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Home Again, Home Again

Aug 18, 2009 | | 15 Comments

Back in Korea
It sure is good to be home. Weird isnโ€™t it to think of Korea as home? But it is in many ways. Iโ€™ve now lived in our building (F Dong we call it) longer than Iโ€™ve lived anywhere else in my life. Wow. That is wild.
Each time I come back, I have all kinds of issues. Emotional stuff.
Like:
-Sigh. My own place. My own bed.
-Donโ€™t tell me we just spent nearly 90,000 won (close to $85) on a tank of gas! (we have a tiny car too)
-I miss my family! Sniffles.
-Ah, the fresh kimchi breeze of Seoul. Honest, the air smells like kimchi. Good thing I like to eat kimchi.
– Friends! Hugs and get togethers.
– Air sirens. Today was the training day for the air raids. We donโ€™t do anything at our school but in the city itโ€™s a drill of some sort. Those sirens are loud too! I have to admit it freaks me out every time even though I know itโ€™s safe here.
– Cool military stuff- When the fighter jets flew over today, Luke thought all that noise was thunder. Then he wanted to know if they were the good guys or the bad guys. I just shook my head and thought BOYS!
-Koreans- I love the Korean people!
-Do I really need to recycle EVERYTHING? Okay, so itโ€™s good for the environment. Every time I go back to the States, I cringe at how much waste there is. My only stipulation is that Doug has to do the food recycling. I donโ€™t even want to know what grows and lives in those bins.
-The food is so expensive it forces you to go on a diet. Seriously. Itโ€™s bad when we visit Hawaii and are shocked at how cheap the food is there.
-Korean food- yum! And Korean rice too. Missed that.

How about you? What do you miss the most after you go away on a long trip?

Jetlagged!

Aug 12, 2009 | | 12 Comments

Weโ€™re back in Korea safe and sound. We survived the 14 hour flight and all the driving in between, only losing 1 out of 11 bags (donโ€™t worry, we just forgot it on the conveyer belt and had to pay the fine to have it delivered to our apartment). This is what happens when you become travel weary. Counting is relative.

Our new apartment is super nice and much bigger than our last one. (Yeah!) Of course, all the boxes of our junk were a little overwhelming.
The positive of being jetlagged and waking up at 2 AM is that weโ€™ve gotten tons of unpacking done. My husband and I were on the unpacking race. How much can we get done before we have to go back to work on Tuesday?

Need 2 AM activities that antsy boys might like? Check these out:
1. Night Walks- take along a flashlight and you will discover a whole new world at this time of the night.
2. 24 hour stores- no lines!
3. Fresh Donuts- head to the grocery stores as soon as they open and get a dozen of melt-in-your-mouth donuts.
4. Star Gazing- jump into the car to a mountain top for some great star gazing (although I must say, you wonโ€™t see much if you live in one of the most populous cities in the world)
5. Call all your friends who live on the other side of the world โ€˜cause for once they will be awake when you are.
6. Eat breakfast twice and never eat dinner. (Thankfully, breakfast is my favorite meal)
7. Quiet activities- If you live in an apartment building and donโ€™t want to wake your neighbors (like when youโ€™re sword fighting, wrestling or jumping on the bed like I know you secretly do behind closed doors) then stack up on paints, playdough, and board games.
8. Sparklers- use up those leftover sparklers from 4th of July. They’re fun anytime of the year.
9. Library- My familyโ€™s favorite place to visit. We stack up on books and then we have some new nighttime reading.

Packing Up and Heading Back to Korea

Aug 5, 2009 | | 12 Comments

Has the summer already ended? NOOOOOOOOOO!

Me: (Sigh and pouting face)

But I must say I had a really relaxing summer. I read like 15 MG and YA books (Heaven!) and got all caught up chatting with family. Disney was fabulous, as always. Micky Mouse says hi BTW.

And to top it all off, it looks like we sold our house (still waiting for that signature and check in hand to actually believe it) and we bought a new house (or a slice of grass at least) that is being built.

Only bad news is I didn’t get another full revision done. I know. Very naughty. But fear not, I’ll be burning the midnight oil (actually I prefer blueberry scented candles) soon enough.

While playing around on the Internet, I found another great blog. Kidlit.com. If you’re a writer, it’s a must to check out. Great stuff there. She’s even having a contest that I have to tell you about (only because she’s making me to enter). If I had my way, I wouldn’t tell you so I’d win, win, win!

Guess what she’s giving away? FIRE by Kristin Cashore!

Dig Deep

Jul 27, 2009 | , | 9 Comments


Another insight Anne Sibley Oโ€™Brien shared with the Korea SCBWI chapter is to dig deep in our stories. She encouraged us to search our feelings on race issues and emotions that want to bury themselves deep down when living in another country/culture.

Then she asked us how it made us feel when the locals treated us differently, hated us or embraced us as one of their own. What were the reasons for them rejecting us, putting us up on a pedestal or treating us as family? Because all those dynamics are there as an expat whether we choose to realize it or not.

There are other things too. Like how do we feel when we see something done a different way or are we open to trying new things and seeing the world in new ways?

And then she challenged us to bring those emotions into our writing. Not to be afraid of them but to express them. Not to ignore them but push them out.

I hope I can do just that.

On another note, I have a winner to announce! Ellen has won a copy of Anne Sibley Oโ€™Brienโ€™s The Legend of Hong Kil Dong.

And NO! It wasn’t rigged. I’m so serious. I put all the cute notes in a hat and WOW, Ellen’s name popped up. I had to laugh because Ellen REALLY wanted this book. So maybe this is a sign of more of her dreams coming true!

Congratulations Ellen! Please email me your address to Farley dot ChristinaL @ gmail dot com so I can send you this gorgeous book.

Anne Sibley O’Brien and Korean Graphic Picture Book Contest

Jul 20, 2009 | , , | 17 Comments

I’m long overdue in blogging about my Korean SCBWI’s chapter dinner event with Anne Sibley O’Brien last month. We ate at a Korean kalbi restaurant complete with grilled beef, rice, various types of lettuce, garlic cloves, kimchi and pineapple. Yum!

A little about Anne. She is an alumni of the school that my husband and I teach at, Seoul Foreign School. Her family were missionaries here in Korea in the 1960’s until she graduated. A much different Korea than we see today.
Anne speaks fluent Korean and was a big help for us in ordering the food!

Throughout the dinner, Anne graciously answered our questions and even shared with us some of her upcoming projects like After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance and What Will You Be Sara Mee? published by Charlesbridge.

One of my son’s favorite books of hers is the tale of The Legend of Hong Kil Dong. Many of us in the Korea chapter write multi cultural fiction and Anne had some excellent insight for us. She talked about using authentic language to brings the mood and feel of the culture we are writing about. Yet at the same time, we as writers must still make the story relateable to readers of the modern culture too.

The balance is tricky: incorporating foreign words and objects of ancient cultures while capturing our modern day audience’s attention.

The fascinating part of The Legend of Hong Kil Dong is that it’s a graphic novel and one of the first of its kind. Anne explained how integral it is to have an editor excited about your projects and willing to back you up to try something innovative and new.

What an honor it was to hear Anne speak to my students as well as chat with the authors of our chapter. And because I’m so excited about her book, The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, I bought two. One for myself and one for my fellow readers on my blog!
If you’d like to enter my contest to win a copy of The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, make a comment below. If you’re a follower, you get an extra entry and if you post on your blog about this contest and Anne Sibley O’Brien, you’ll get an extra entry too!

Blast Off!

Jul 18, 2009 | | 11 Comments

One of the highlights of our summer was watching the space shuttle, Endeavour, shoot off through the clouds and up into the atmosphere.

 

We would have missed it too if Mom hadn’t called me up saying the space shuttle is taking off in ten minutes. I quickly flicked on the TV and we watched the countdown. Then one minute before the shuttle blasted off, we ran outside into the street spinning around in circles wondering which way the shuttle would come up from. We must have looked like idiots but we sure didn’t care.

 

And then we saw it, like a shooting star going the wrong way. It was a red fiery ball heading up and through a cloud and then out of sight.

 

Amazing stuff. Have you ever seen the shuttle live? Or how about when it comes back into the atmosphere and you can hear the huge sonic boom?

Traveling

Jul 3, 2009 | | 10 Comments

No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth! I’ve been traveling and visiting family and friends. I haven’t had much access to Internet so I’ve been amiss in my emailing and blogging.

Right now we’re in Orlando and having fun seeing my side of the family. It’s so nice and warm and humid here. I love it! We’ll be visiting Disney soon too. I’ll try to post pictures. And of course, I work there every summer too.

But if you’re looking for a good contest, check out Ellen’s blog where she’s giving away a beautiful Chinese book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

Bookstores!

Jun 29, 2009 | | 12 Comments

Itโ€™s been almost a year since Iโ€™ve stepped inside an American bookstore. So we went to the mall the other day, I bolted (this is when jogging comes in handy) over there.

After I passed the mountain of Twilight books (can I just say WOW!?), I found the teen section.

Huge! It was probably twice the size as the previous year. I was surprised and intrigued. I heard bookstores were expanding their YA departments, but it was great to see it in person.

I bought a stack of books of course and Iโ€™m now happily reading. And speaking of reading, any good books youโ€™d recommend I pick up while Iโ€™m here in the States?

Picture from Dreamstine

Oh How I Have Missed You

Jun 26, 2009 | | 15 Comments

Back in the good old USA, I’m finding all the good things that I’ve missed.
1. Green, green grass.
2. Blue skies and clean air
3. Peppermint Patties
4. Burgers
5. Cars and driving
6. Grocery stores!!!! Can you believe there are more than two types of salad dressings? And have you seen the cereal aisle? Man.
7. Malls
8. TV
9. Cheap prices
10. Family

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