Food and Yoga

Jeju Culinary Creations

Korean food is delicious: a variety of spicy flavors and dishes. The last few days I've enjoyed a duck galbi dinner, a Buddhist Temple vegetarian dinner, Shabbu, Shabbu - throw raw stuff into seasoned water and voila!, and seon tubu hae-jang-guk, a spicy tofu soup. But the time has come where American food returns to my tastebuds warmly welcomed. Friday night I went to a friend's house for dinner and we had bacon-wrapped potatoes with cheese and ranch dressing, steak, salad, and birthday cake with ice cream. I don't remember the last time I was able to describe a meal as truly "gut-busting." Saturday night I joined a few friends for a housewarming and to my surprise was met with homemade chili and an assortment of fresh Philipino delicacies like lumpia (spring rolls) and pork adobo. Thursday I made creamy pumpkin soup. And let's not forget good ol' homecooked breakfast...french toast, hashbrowns and tofu scramble. This is just in time for the Thanksgiving preparations soon to be underway. The only problem I forsee is that none of us have ovens....Hmmm...

Haejangguk 해장국 - it comes to your table bubbling

and most people add raw eggs (not me)

A small Korean tea 차 house

Did I mention the banana split at Ti Amo

with my language exchange friend Sin Nae?

Jeju Yoga

The demand for yoga is high on Jeju. Koreans are very interested in yoga when I mention that I practice and teach yoga and people usually ask for a lesson. Currently, I'm teaching 3-4 times a week. I've been teaching/practicing with a friend in my dorm 2-3 days a week. I teach the first-grade teachers in their English class once a week (by popular demand). And yesterday I started teaching some Buddhist women at a temple I attend in the city. Last week they invited me in for dinner and, again, implored that I teach them yoga. I happily agreed and last night we had our first half hour class. Of course, these women speak only slightly more English than I speak Korean. Fortunately, yoga is repetitive and easy to follow. They watch me most of the time and I speak slower than normal - remarkably slowly - trying to repeat phrases they can grasp. I try to throw in some Korean when I can, but I haven't done that too much yet. I'm sure we'll develop a unique Yoga-Konglish language in which we can all communicate. Surprisingly, I follow most of what they say to me and vice versa. Sometimes it's easy enough to communicate with body language, beautiful smiles, and a genuine connection. I am honored to be invited into their community and learn so much from them.

So my next challenge is teaching foreigners. I decided last month that I wanted to offer a yoga class in Shin Jeju (the new part of the city). I found through the grapevine a space available for anyone to start a club or activity. Yesterday I checked it out and set a tentative time for our first class next week. I've already have heard some feedback and the biggest challenge I forsee is the difference in schedule between the EPIK teachers (public schools) and Hagwon teachers (private language schools). I may end up teaching more than one class a week if the demand is there. As my tendancy is to overbook myself, I need to remember to keep some free time. I have weekly engagements Monday - Thursday and the weekends always fill up fast with dinners, touring the island, and catching up with friends. I'm actually remarkably busy, by choice of course. That sunrise yoga practice gets harder as the weeks go by.

American Election - a world away

My election decorations: I did a short lesson on the American election procedure

Most of the kids knew about President-
Elect Obama the election results