Frankenstein's Monster (An introduction to K Drama royalty)

I have created a monster! And it is glooooooorious!!!! 
Cled has been lured to the Dark Side!!  Mwuahahahahahahaha!!

Looking back, it seems as well orchestrated as a military campaign, but in actual fact, like all the best relationships it was purely organic. For starters, Cled has seen me maintain this drama addiction for over five years now....so there had to be SOMETHING in it!
Then a few months ago, Cled was in Limerick for a visit and one morning, while we were having coffee, I got a message from Judd - my drama buddy who is still in Korea. I apologised to Cled for the rudeness of messaging while she was visiting, but begged her understanding, as a 9 hour time difference is a harsh task mistress.  In mitigation, I included Cled in the exchanges, explaining that Judd and I were all giddy and excited about this new drama which had just started, 'W'.  I quickly explained the premise and gave a bit of background on the production team's previous hits, which made me so confident about this drama. By then, it was bed time in Korea, so I bid 'Goodnight' to Judd, put the phone away, and resumed my non-drama conversation with Cled.

Then in August, Ms.Amused and I went to Edinburgh to stay with Cled and her family. For our last night, I arranged a Korean 'Girl's Night In' - we did a full on Korean skin care regime, weird masks and all. There were Korean snacks (which we forgot to eat!) and I streamed the first episode of 'W', for Ms. Amused and Cled to watch.
They loved it!
The next day, Ms.Amused and I returned home, and I figured that was that.

Until, two weeks ago, when I sent a random message to Cled, crowing that I had managed to do a decent workout, despite having a crazy day, and that I would be rewarding myself by watching the first two episodes of a new historical drama. I linked her the trailer, to show her exactly what I was excited about:
See it in all its glory here. 

A few days later, Cled asked me for the link to the first episode. Next thing I know, she's hooked!  Completely caught up on this drama AND 'W' and has moved onto 'Iljimae', to enjoy some more Lee Joon Gi in all his swashbuckling splendour! (and who could blame her!)

Lee Joon Gi in 'Moon Lovers'

This morning, I got a request for recommendations and I thought, "O.K, now it's time to break out the big guns!"  I suggested one of the best loved K Dramas of all time, the one I usually use to lure in new fans - 'Coffee Prince'.

Oh! The happy memories I have with this drama!!
It was the fourth drama I watched and it is firmly at the top of my 'All Time Favourites' list.
But that is only a tiny part of its importance for me.

This drama was a massive hit in Korea. HUGE!  I arrived in Korea four years after it had aired and it was still the drama that all Koreans recommended to me when they suggested dramas to watch.
And it therefore earned me tons of brownie points when I was able to say that I had already watched it and loved it.

I remember one lovely, golden moment, outside my kindergarten: I was talking with four of the Korean kindy teachers (slowly and haltingly in my fractured Korean and their broken English) - but when I mentioned that I was watching 'Coffee Prince' at the moment - ahh! a moment of pure connection.
In fact, all five of us stopped dead in the street for several seconds, just to contemplate the hunk of gorgeousness that is Gong Yoo!

Gong Yoo - He acts, sings, plays guitar and is kind to puppies. In the words of my friend Tonny, "It's too much!"

I also credit this drama with giving me a memorable introduction to a treasured friend - F.D.A.

I have referred to this person in several posts, but what is probably not remembered is that F.D.A stands for 'Fellow Drama Addict'.  Allow me to explain:

It was the spring of 2012 in Ulsan, and I was taking in the sights of the Ulsan Whale Festival, in Taehwa River Park.  Towards the end of the day, I met my Favourite Diva and she invited me to dinner with a friend of hers.  We went to a nearby (and amazing!) tofu stew restaurant.

Just as our food orders arrived, Diva mentioned that F.D.A was thinking of trying K Dramas and could I recommend any. Well, I naturally and immediately replied, "Coffee Prince!".
I gave them a quick summary, being as careful as possible not to give away any spoilers.

But that wasn't enough to satisfy them. They demanded more detail. So I grudgingly agreed to recap the first episode.
One entreaty led to another and an hour later there I was, sitting on the floor of a Soon Dubu restaurant, reciting the lines from the climactic scene to a captivated audience of two.
I was dehydrated, and I'd hardly had a bite to eat, but it was totally worth it!
Diva's friend went home and watched 'Coffee Prince', and then went on to watch many more dramas, lots of which we watched together, thus earning the moniker, 'Fellow Drama Addict'.
(Meanwhile, I re-watched it with Diva and Ms.Amused!)

'Coffee Prince' was filmed in an actual coffee shop in Hongdae, my favourite part of Seoul. Over the years, whenever Lush and I went to Seoul, we would usually make an effort to find this K Drama location mecca. But dodgy maps, wrong turns and simple lack of time stymied our efforts.
We gave it up as a bad job and forgot all about it.

Last August, I had packed up my life in Ulsan, and Kanga and I were spending a badly needed few days in Seoul, decompressing before the move home.  On our second last night, I was walking Kanga through the sleepy back streets of Hongdae, when, like a lovely gift from the Drama Gods, (in recognition of years of faithful worship) I practically tripped over it!
I couldn't believe it! I stood there in stupefied shock!  (Seriously, there were angelic choirs warbling over the fence!)

The pic quality is dodgy as feck, but I think the post captured my excitement pretty well!  (click to enlarge)

And yes, Dear Readers, I DID go back the next day without the dog.  I sat in the window table where Eun Chan had eaten her jam sandwiches, and took a moment to feel grateful.
'Coffee Prince' had seen in my earliest days in Korea, helped me to connect with Koreans and foreigners alike, my long running and steadfast devotion to Gong Yoo had become common knowledge with most of my friends, and even my dog, Kanga, came incredibly close to being called 'My Chan', Eun Chan's nickname in the show.
It felt so utterly appropriate that 'Coffee Prince' should also be there at the end of my Korean adventure.

Now that Judd is in Korea and F.D.A is in America, I am giddy with excitement at the prospect of having a another K Drama junky in my own timezone again!

And Cled, just so you know - you will be finishing 'Coffee Prince' just in time to join me in watching Gong Yoo's NEW drama!

(rubs hands gleefully)

Thanks for sticking it out to the end folks!  Now I'm off to watch me some 'Coffee Prince'!

Feckin February! - The Long Goodbye

I'm looking down the barrel of the last week of what has been a real bitch of a month.
As an english teacher in Korea, February and August are the months you brace yourself for.  These are the two months when contracts end and newly minted friends strike out for distant shores.

I got off lightly last February as the vast majority of my friends signed up for a second year.  On the flip side however, this has left me a little more vulnerable this time around, as the same friends have had an extra year to burrow further into my heart and so the seperation will cut that much deeper.

Here's where being an ex pat gives farewells an extra bit of a kick.  In a nutshell, for the most part our relationships here in Korea are a bit like ships passing in the night.

It just happens to be a reeeeeaally long night!

We both come from different places and will part to move on to new and still more different places.
Saying goodbye to my friends back home is difficult, yes,....but in a way that I can't express at all well, it is difficult only because I miss them.

What I mean is, my 'Home' friends are tried and tested. We have already survived seperations and reunions.  Emotionally speaking, they will stay where I 'put them'.
With my 'Korea' friends I don't always have that security blanket.  The intentions are there, God knows! But are our foundations deep enough? Will it survive the distance, the new, unshared experiences and, let's face it, my abysmal track record at correspondence?

Last weekend I said farewell to two of my friends, next weekend I shall be seeing off one more. Now add to this emotional cocktail the foreshadowing of six more departures in August, including my sister!  Eeeep! and you get an idea of how bruised my myocardial muscle is feeling these days.

This feckin February I have had the highs of :

• staying with a friends family for Lunar New Year
• having the best First Date Ever!
• really sweet affirmations of my teaching, my baking, my general ranking as a decent human being and friend

I have also had the lows of :

• best First Date ever turning into a idiot at the end of the night
• saying goodbye to three friends in one month
• having my father on the other side of the planet become incredibly sick (though thankfully is now on the mend)
• and I have bid farewell to 75 of my Kindergarten students as they graduated into elementary. I have taught these snot nosed cherubs every day for two years - that's almost a third of their lives people! It hurt like a vicious kick to the shins.

So roll on March. February, I've had my fill of you.

Worthless Witterings

When last I posted, I was gearing up to spending Lunar New Year with my friend and her extended family.  I had been warned that only two members of the clan spoke english and so had been preparing accordingly.
I started meeting a language exchange partner, initially once a week and then amping it up to twice a week in January.
I even learned a Trot song in case we had a session!
(More on the weirdness of Trot music in a later post.)

I practised whole chunks of imaginary conversations, trying to squirrel away snippets of dialogue for every possible scenario.
It was like being back in school and cramming for my final French Orals! (whole body shudder)
Despite all the prep and study, the k dramas and k pop, I was still feeling deeply inadequate for the task ahead.

This was largely because at some level I am still comparing my language aquisition in Korea to what it would have been had I moved anywhere in Western Europe.
This is a ridiculously unfair comparison, like asking someone who has spent ten years playing drums why they can't master the piano in eighteen months.
Yet it's a comparison I still have to consciously shake off.

Happily, while I was comparing myself to a mythical might~have~been, my host family were busy comparing ME to the only other foreigner to have spent time with them.
Sunny's brother had done his military service with the 'US Forces in Korea' and had brought one of his American friends home for the holiday a few years ago.
On Saturday afternoon during a lull in the cookathon, Sunny and I were in the sitting room when she suddenly burst out laughing. She told me she had just overheard her uncle exclaim in the kitchen, "Well this foreigner is much better than the last one. Her Korean is great, she can take a joke and she even uses chopsticks! That other one just sat there, blinking."

I did feel sorry for the Unknown Soldier, it must have been a very strange two days for him, but I must admit that what I primarily felt was relief.
I was a hit!
All my worrying was for nothing.

Which begs the question: Will I learn from this experience and worry less before trying new things?


Nah.


Probably not.

Panic Stations!!

I have 25 Korean words to learn before 1pm tomorrow afternoon, so naturally, I'm writing a blog post instead!

A month ago my darling, wonderful, incomparable Co Teacher asked if I would like to stay with her extended family for 설날, (Sol nal ) Lunar New Year in early February.
I was practically jumping up and down with delight at the invitation. Getting invited so share 추석 (Cheuseok) or 설날 with a family is a big, big deal and I was chuffed to bits that Co T would invite me.

Here's the thing, out of the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, only two of them speak english. 
So I had to get my 'game face' on and kick my Korean studying into high gear.
I've been coasting for the last year at comfortable beginner level. I can operate just fine in shops, restaurants and taxis - but ask me to formulate a sentence in casual conversation and you'll get to watch me do a first rate impression of a rabbit caught in the headlights!

For that reason, Lunar New Year is a wonderful focus for me.  It's a specific date to aim for, close enough to cause me palpitations, but far enough away that I stand a chance of achieving some real improvement.
Phase One of 'Operation Lunar New Year' started, also a month ago, on Tuesday evenings after work, my Co T and our Dept. Head and I go to a restaurant for dinner and exchange our diaries.  The two Koreans have written theirs in english and mine is in korean. We correct each others work and then slip into easy conversation. Each week my colleagues push me to speak more and more in korean.

And two weeks ago I met up with a friend of a friend of a friend (true story) for a language exchage.
Jeon Soon (her nickname) is a university student and we get on like a house on fire!  Luckily for me, she is training to be an elementary school teacher, so I think she'll keep me on the straight and narrow!
We meet at 1pm on Saturday afternoons. We speak english for the first hour so that Jeon Soon can practice, then we switch to korean for the second hour.  Like a proper student, I get homework, hence my need to learn 25 words for tomorrow.

I've also been tip toeing outside of my comfort zone with both friends and new aquaintences, speaking more korean than is necessary.  When it comes to meeting new people, I'm seriously considering writing up a flash card that says, "In english, I am funny and intelligent!" cos I sure ain't no sparkling wit in korean right now!!

   My new constant companion.

To have another language is to possess a second soul. Charlemagne

I received an e-mail this morning from a shiny, new friend, who shared something hugely and incredibly significant. (No, I'm not going to tell you what it was!) With just three short sentences I was left feeling impressed, awed, humbled and honoured.
It got me to thinking yet again, about that subject which is closest to every writer's heart - communication.

We writers have this foolish conviction, this hope masquerading as arrogance, that we have something worth saying. Something that someone out there will respond to. So we hone our skills and polish our words, before hurtling them into cyberspace. It's why every single one of us update our Facebook status with everything from the mundane, the bizarre and the downright random. We hope to connect, to hear, "Really?!", or better still, "Me too!"

This morning's email brought to a head something I have been mulling over for a while now. The message was so short, yet so effective that it brought me face to face with my gnawing inability to do the same in the language of my newly adopted home. For the past week in particular I have been increasingly frustrated by my lack of Korean.
Mostly because I have been measuring myself with the wrong yardstick. By that I mean that I have been comparing my current rate of learning with previous experiences in Europe - somehow managing to completely discount the fact that having learned both French and German in school, I had a whopping great head start for assimilating any European language I found myself in need of.
Nah, that would have been far too rational. Instead I was beating myself over the head with the aforementioned yardstick, telling myself that after four and a half months in any country in Europe I would be damn near fluent, not the stuttering idiot I am over here! From that perspective, my tiny cache of Korean words looks pathetically insignificant.

To the staff at my school, and various other Koreans I converse with regularly however, I am making incredibly impressive progress. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder!
Though I deeply suspect that they are judging me not on liguistics alone but rather on my assimilation into Korean culture as a whole,
Now on that head I do feel quite proud of myself.

I can say 'Hello' in three different levels of politeness and these days automatically bow instead of shaking hands.
I know my eating and drinking etiquette and which inoffensive Western hand gestures are considered rude here.
I watch Korean dramas (fairly obsessively it must be admitted) and listen to Korean pop music - I even have my own Korean party piece for the Norae Bang!
I have started learning Tae Kwon Do and speak of my future in Korea in terms of several years rather than the standard 12 months.

I even eat the dried squid!!

All of this seems to add up to a case of my actions speaking for me when I myself cannot.

I am grateful that I can offer these gestures of good intent to my Korean colleagues; tiny acts of gratitude for their endless warmth, grace and generosity. But for an Irish girl who fattens on conversation like it was good red meat, this is a paltry consolation.

I want to speak with the women I work with - I want harmless chats about our favourite Korean actors and singers and deep, long talks about the differences and similarities of our cultures. We both come from colonised countries which were divided in civil war: add some beer and soju to that conversation and we've got ourselves an all-nighter!

In September I will begin a four month course in Korean at Ulsan University. Boy am I ever looking forward to the competence I'll have by Christmas!

Travelling to Korea has been by far the biggest adventure of my life time. I have moved entire continents beyond my comfort zone and yet landed into a state of unremitting happiness that I have never known before. The greatest cause of wonder to me is that, as deliriously happy as I am here right now - I know, that I know, that I know, this is just the beginning.

Once I have a way to fully and meaningful communicate with everyone around me.............wow! How my world here will open up!

And since you've stayed with me for the whole post - away and make a cup of tea for yourself!