these past few months.

"come a little bit closer"


summer has come and gone. fall is officially among as i have found myself needing to wear long sleeves and pants in order to sleep comfortably with open windows at night. but don't get me wrong: i love it, i love it more than you could possibly know. the fall is my favorite time of year: sunny, warm days, and cool, crisp evenings. i don't even mind those rainy, dreary, windy days. it's time to pull out those jackets, boots, and scarves(!!!!!!!!!!!). just so you know, i really can't wait until those enormous leaves start falling from the korean trees and i get to crunch through them every morning whilst listening to alvin band on my way to work, only to show up at the front of gemstar with my little kidlins decked out in their new sweaters and skinny jeans, climbing off the bus, running to me with open arms screaming, "COURT-A-NEY TEACH-AAAAA!" as if they haven't seen me for months. bliss and joy.

however, i've realized that i have yet to update you (mainly my mother), on the last few months of my summer life in the s(e)oul of asia.

first things first: i have officially made it past my one year mark, and i can hardly believe it. (can you?) though one year seems so long ago, i don't exactly know what all has happened to my time. days go quickly, which make the weeks go quickly. it always surprises me when it is time to create those monthly exams and write those monthly progress reports, as it seems as though it was not that long ago that i had to do it for the previous month. (and yes, it is that time of month again...time to scram to get all of that end-of-the-month work in!)

it seems strange to think of myself one year ago from now. i really had no expectations when arriving in seoul, because korea was a nation that i knew very little about, and asia was not a place that i ever thought i would spend a significant amount of time in. well, one year later, and i really can't imagine myself anywhere else at this time in my life. in fact, i can easily say that coming to korea, even though i knew no one at the time, was the best decision i had ever made. i remember one of my first nights in korea, in the little love motel that i was temporarily housed in just moments from my school, laying in bed awake at 5am, still on U.S. time, thinking, "where in the heck am i? what am i doing here? i feel like i am in a strange dream." keep in mind, i came to korea without knowing anyone, and it was my first time in asia, and my first time to actually live in a large metropolitan area(remember that seoul, in area, is the 2nd largest city in the world). i felt strange, yet i knew that the bubble of potential was so big that it could have burst at any given moment.

a year later, korea strangely feels like home. in fact, whenever i am away from seoul and i come back to it, a little excitement sparks in my heart as i ride along the han river, proud to be a resident of seoul. that han river at night still seems wondrous and magical. this city has become a part of me, and i am happy to know my way around it like the back of my hand. not to brag, but even some of my korean friends are a bit impressed with how well i know my way around. i guess it is credited to one of my favorite passtimes being wondering about my favorite neighborhoods on weekend afternoons.

and oh have i grown so much. it seems strange to think of myself one year ago, scared, but feeling that all the world and all possibilities were just at the tip of my fingers. i can say i am not as timid, and i am not as shy as i used to be. (though i still have those tendancies). coming to a foreign country on your own forces you to speak up. fortunately, i wasn't afraid to take advantage of opportunites when they came my way. that is the only reason why i have such the friends that i do today, and why i have such the experiences under my belt. and i must say, i think i have definitely grown as a photographer (partially in thanks to jpgmag.com...check out my profile, if you have the time http://www.jpgmag.com/people/ctess ...please and thank you!). i am more bold in my photography than i ever was before, and i am fascinated by what i see. i really want to share the wonder and beauty that seoul offers. perhaps i can get a few more people to make it to seoul because of my photographs. that would be splendid.

and here, friends, strangers, and whoever the heck else reads this blog besides my mother, is a little peek into my summer in seoul. more to come soon.

june began with the "seoul international human rights film festival." it was one of my favorite events attended this year. what's better than watching a great documentary in the cool june air whilst in the middle of the hustling, bustling city hall city center at the end of the romantic and peaceful cheonggye cheon? not much, i would say.

next, we have summer nights spent with coworkers in my neighborhood, gwangnaru/gangbyeon. this, friends, is a tile from one of my favorite restaurants in seoul. we foreigner folk like to simply refer to it as the "blue roof." in my opinion, they have the best side dishes in all of korea, and some pretty darn good galbi as well. moshisoyo! (delicious...or, in konglish, dericious!)

this is galbi, aka "korean barbecue." seriously, if i do not find a gabli restaurant to take you to when i am in illinois for those 2 weeks in october, i will be very disappointed, and my responsibility to share korean culture with you will be perceived worldwide as a failure.



a moment to be remembered. stephanie heard aaron's "mom pants" story for the first time. dale and merry had probably heard it a dozen times or so, but they still laughed as hard as ever. it is really THAT great of a story. if you remember, you must ask me to share. it's perfection.

dale is no longer with us in korea. :( apparently he has better things to do, like travel south america.

and nights at the blue roof inevitably lead to nights spent outside the local 7-11 on plastic chairs, with cheap drinks, and spicy korean snacks.

and cat joined us at some point in june! and soon after, it was already time to celebrate her birthday. so, we took her to the classiest establishment we knew of to celebrate such an occasion: the w.


matthew teacher showing his strut.

the american booooiiiiiiiz of reading town, double-a-ron (aaron) and matt, not to mention, they are my state neighbors (wisconsin! or as harris would say, "wes-CON-sin"--emphasis with high pitch on "con.")

and of course, miss stephanie (who very well could become an indian travel friend!!!!!!)

shot through the window...reflections.

just a little known fact for you: woo-bar, aka, the w, aka, walker hill, just so happens to have the LONGEST bar in korea, at, i think (but don't quote me), 19 meters. this makes me proud to be a member of the great gwangjin-gu of seoul. (ok, not really....but perhaps an interesting fact?!!?!)

and with july came impromptu salsa lessons with professional colombian dancers. now this, my friends is globalization: colombian dancers teaching in spanish, being translated into korean, and then translated into english. salsa and belly dance are all the rage in seoul right now. (in fact, one of my favorite students, jessie, takes belly dance lessons....hilarious)
shall we dance?

and the answer was.....yes, of course.

and with july also came random street wonderings/coffee drinking/people watching afternoons with my chingu (friend) mikel. luckily we stumbled upon this street performing group "sound box" after we couldn't find the gallery we were trying to find in hongdae. what makes this group is that the majority of their rhythm section comes from the tap dancing madness of the pictured man's two feet.


and that, though brief, was a summary of my summer in seoul.

over and out.

more to come.

happy birthday america.

this is how i spent my fourth of july in korea...in busan, republic of korea to be exact.


i found this gem on a side street. my tribute to america, as an expat in korea.

all summer nights should be like this:
beach. friends. sparklers. fireworks. neon.


gwangalli beach, where the evening's festivities unfolded.


no american feast. just some kimchi dupbap in the local kimbap cheonggu. (it's kind of korea's mcdonald's. they're everywhere. but, so much better than any american fastfood...mmmm...what would i do without my bibimbap, chomchi kimbap, mandu, or golgi dupbap...for reals)


these shades were originally mine. i found them for a mere o-cheonon (less than 5 bucks) at dongmyo, my favorite place in seoul...flea markets! they have made their way out for nights of dancing, but pallay just wears them like no one else can. so, they are now with him in seattle. i entrusted them to his care.


get those sparklers lit, pallay!


we are awesome. and we miss our other two counterparts: renee and kristin. we are half of the postmodern jazzpian unit. unfortunately, korea's only got one remaining member now, and that would be me.


i was just a bit more enthusiastic about lighting sparklers on the beach than anyone else. photo cred: pallay

photo cred: pallay


fun and easy photo techniques. check out that neON!


i just learned the vocabulary for this out of focus shot: bokeh. it's origins are from japan. i have been a fan and practitioner of bokeh for some time now and i didn't even know it.


this is diamond bridge. it seems to be the pride of busan.


we snuck far away from the little old men who were security on the beach that night. they were failing at keeping foreigners from lighting fireworks. what did they expect when ajumas are walking along selling fireworks on the fourth of july? i would just like to note, that we got a nod of approval from the couple on the beach blanket just to the right of those fireworks.


lady liberty, of course. photo cred: pallay


good night, busan. photo cred: pallay.

creatures of the sea.

Busan is a coastal city, and like most coastal cities, it is known for its fish, and it is especially known for its fish market: Jagalchi.

LOT-TE GI-A-ENTS-SA!

Believe it or not, they were cheering for me in this one. Foreigners are still kind of a novelty in Busan.


Ah yes, my first Korean baseball game experience, and what an experience it was. While in Busan during the beginning of July, I was fortunate enough to catch a Lotte Giant's game. (notice the title of this post...that's a song they sing to the tune of "We're Not Gonna Take It." it makes the word "giants" 4 syllables, not 2.) I've never been a sports fan, and I've especially never really been a true baseball fan (which is surprising considering the family of die-hard Cubs' fans that I come from). However, Korean baseball is different. In fact, I would argue that in Korea, going to a baseball game isn't really about the baseball. It's more about the community, the comradery, and the ridiculous things that you would never do by yourself, but because everyone's doing it, why not join in on the fun?

For example, at the end of the game, bags are passed out to everyone so they can take their trash out of the stadium. But before the trash goes into the bags, the bags go on the head. Look at that sea of orange plastic.

I join in on the fun. As my friend Ian would say, "It's culture. Soak it up." And soak is exactly what I did.

We look awesome.

Each Korean baseball teams' fans have a "thing" they do. Besides the bags on the head, the Lotte Giants fans make newspaper poms and they shake them when they sing their songs for each batter as he approaches the plate (yes, each batter has his very own song). My favorite happened to be for Garcia, the Mexican player on the team. It was "Gar-Shi-Ah-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap"



I can't wait to catch a Bears game in Seoul sometime!

and on to finer art.

living in one of the world's largest cities offers one the chance to see much in the world of art around them. seoul offers numerous galleries and exhibits EVERY day of the year.

just recently, my friends and i headed to the renoir exhibit. it was quite pleasant. i was amazed with how lifelike his paintings were for his time, not to mention the way he perfectly captured the character and mood of a person as one attempts to do today in candid photographs. i love that he didn't only paint landscapes, or traditional portraits, but he documented those happy moments in life with his beautiful paintings. perhaps i enjoyed this exhibit so much because that is exactly what i strive to do with my photography. ok, i'm no renoir by ANY means. i just hadn't seen that before in work by painters from that era. if a renoir exhibit stops by your city, i would recommend visiting.

now, if only i could say the same of the music scene here in seoul.....



coffee and tea break.



kungjke gallery...just north of insadong.

.

she must have been something in her glory days.

just this past weekend, i was strolling around the city with my new chingu (friend) mikel. we somehow made a mistake and ended up at seoul station, as opposed to city hall station (which are just a few minutes' walk away from one another). this accident though, worked in our favor. well, at least it worked in my favor considering that i am always the photo geek of the group.

at this subway stop, you find new seoul station, and right beside, the old and delipitated seoul station. just months ago, i had seen a photo exhibit in old seoul station, and i was taken aback by the photos, but i was mostly taken aback by the beauty of this forgotten and unkept building, an interesting mix of western and korean styles in architecture. i knew it must have been quite the place to go to parties if you were anyone in korean society at the time.

being curious, i went to peek my head in the window of the front door, and to my surprise (i did kind of jump), a man inside walked up and opened the door for me! i went to get my friend mikel, and we were allowed into a beautiful and empty old seoul station. i was ecstatic. i knew this building was beautiful and full of photographic opportunities, and i just so happened to have my camera.

so we wondered around a bit, and we were even interviewed by a man working for the cultural branch of the korean government. from him, we found out we weren't really supposed to be in there. it was a private tour for restoration conideration. however, they did not kick us out. they were so pleased that a few foreigners were so fascinated by this building and it's place in korean culture, that they just let us wonder around as we pleased.

and i am happy that they did. it made for much fun with light and shadow, and i was fortunate enough to have someone with me. in my opinion, people just make photos that much more interesting.

lucky we were. though we were technically at the wrong place at the wrong time, it worked out to be just the right place at the right time.

fotograms.

for as long as i can remember, i've always been fascinated by photography. i remember constantly pulling out family photo albums nearly each and every time i went to either of my grandmothers' houses. even though i had seen the photographs hundreds of times, i couldn't help but be fascinated by them each and every time i cracked open the dusty rose colored albums, always asking my grandmothers the same questions about the photographs.

even throughout elementary school, i just absolutely HAD to have a disposable camera every time i went to camp. and it was in middle school that my mom bought me my first camera, a little 35mm point and shoot minolta camera (which has long now disappeared). though at the time, i mainly used the camera to snap pictures of my friends and i being rather ridiculous, (though thinking that we were the epiotome of cool at the time, not to mention hilarious). sometimes i would use it before those jr. high dances, when you get "all-dolled-up" even though you and most of your friends are in that "awkward" phase of life when braces and acne and greasy hair seem to make their way through those layers of makeup and clothes from the local shopping mall no matter what you do. and of course, it would always comes with me on my summer adventures of camp, complete with those awkward campfire dates, and mission trips to northern minnesota. since as long as i can remember, i've just found it a necessity to have a camera with me, documenting life in some way. i especially loved capturing people.

it was also in jr. high that i began to "collect" photography. i first fell in love with black and white during this time, and those classic street photographers such as robert dosnieau and henri cartier bresson. there was a romance and nostalgia about it all that i was somehow drawn to, even at a young age. though i loved photography, i never really considered it much of a career option considering that photography just wasn't something that was offered at my small high school of 600 students.

it wasn't until i received my first digital camera, a nikon coolpix at a WHOPPING 3 megapixels, that i really began to fall in love with capturing images. and i soon realized that many people liked my photos, although, looking back now, they really weren't THAT special or that great.

it wasn't until i was 21 that i enrolled into my first photography class (though i would have jumped on it if i would have had the opportunity sooner). after the initial anxiousness of ruining that first roll of film was out of the way, i was hooked. i just knew that photography must be a part of my life in someway. that's also when i decided that i must have my very own darkroom someday, no matter how easy and convenient digital photography would get. since that first class and my first slr, i have been slowing growing my eye and my skill. i have been slowly expanding my collection of cameras, and i am definitely a self-proclaimed photo nerd. i've learned much, but i still have a long way to go.

i want to be a photographer. yes, i would call myself a photographer now, but i would love to make it a career someday. i cannot see myself as a fashion or commercial photographer. though there is much beauty and art in that medium, i must opt for that which is real. i must opt not to plan or set up my photographs, but rather to document life as it is unfolding before me. there is such beauty and mystery and humor and sadness all around, and someone must be there to make it permanent, to share with others, because within those photographs there is some truth about life. i know i still have much to learn, hence the reason i spend hours searching for the best photography program out there for me. i hope you enjoy my "work," though i must admit, i am still quite intimidated by the world of photography.

i don't know why, exactly, i am writing all of this on my blog to be shared with others. perhaps i am sharing it so i can be held accountable. this is what i want to try to do with my life, and i must not easily choose another path. perhaps my plans won't work out, but i must try, at least. and try i will.