Author: Eleanor Brow

So this past week I had surgery, and I read somewhere that protein helps with repairing the body. What is better protein that chicken wings? My go to chicken wing recipe is usually jerk chicken wings. However, living in Korea doesn’t lend it self to caribbean recipes, so I thought well, maybe spicy peanut chicken wings. The ingredients were super simple and the result was delicious.

Ingredients:

1 pack of chicken wings
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 tablespoon of honey
1/4 cup of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of sriracha
1/4 cups of crushed peanuts
lime wedge
cilantro for garnish

Start by combining sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sriracha. Wish together until fully combined. Open pack of chicken wings and wash them with cold water and fresh lemon juice. Pat dry and add to sauce. Coat wings with sauce and then marinate in the fridge for 1 hour. The longer the marinade the more intense the flavor.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 375. Bake for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from the oven and place wings in a bowl and drizzle the honey, be sure to coat each wing. Add the crushed peanuts and squeeze one lime wedge. Garnish with cilantro, and you are sure to have a crowd pleaser.

This past week, I did the scariest thing in my life; I decided to have necessary surgery in Korea. I like to think of myself as a pretty healthy person. I had never had surgery and I could count on one hand the amount of times I had been to an American hospital. Since moving to Korea I have suffered from migraine headaches and the newest development were cramps. After going to several doctors I found out I had a five-centimeter cyst growing on my ovary. If I left it in I would continue to deal with pain and also run the risk of having the cyst attach to other organs. So on Wednesday of last week, I went to the doctor and she booked me for surgery the following Monday. I have never been more scared in my life. I was so afraid of the anesthesia and being under and not waking up. I couldn’t eat or sleep the days leading up to the surgery. At 30 years old I was not ashamed of saying, I just wanted my mom. Through out this whole process I kept saying I am so scared, I am doing this all alone; but I realized that was the furthest thing from the truth. I saw on many levels human compassion.
Although I didn’t have anyone familiar here, I failed to realize the people I did have here. My friend Amanda who I met 8 months ago, and has gone on every hospital visit with me. This past week she showed the type of person she is. She stayed as long as she could with me the night of the surgery, kept my family up to date during the surgery, and came every night on a 2 hour train ride to visit me at the hospital for four hours. Since the surgery she has also helped with things I can’t do such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and washing my hair. My co-teacher Su Yeon, gathered transportation back and forth to the hospital, she also stayed the night of the surgery and the day of surgery. She held my hand after surgery to comfort me. She came with the Vice Principal of my school to help with my discharge and take me home. Then there was my Korean friend Catherine who I have only known for 7 months but, drove 2 hours on her day off, just to bring me lunch and hang out. The most compassion for me came from the total strangers who I met in the hospital. I was in a room with 6 other Korean women and their families. I want to thank those people, who helped me call nurses at night, helped me pick things up when they fell, helped me refill water bottles and carried my food trays when they were too heavy for me to lift. I want to thank the old Korean lady I met on the first day who came over and held my hand the day after surgery and covered my feet when I was cold. To the Husbands who not only took care of their own wives but also helped me. I wonder if I had this surgery in America would I have seen that kind of compassion from friends and stranger? Koreans are very compassionate to strangers even if they refer to us as wagooks (foreigners). When it counts they show what it means to be human. This experience was definitely the scariest thing I have every done, but it was also the most humanizing.

Whenever I travel to a new city I find myself always thinking, could I live there.  I have been to 17 different countries and I can honestly say that I could only live in 5 of those countries.  Singapore makes the list at lucky number 6.  When I started planning my trip I only booked my friend and I for 2 days and 1 night in Singapore, that was bad planning on part.  From the minute I arrived I fell in love with Singapore.  It has all my major things I look for when choosing a place to live, city feel, diverse people, cultural things to do, great weather, and proximity to the beach.  It’s easily accessible without a car and the city is very walkable.  There were tons of expats and for the most part everyone speaks English.  The only down fall to Singapore is how expensive it is.  My friend and I arrived in the early morning hours and decided to hit the ground running, we went to our hostel, 5 Stones. I highly recommend it, it was in a great location and the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable.  We got dressed and decided we wanted Indian food and to do little shopping. We walked for about 20 minutes and arrived in ” Little India” it has many restaurants and many places to shop and get beauty treatments down.

I recommend checking out little India. After a full day spent walking around we when to have drinks on, ” Haji Lane” very cute street with shops and restaurants.

The night concluded with getting dumplings at Marina Bay Sands. Another great thing about Singapore is that it has a great public transportation system.

The next day we visited China Town, the Singapore Flyer and walked along the Promenade.

Some of our day was spent getting the overnight train tickets. I recommend booking those in advance because the train station is out of the way. I enjoyed Singapore and I hope to return soon.

I used to think that I was a very patient person, upon until recently.  I have been suffering from some home sickness and I was about to make a decision based on my need to get a hug from my mom.  My brother-in-law is always telling me to see the forest and not the trees, think about the big picture.  So yesterday I sketched out a big picture version of my life and the things I want to accomplish in the next five years and all of it requires patience.  I have been battling with whether to renew my contract or not and I was thinking not to because I miss my family terribly.  When I was first doing the application process my close loved ones were all like ” don’t worry about being so far we will definitlely come and visit you,” ” I can’t wait to come to South Korea.”  fast forward 8 months later and no one is coming and no one intends to come. My mom can’t afford it, my sister is making a  big move herself so she has other priorities and everyone else has a life. So, I was about to not renew so I could be home for the holidays and spend them with my family.  Instead of looking beyond the trees at my real goals I almost gave up the opportunity that I really wanted.  Dreams and goals take time and I have to nurture them no matter how badly I want to hug my mom.  At the end of the day I don’t want to think about the coulda , shoulda, woulda. I want to say, “I did”.

So this past weekend we had a long break so my friend decided to do several day trips and check out the attractions close to home. Living in a small town in Korea you have to get creative with the places you go to visit. We decided to check out the town of Jeongseon, its attractions included a rail-bike, zip lining, a sky walk, caves and a few temples. My friend and I took a bus from our town to Jeongseon and decided our priorities would be the rail-bike, zip-lining, and the sky walk. Once we arrived at the bus terminal in Jeongseon we were told to walk down the street and at the next intersection a yellow shuttle bus will come and pick us up to take us to the sky walk and the zip lining. It was a beautiful day and a holiday as well so we had to wait about an hour in line for the sky walk. It costs about $5000 won. It was really cool and very beautiful the views were breathtaking.

They only let about 20 people on the sky walk at a time but still very cool. After the sky walk we decided to zip line. Apparently it is the longest zip line in Asia. This is not like zip lining in Costa Rica where you are just going tree to tree and can’t really see below you. This is a 300 foot drop over mountains and a river as well as some road. The feeling is exhilarating and the views are worth it.

We thought after zip lining we could go to the rail bike but unfortunately you have to have reservations. All in all if you ever find yourself in the Jeongseon county of the Gangwon-do province , Jeongseon, has some attractions that are very fun.

So this past weekend I went to Seoul to celebrate my friends birthday. Whenever we go to Seoul we go on an American food tour, and this week I decided I needed to have a burger. I have been craving a burger for a while now, so I wanted a good juicy one, you know the kind that when you bite into it the mix of mayo, ketchup and tomato juice drip down your fingers and the sauce gets in the crevices of your mouth. I was a little skeptical that I would find one that good but low and behold I did. After searching through many reviews I found a place called, “The Brooklyn Burger Joint”. Its located at the Seoul Bus Terminal Subway station, from their I just took a taxi. There are walking directions but I wouldn’t suggest doing it on your first time. The actual restaurant is very small I would say max it holds 20 people inside. When we arrived there was a wait of roughly 8 people, and I would say 8 more people came while we were waiting. I was so hungry and we were in hurry so I decided to get it to go. I ordered, “The works burger”, with a side of fries and the Oreo milkshake. Talk about heaven. The burger was soooooooooo good. It was juicy and flavorful and the fries were crispy and had the perfect salt content. The milk shake was also perfect, you would get bits of Oreo chunks that were so pleasant. I recommend everyone got to “The Brooklyn Burger Joint.”

So it’s coming down to the wire here for me soon, I am going to have to essentially, barbecue or mildew. I have to decide whether to renew my contract or not. I also have to get very serious about my GMAT preparation. There are times when I think maybe I won’t go back to school, and maybe I won’t renew my contract, but then lets look at the options there. When I went to college I decided to get a degree in Fashion Design, I am not complaining and I would not change that because I love fashion, however I have now been regulated to only get jobs that have me working as a store manager. I think I have great life experience, I have owned my own business, I have worked in the corporate world, and I have traveled. That still only allows me to work as a store manager. When I left my last job doing that same kind of work I told myself I would not go back. The long hours, the shitty customers, the pressure to constantly have your store pull in some ridiculous number that is no longer realistic in a down economy. So here would be my option if I didn’t renew, I would move back to Florida and get a job similiar to the one I left and I would fall right back into it. My sister asked me this question last night, am I deciding to renew based on fear or excitement. If its fear then no, if its excitement then yes. If I decided not to renew it would be based on fear. I fear that I am falling behind with my peers, I fear that I won’t meet a guy, I fear that my niece won’t know who I am. I am not excited to return to Florida, I am not excited to get a job doing something I don’t want to, I am not excited about dating in Florida, and I am not excited to have to make friends all over again. So I guess I have answered my own question. I will renew, I will take the GMAT and apply to Business School, I will get my yoga certification in May 2015, and I will learn Spanish and play the piano, because all of those things scare me in an exciting way.

I am not religious or heavily spiritual, but I am grateful and very thankful for my life.  And obviously I bitch and moan just like the next person, but when I see things that I am grateful for I stop and say thanks.  I don’t know who I am saying thanks to but, I still do it.  I received some bad news today about one of my cousins who was in a motorcycle accident. The sad part of this story is that I am not sure if he ever stops to say “thank you”. This is not his first time being caught in a near death situation and yet he gets back on the motorcyle, or back in the driver seat of the car and does the same thing over and over again. I always so conciously thankful for my life and overly concerned that something bad will happen, and then you have my cousin is not thankful or overly concerned. In the end it’s not my life all I can do is wish that he gains peace and to continue to be greatful for what I have.

So this weekend the gals and I decided to venture out to Samcheok, Korea.  It’s  a town located in the Gangwon province that sits along the ocean.  The thing that brought us out to Samcheok was the “Penis Park”. Yes, I said it, there is a park in Korea dedicated to phallic statues.  For a country that is very modest when it comes to sex and the dealings of men and women it was quite shocking, even in America this park would be shocking.  It was all in good fun though.  We had  a great time. The folklore about the park is actually quite nice so the park is not meant to be dirty.  Of course we were the only ones taking naughty pictures in true American fashion.  Korea has so many things to explore I am glad I was able to cross this one off my Korea bucket list.  Enjoy the tasteful pictures below.        

Train Station in Sabuk

Temple in Gohan

Temple in Gohan

Lunch with Vice Principal and his daughter. So yummy!

Just me and the gals in Seoul.

Dinner in Seoul.

The view from my apartment and it won’t stop snowing.

Walking to Sabuk.

So its been six months since I first arrived in Korea.  I think it’s crazy.  Last weekend when I was in Seoul, I had one of those holy shit moments where I said to myself, “I live in Korea.”  I am still pretty fond of Korea, the things that bothered me when I first arrived (lack of diversity)  are still the things that bother me six months later.  I still very much like it here and as time passes it starts to feel more like home, or I guess it becomes more familiar.  You have your group of friends, you have your routine, you have your teaching style established, it starts to feel less exotic and new.  The weather is finally starting to warm and the days are getting longer.  I am excited for hikes, park adventures, tea plantations and just being able to wear one sweater.  The past month, we did some day trips here and there and I had a  random day visiting a temple with my Vice Principal and his daughter. I have attached pictures so please enjoy.