sun felt so good.
That was the first time I felt the wonderful warmth from the sun in months. I stood still for a while just soaking it in and feeling great. It got cloudy shortly after that, much to my dismay, but I still stayed outside for the next hour or so, taking about a hundred photos of dead lotus plants (and the occasional survivor).

Since I really only had a half a day of travel, I wasn't too exhausted, so when Brenda and I were reunited we quickly set to the most important task to accomplish during my less than 5 days in Taiwan: EAT ALL THE FOOOOOOOOD.

We went to a night market that evening and ate so many yummy things I didn't even take photos of them. Here are some Google images of the market and what I ate to make your mouth water:

 These oyster pancakes were delicious!

Bubble tea essentials

Can't forget scalp cakes (sorrry, "scallion pancakes")

The market also had tons of different games and prizes like the county fair in Hillsboro... but we were too busy eating. Ain't nobody got time for dat.

The next day we went on an adventure to monkey mountain. A mountain with monkeys, surprise.

Before we arrived, everyone was telling me how crazy and dangerous the monkeys are. They flood out and crowd around you and steal all your stuff. They come in the hundreds. There is no escape. 

It made me slightly apprehensive but in no way deterred me from this hike. It's a mountain! A hike! I love hikes and nature and trees, and if some monkeys are there, great! More friends for me.

We set off, following monkey signs, talked to one man who looked like he just ran up and down the mountain but he said there weren't many monkeys out today. We still started our hike with hopeful hearts and minds full of monkeys. 

And... there were no monkeys. For a good while. It was a nice hike. And there was tons of monkey poop everywhere. (Brenda's mom kept shouting, "POO!" every time we came across some)

Then we saw one! She was just kinda hanging out on the side of the trail. We were just excited to finally find one and took a bunch of photos.

Yaaay monkey

We continued our little hike (it was really short, just over a half an hour up) dodging monkey excrement and stopping every time we heard a rustle in the bushes, hoping to see another. We did come across a couple more hanging out in trees overhanging the pathway and calling out to each other (which we OF COURSE mimicked ourselves to try and communicate with them). 

We reached the top and had a nice view of the nearby city. Took some photos. Lovely lovely lovely.

On the way back down we came across a bunch of them. They were all laying about wherever there was sun, and we we went to hang out with them, they were totally fine, as long as we didn't block their sunshine. They were grooming, lazing, and two of them even got busy for less than a minute. Many photos were taken. It was wonderful. 

We made our decent. And that was the epic day on monkey mountain. 

Applause.

Thunderous applause

That night we ate a feast of shrimp. Seriously all the shrimp. I have never been so happy or so full of shrimp.

Do you see those little yellowish cubes? Those are shrimp cakes, my friend. Those are the most wonderful, warm, soft, yummy food ever.

The next day we went fishing and in the afternoon when there was more wind we went sailing! I have always wanted to go sailing. I was fascinated with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, and adventure novels as a kid, and to this day dream of sailing around the world on a tall ship. Our ship was not a tall ship. It was a boat. A keel boat to be exact or keeler if I've any Kiwis reading. It is designed to keel over very far and is thus VERY fun to sail. Here are some more google images for you because I did not want to risk my phone being lost in the ocean to take photos.

Our morning of fishing was completely fruitless. In fact I lost some food instead of gaining any. Yes, I am shamed to admit that the hours of sitting still and rocking in the ocean made me sea sick for the first time in my life. It was not very pleasant, but neither was it as terrible as it seems in movies and stories of people heaving over the edge of the ship. I merely felt nauseous a bit and did my business. 끝.

After that I thought to myself, "there's a first time for everything". Though I hope to not have that experience too often in the future.

We had more oyster pancakes and then sailed that afternoon with 10-14 knot winds and no more sea sickness.

This photo is stolen from Brenda's Instragram. It is not from the day we went sailing. But it is the same people on the same boat. And I don't have other pictures so DEAL WITH IT.

To speed things along (sorry this post is quite a bit longer than I usually keep things, but let's soldier on shall we?) let's go to my final (full) day in Taiwan.

Brenda's family and I went back up to the northern end of the island for New Year's Eve. We ate some very delicious soup dumplings at a famous restaurant (so famous we had to wait an hour and a half to get in). Then we went to the big Taipei 101 building party for the main event.

Complete with necessary Taiwanese flag tattoo 

There was a big concert of Taiwanese pop stars for the four or so hours leading up to midnight, then the fireworks show. I have seen lots of fireworks from Disney to Boston, usually very long and very entertaining. The Taipei 101 fireworks show was only a few minutes long. But it was amazing. 

Here is a small taste for you all. 

I really wish I could share more with you. It was the best fireworks I've seen in a while, particularly because it was so DIFFERENT from most fireworks shows. 

The next day, the first day of 2015 I went back to the airport and flew to Guangzhou, China, where I had another overnight layover (I'm all about the cheap flights). The awesome thing about Guangzhou is that THEY GIVE YOU A FREE HOTEL. Check out this happy girl:

More selca pole practice~

Whew! We made it!

Thanks for reading~ next we will move further south to Thailand! Stay tuned!

Wahoo~

Gabby Ventures South

HELLOOOOOOOOO
HELLOOOOOOO
HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I have returned! I am back! It's the return of the Gabby!
It's Day 196 and it's the year 2015! Happy New Year~

Since I've last written, I've said goodbye to my fourth graders, traveled to four different countries (and lived to tell the tale), and as of today, finished a week long English camp (that sucked the life out of me but was super fun).

Now I finally have time to share some stories and SWEETIE, HAVE I GOT SOME FOR YA.
I have pages, no, chapters of writing that I thought out very thoroughly while I was travelling, and I really wish I could just upload my brain and PPPPHHFFSHGRAP! Dump all my stories here at once~ The most recent adventures are itching to come out, but I should start from where we left off so neither of us get lost here.

The final weeks of the school year were both easy and difficult at the same time. Yup, December was the end of the school year for us. Korean school year begins in February/March, so the next time I see my munchkins they will be a grade higher in elementary school.
I kept a point system to reward the best behaved class with a party at the end of the year. So our final class was a party and since we finished our textbook early, we had an extra day to watch "Jumanji", a movie I could watch a thousand more times, so seven times repeatedly was no biggie. Though my eyes were hurting from hours of computer screen staring. Yay migraines.

The kids loved this part.

I also made a shocking discovery that child Gabby never did know: IN JUMANJI THE HUNTER AND ALAN PARRISH'S DAD ARE THE SAME DUDE!!!!

Mind. Blown.

Anyways, I just have few more things to say about the end of the school year.

I was pretty composed for the most part as I said my goodbyes. I am an emotional fool who cries very often and not subtly, though I might try to seem like I'm not the type (I'm very good at containing emotion until one moment when it explodes.. like when I left my Japanese host family I was totally convincing as a cool, unfeeling young adult until the moment I left my family for good at airport security and I started sobbing uncontrollably... ahem). This time I convinced myself it's not really goodbye with the 3rd graders because I will still teach them as fourth graders. And even if I don't have the fourth graders in class anymore, I'll still see them around school. No biggie. I'm cool. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm cool. ... Until one of the special needs assistant teachers told me that this one angel-of-a-child is moving and won't be in Hwacheon this spring. This little boy is the sweetest, most diligent, adorable 3rd grader (now 4th) who made me smile just seeing him. The instant the teacher told me this I started tearing up, much to her surprise and discomfort.

Oh. Don't mind me, I'm fine.

There are a few things also that, dare I say, make me proud. One fourth-grade class solemnly asked if Sunny teacher and I could teach them as fifth graders next year. Another fourth-grade class, that Sunny originally warned me of back in August as the "problem class", ended up winning the best behavior competition and got a pizza party. One boy in particular from that class, he told Sunny that he used to hate English, but now (after this semester of personal success and fun) he wants to become an English teacher when he grows up. Maybe I'm not a terrible teacher after all.

Bring on next semester!

Now we better get on with it. To the good part. The part where I leave the freezing lands of Hwacheon for a warmer, mosquito-ridden atmosphere. As you may be wondering from the title of this very post, shouldn't I be gettin' on with the Southern travels?

Well, yes, I should.


I left Korea on the Saturday after Christmas and spent the night at a layover hotel in Shanghai. It was a nice hotel but I remember being really angry about something. So much has happened since then I don't remember what exactly that was... something to do with exchanging money and paying for the hotel I think. And no chocolate on my pillow.

Ah, yes. Such a terrible struggle, Gabby. You must be so tormented by all that. 

A toast for Gabby's misfortunes.

The next day I got up bright and early for my flight to Taiwan~


Yup.







And so kids, tune in next time for Gabby Really Ventures South. Really. This one won't be misleading and full of lies like that last blog. Full of lies we are, yes, Precioussssss

Buh-bye!

Gaberonie