Nothing New...Year

The holidays have come and gone. I didn't celebrate any of them. I didn't even know which days they were except for the lack of traffic outside. My fb feed was actually confusing because of all my friends in different countries. I had to go google what day it was because I didn't know if it was Christmas today or tomorrow or yesterday.

None of that really matters to me. It's just humorous. Holidays could be good educational days but in my life and my experience, instead of encouraging more regular family get-togethers and more consideration of friends on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, holidays are the perfect rationalizations.

That being said, I didn't celebrate any and have been having quite the experience here in Mexico.

It took just over two weeks to get rid of Montezuma's revenge. The day after I got an intense migraine that took a couple of days to recover from. Now that my body seems to have stopped fighting me, lol, I've gotten back to work on my new writing career. I'd tried to use WordPress for a month and realized it didn't actually have the same possibilities that Wix does so I chose to return to Wix. In just a couple of days I'm already happier and further along than a month ago so hopefully it will be up and running by the end of the Jan.

The latest thing taking up most of my time is the return to apartment hunting. The place I'm staying is literally snowing on me everywhere except the bedroom. So I've tried to move everything uncovered into the bedroom and only live there unless I need to use the bathroom or the kitchen. It's really gross and I'm not sure the ceiling isn't raining asbestos on my belongings and food, but I don't have a test to prove or disprove it so I just live with the assumption it is. From what I read, it's likely asbestos. The landlord has told me he will have it cleaned but I don't know when that will be. The windows have been painted open since I arrived also, making it much colder in the house. Those have also been promised to be replaced or fixed but time moves a little slower and the holidays made it impossible so I've had extremely unfortunate timing in these matters.

 

 

It's still fairly cold here with nighttime temps down in the 40s. This morning I woke up to 38 degrees so definitely heater weather. Still, once the sun is out for a little while, it warms up into the 70s and is very pleasant outside.

In the last trip in my car I discovered a leak in a hose. Had fun going to Autozone to get a new one and because it was AutoZone they just did the work for me which was helpful because all my tools are in the US. The new hose and two new clamps cost me a staggering 131.80 pesos or about $7.

I've found a local panaderia where I can buy multigrain rolls and Mexican pastries for pennies. Each roll is 8 pesos. I eat way too much delicious daily baked bread now....

I also managed to find the one and only Asian market and indulged in a box of ChocoPies and have some ramen for those cold and lonely nights lol. I've also found a few Korean restaurants. Each is slightly different in their inclusions so it's a surprise each first visit but I've enjoyed them immensely none the less. It is very strange to my brain to go to a Korean place and speak Spanish, especially if I'm speaking to a Korean. In these pictures I found a Korean restaurant that has Korean style tables. Well, almost lol. They have floor chairs instead of just cushions and you keep your shoes on instead of removing them at the restaurant entrance, but it's pretty close and I enjoyed it.

All in all, now that my body is back to potential work out status, I'm enjoying discovering the possibilities in Mexico. Sometimes it's still really tough and much nicer to stay in my bedroom watching football on my ipad and eating ramen than dealing with my brain switching to Spanish, but it's getting easier as the days progress and by the time I return to the States my English will probably be just as bad as the other times I've moved to foreign countries. I think they call this total immersion!

Happy Notes

There are little victories I've been having and I wish to share some of them with you.


Today I successfully used a Korean search engine to find an address of a Korean business and then input the address in Korean into the Korean equivalent of google maps, find another location to start from in Korean and searched for a walking route. I didn't use a translator or ask a Korean for help. It took me half an hour but I did it all on my own and all in Korean!


I'm making Korean friends here of course and some of the time it's hard getting my point across in English. Recently I had this problem and decided to try to text in Korean. The first text I sent I translated myself with words I know already. The second text was moored complex so I just used google translate. Come to find out, my Korean friend understood my text, but not the google translate text.


Woot! It's the little victories that matter the most sometime.


It's so encouraging to know my Korean studies are improving enough I can now communicate in the smallest way and also successfully use Naver, the Korean google. By no means can I read Korean websites easily and I still spend a lot of time translating websites and sometimes it's impossible, but it's getting better and that makes me happy  :-)


After living here for almost 4 months I've acquired a couple friends in town now. One is a nice lady that owns a bakery and every time I come in she gives me something for free or discounts my purchase. She is so sweet and speaks no English. It's still scary trying to talk in Korean, but I'm starting to repeat prices and quantities back to her and she is always so happy when I speak in her language.


I am making good friends with the girl swimmers. It is so nice. They are always asking me how to say something in English or asking me what a word in English means. I help them every time and laugh with them when they mispronounce words or struggle with certain sounds. They get frustrated, as we all do, when learning a new language, but they are happy to have someone to help them and that makes me happy  :-)


I discovered a new health food (new to me), black rice. It's more nutritious than its cousins and quite tasty and easy to cook, AND they sell it here. I now eat one meal of black rice with a sliced banana and seeds and nuts all mixed together. It may sounds weird, but it's actually really good. AND dare I say healthy? You can read more about black rice and its health benefits here.

http://food.ninemsn.com/sunrice/8643694/black-beauty

http://food.ninemsn.com/sunrice/8643694/black-beauty

The citrus season is almost here. One of the things Jeju is known for is its citrus fruit. And lucky me, I've made a friend at Aqua Planet whose family owns and operates one if these citrus farms and he is going to sell/give me citrus fruit for the winter. Yea! Happy Ronda :-)

I've been practicing nightly at Aqua Planet and recently I heard a buzz. So I went hunting for the source of the buzz and discovered I have two seams open on my violin. Doh. Bad news. This caused me to stop practicing in the super wet environment of course, but also lead me to have absolutely no place to practice. This is when I enlisted the help of a friend at Aqua Planet after realizing I wasn't getting help elsewhere. I begged for help to find a new home to practice any time I wanted (within reason of course) and that was dry or where I could at least buy a humidifier. My friend searched and searched and every affordable place was quiet only or was willing to only have one hour of practice in the morning. Of course that's better than nothing, but I do my best practicing at night when I'm more awake as a musician. I kept pushing and my friend kept looking and we finally found a dry and fully furnished "apartment" where I can practice to my heart's content and that is within walking distance of work since I don't have a car or bicycle. Granted, the price is half my salary, but for my career, it's worth it. My sanity as well, I should point out, will greatly benefit from a place to regularly practice since there are many things in Korea that I struggle with and playing my violin helps to sooth my heart and soul.




One other super happy Ronda face is from the care packages from friends :)  Having no winter clothes or shoes and wishing for some American products, friends have come through and mailed me stuffed boxes full of goodies from home. I now have clothes to wear so I won't freeze and natural products that will keep my skin happy and their owner too!

HAPPY RONDA FACE

Hangul + lots of Korean food and fun equals Happiness :)

At least Hangul equals happiness if you live in Korea and want to eat, drink, and just live life. You'll see later in the post that I've been practicing! But first, there are many things I've wanted to share recently and just haven't had the time.

Despite the fact I haven't yet had a day off from performing and the issues that are still to be dealt with regarding the show, I'm having an amazing time and I'm so glad to be here.

To prove it...

Another traditional Korean meal. They are soooo tasty! I love the fish and the rice and the soup and I like almost all the side dishes. I've tried one I absolutely don't like and I'm still not a huge fan of kimchi, but I eat it. 

This is the girl that performs every day in the animal show. During the show she does a workout routine and finds a boyfriend in the crowd because she's so SEXY! It's actually hilarious :-D

There's been tasty meals of super duper hot and spicy chicken with salad and noodles and rice and egg souffles and other things I can't remember. Btw, when I say spicy, I mean I cry crocodile tears and my nose runs and I start panting like an overheated puppy dog. Yet it tastes so good I can't stop putting the chicken bites in my mouth. Torture it is, torture!

The remains of some of the pajeon and the last giant prawn awaits my taste buds. He was so big and good looking I had to take a picture before I pulled him apart to devour!!

This is backstage where I walk every day many times back and forth for the shows. And yes, the dolphins are always there to greet me and click and squeal and swim beside me as I run to and from the stage doors. 

Here we all went out for a big Korean meal. There was fish and pork and pajeon (Korean pancake) and of course all the side dishes and appetizers they serve at traditional restaurants. You definitely never leave without being quite full!

And here they give you plastic gloves to eat chicken wings instead of wet wipes like in America. It's a bit weird trying to eat chicken wings with a glove on one hand and using chopsticks in the other. I made the mistake of putting the glove on my right hand so I had to try and use the chopsticks with my left. I ended up using my soup spoon frequently during that meal....

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In addition to the many many many food parties and such, I've managed to squeeze in some Korean studies.

I've found a friend at the aquarium who is willing to teach me in addition to my book studies. Mainly because every time I would try saying a new phrase, he would say, "No, no, we don't say that. We say this", so now I'm taking lessons 5 days a week and studying hard!

I've learned 95% of the Korean hangul alphabet and can sound out nearly every sign I see, although I have no idea what I'm saying! Right now I'm focusing on grammar and trying to understand how Koreans put sentences together and what the structure of the language is. Then I will start adding more vocabulary. I can't wait till I can start saying more than 감사합니다 (thank you) or 안녕하세요 (hello) and start saying sentences. I can say a few, but very few. Once I learn the grammar I can start adding vocabulary by forming sentences or asking one of the few sentences I do know, "그것은 무엇인가?"(What is it?) I can actually write in Korean on my laptop, but I can't remember which key is what character so it's useless till I can get stickers or a silver sharpie to write on the keys.

Life is good. I have new friends, am making more friends, getting lots of exercise, getting lots of mosquito bites..., eating delicious food, learning a new language, playing violin everyday, playing with dolphins between shows, opening my eyes to a whole new world. Hmm, I feel like Jasmine from Aladdin all of a sudden.

I'm working on a video post of the dolphins and also some of the fish in the aquarium, but I don't have lots of time that I spend in front of my computer these days so it wil be a little while yet. 

Right now it's work work work work, then party party party, then work work work work. Somehow I managed to find some semblance of ship life here on land. Amazing :)

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disclaimer: It appears that typing in Korean really messes up the html on Blogger. I tried fixing it many times, but it all appears normal in the edit box so I apologize for my ineptness at figuring out the problem.

The journey continues...

It has been a seemingly endless time of travel from the USA to Jeju, South Korea. I can't remember how long ago I began this journey, whether in days or hours.

The good news is that I made it to my final destination. Where is that? Some place google maps hasn't been :)

It's interesting that I'm not jet lagged at all. It seems my body is naturally on the Orients time zone. No wonder I have such difficulty in the USA!

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Now on to the story of my excessively long journey...

It all started in a small town outside of Nashville.

A very good friend lives there and I was visiting for a short time when I got an email confirming a position for a job in South Korea I had previously applied for. Yipee! But now the details.

I had to drive to Chicago to submit my application for a visa.

1st day: 8 hrs driving to South Bend IN to stay overnight
2nd day: 6 hrs driving to and from and around Chicago to go to the consulate for 1/2 hr (thankful             for the short wait time) business.
3rd day: 9 hrs driving return trip to town outside Nashville. Why longer than the previous trip you ask? Unfortunately that journey was plagued with accidents, road construction, and endless heavy traffic. In addition to that trip there was also 2+ hrs of driving home for a concert I attended that night in Nashville.
4th day: pack and relax, whew
5th day: pack more and anxiously worry about not having a flight to Korea
6th day: pack pack pack and frantically pack all day after receiving flight info late last night
7th day: up at 6 a.m. to fly from Nashville to Chicago. Arrive in Chicago, wait for ride, go to stores to waste time until appointment at consulate late afternoon. Receive visa, book hotel for remaining 12 hrs in Chicago. Drive 2 hrs to hotel (rush hour traffic), go get first meal since leaving for Nashville at 7 a.m., then wander through more stores for last minute items before crashing for a couple hours.
8th day: Wake up at 2:30 a.m. to go to airport. Drive half hour to airport, wait in line one hour, say good bye, wait in more lines, then sit in ORD for over 3 hours while the weather outside causes delays.

SHORT STORY INTERJECTION ~ Outside of the fact I only wanted to go to sleep and was therefore not eating or trying to be awake, I had a woman who was so enthralled about my violin that after much begging on her end I finally pulled it out and serenaded the stranded crowd that had gathered (literally filling every seat and more floor space around me). I was so tired that I messed up the first Bach piece I played, but then a little girl sitting on mama's lap was so enraptured that I went over and played Twinkle Twinkle for her while her mama sang. She never took her eyes off me. Then I played one more Bach tune, which I successfully completed and put away the instrument. People clapped. I tried to play quietly with a practice mute. Someone took a video. (If you find it please let me know). And because I wanted nothing but to sleep I turned down payment offers of coffee, breakfast, and snacks from Starbucks. If I'd been awake the  experience would have been far more gratifying I think, but it was good none the less.

After the impromptu half asleep performance we finally started to board the plane. The priority people got on and then they had to delay boarding some more for the lightening. Once we finally all got on the plane I passed out. The doors weren't even closed before my eyes were shut. That is typical for me. What's not typical is waking up a couple hours later, looking out the window, and seeing the runway right outside. We hadn't left yet. Still waiting for a break in the weather, we were stuck on the tarmac for over 2 hours. When it was almost time to turn back and deplane we finally got the all clear and took off for San Francisco. I knew there was no way I'd make my connecting flight to Seoul and I'd had the good fortune of meeting someone in Chicago who was also going to Seoul on the same flights as me, so we were sticking together. While I'd been sleeping, he'd been calling United and asking about future flights and rebooking himself on a potential flight we might be able to catch. He gave me the number and flight information and I called United and had them change my flight as well. It was nice to know I had a confirmed seat once I got to San Francisco. Unfortunately though, we would miss the two direct flights to Seoul that day so this flight was to Toyko and then to Seoul. Still, we would hopefully make it.

After a successful flight to San Francisco, that was just a little long, we landed at quarter past the hour. The flight to Toyko was schedule to leave at twenty till the next hour. (I'd lost track of what hour I was in at this point). We got excited thinking we could run through the airport and make this flight, but as we taxied up the tarmac we were informed that there was no gate for us so we would have to wait 10 or 15 minutes for one to open. SERIOUSLY??? Since both my travel buddy and I were seated at the back of the plane we didn't have much hope of making the Toyko flight anymore and he could sprint through the airport but I had two violins strapped to my back and a heavy rolling carry on so jogging was barely possible. At half past the hour we pulled into the gate and by twenty five till the next hour we were off the plane. My travel buddy was off much sooner than I and he said he would stall for me. So after I got off the plane, off I went jogging through the airport. (Yes, it is possible to jog with two violins strapped to your back, a heavy carry on behind you and a pillow and teddy bear in your arms). After multiple escalator rides that seemed to take forever because I couldn't pick up the carry on and run up or down the steps, and several upset passengers who didn't see me coming, I finally arrived at the gate for the next plane.

Let me say here, thank technology for the ability to look up flights and gates so I didn't have to waste time doing that or finding someone to ask once I got in the airport.

I got my printed ticket and headed onto the plane. I wasn't the last one. They were kindly waiting for several passengers trying to make the flight from other delays as well, so we were about 20 minutes late or so closing the doors.

My delays were not over yet. Turns out there was only one working runway at SFO so we had to wait and wait on the tarmac for clearance. We finally turned onto the runway only to be told to GET OFF because another plane was coming in so we rerouted back around to the line again. Ugh.

We finally took off for Toyko though and I was awake, sweaty, hungry, thirsty. I'd not eaten all morning as I'd planned on having breakfast in San Francisco. Well, that obviously didn't happen so I was famished. Most of you know by now that I'm a fresh eater and tend to the vegetarian side of the scale. Well, when you're hungry, you eat what they offer, which was processed chicken and rice and wheat buns and stale salad with one wedge of tomato. That was the first meal, and the second was a ham and "cheese" sandwich on a white bun with vanilla ice cream. (I don't eat lactose much either). Then breakfast was a "meat" patty, "cheese" omelette and some broccoli quiche thing. By the time I ate the ice cream I was nauseous and came very very close to throwing up but managed to calm myself down. Once breakfast came along I only ate the quiche and I could barely manage that.

I didn't sleep much on that flight because I was stuck in the economy section in a middle seat. Not much you can do there. I watched one movie, Mame, a couple random tv episodes and spent the rest of my time trying to sleep or not trying to puke.

Day 9: We arrived safely in Tokyo and my travel buddy and I walked to the next security point to get to our connecting flight to Seoul. (In Toyko, you have to go through security when you're transferring flights). I went to get my passport and flight ticket out of my jacket pocket only to discover they weren't there! When I had boarded the plane I'd been so frantic and harried that I couldn't remember what I'd done with them. I unpacked my jacket, and the violin case top (which I thought were the only things I'd opened in the plane), but to no avail. So I hurried back through the airport to the gate of the plane I'd just left and asked if they would go search my seat to see if the documents had fallen out of my jacket pocket onto the floor during flight. While they were searching I opened my suitcase and dug through everything. Luckily, I found them. They had slide into my laptop when I had apparently stuffed them in the outer pocket of my carry on while I was running onto the plane.

Thankfully, I rushed back to the security check point, breezed through and located my next gate. I was so early I even had time to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, sign on the the free wifi and email my employer picking me up in Seoul that I was on my way. LUXURY :)

The flight to Seoul was thankfully uneventful. I watched Singing in the Rain and was stuck in a middle seat again. This time they served a white bread half sandwich with "meat", "cheese", and "egg". I ate it gratefully since it had been a while since the quiche thing.

I arrived in Seoul to discover (not unsurprisingly) that my luggage had not. So I went to the United counter and described my luggage and filled out a form and gave them a phone number of someone to reach to send me my luggage since I still don't have the exact address where I'm staying.

After that was all done I went through customs and immigration and headed out of the airport to find my ride. Although he didn't speak English, he was very nice and helpful and I would write things into his iPad translator (thank technology again!) and he would nod that he understood.

Since I arrived in Seoul so late that night (I think it was after 9 p.m.) he was instructed to get me a hotel room and have me fly to Jeju the next morning. So we drove about a half hour to the hotel (which was interesting and pictures will be posted to google+ later) and I crawled into bed at midnight. The bed was the hardest bed I've ever attempted sleep on and with my cell phone dead and my outlet converter not suitable for the plugs I barely closed my eyes fearing I would not wake up for my ride.

Day 10: 4 hours later I was dressed (in the same clothes) after a shower and ready to go to the airport. We went to Gimpy airport instead of Incheon (which I'd flown into) and I got my ticket and said good bye to my driver. Then I walked through the pleasantly small airport with a half hour to spare :) Purchased a strawberry and banana smoothie at a cafe (boy was that good!) and waited for my flight.

The short flight to Jeju was nice and I finally had a window seat, although I didn't use it because the flight wasn't even an hour long. Deplaned, picked up my carry on from the luggage carousel and called my boss to say I'd arrived. A taxi was sent for me within 10 minutes and off to my new apartment I went. It took about 45 minutes of driving and I enjoyed watching the scenery as it went by. It was weird that the taxi monitor read that I owed him 35000 won and all I'd been given for the ride was 20000. I was worried, but when I handed it to him with a look of concern he said it was all right. I don't understand how that worked. But I'm happy it did.

The apartment is nice. HUGE compared to a cruise ship crew cabin (pictures will be uploaded to google+ later). After a nice nap, my boss picked me up and we drove to the aquarium where I was shown the tour, saw part of a show, had a meeting with the director, met the synchronized swimmers and the aerialist, ate lunch (?) in the aquarium's cafe, and then went to choreography where we watched a video of the show with our choreography, then mapped it on the floor to the music with direction, then remapped it on the floor without direction. Today we run it on the stage.

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My luggage is still lost. I am trying to learn my music by ear from recordings. I still can't remember enough Korean words to communicate. Haven't been to a grocery store so I'm hungry right now.

BUT, everyone is very kind. My boss bought me a towel to take a shower (although I can't get the hot water to turn on so I'm waiting it out for now). Everyone is very friendly and helpful with my lack of Korean or Russian. (I'm the only one that speaks fluent English so the Korean management talks through a translator, my roommate, and she speaks in Russian to the swimmers and aerialist. Occasionally someone will clue me in with a few words as to what is going on.) The one meal I've had was quite tasty. I live within walking distance of the aquarium. There is free wifi at the apartment and in the office at the aquarium!

I MADE IT!!  I'M IN JEJU!!

I'll write more about the aquarium and the island with pictures later. For now, this is just the update of my travels to get here. I think that is quite enough too :-)