Gifts from My Students

I have received so many gifts from my wonderful students---three today alone! I have learned not to compliment my female students on a piece of jewelry; when I did so last week, one young woman took off her necklace and insisted on giving it to me! I received a pair of earrings today from a professor who had been wearing a similar pair the first day I met her. She had had a friend search all over Baghdad for a similar pair. I also received a cell-phone charm from a student and a bead-necklace from the Iraqi rug salesman who has a shop near the dining hall. You have to watch out for those rug salesman!

Really, the generosity and appreciation we receive every day make any inconvenience---even risk---we experience completely worth it.

My Students are a Teacher's Dream

I cannot say enough good things about my Iraqi students. They definitely make this trip worthwhile. Of course, since the students come to class each day at the cost of great risk and personal sacrifice, I get the most dedicated and enthusiastic of all who were invited to come.

I am teaching the undergraduate students of 10 Iraqi English professors from the University of Baghdad. Most of my students are preparing to teach in Iraqi secondary schools; some hope to find work as interpreters. They are so appreciative of us for coming here, and so anxious to learn. They are so excited to have the chance to speak to native-English-speakers for the first time.

I received this e-mail from one of the professors today: "thanks for you very much lady i prsonally do thank you for ur efforts and for ur courage as well as i do thank the great sacrifices done by your army in liberating us from a tyrant dear lady i am happy to work with u hope we can exchange more ideas about our classes."

I'm glad to hear that SOMEONE was happy that our army came to Iraq! This letter is typical of the attitude of the Iraqis I have met so far. It is such a pleasure to work with them!

My Tribe

Everyone who knows me knows what a people-person I am. Ever since I began living outside the U.S. in 2005, I have talked about how isolated we are as Americans---all of us living in our individual bubbles, driving around in our individual cars. You don't see people walking on the streets, taking the bus (at least I don't), chatting in tea houses. If you go into Starbucks, everyone is staring at his or her own computer screen or talking on the phone!

Well, I've hit the jackpot here. The other eight teachers and I who are working on the English program together live in large rooms, with individual bathrooms, on the second floor of one of the old hotels here in the compound.

I don't even come close to most of the other teachers in the number and variety of places I've taught. Kathy, a woman about my age, just finished a contract in December in Kabul, Afghanistan. She said she was able to travel fairly freely throughout the city, although she did dress according to local custom (scarf and long coat, not a burqa) and knew which areas to avoid. Another teacher, Ann, lives in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where she and her husband teach at the university. Kent has taught throughout Central and South America, including five visits to Cuba, and John just spent two years in the Republic of Georgia followed by a year in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Among the nine of us, one is married to an Egyptian Jew, one to a Yemeni man and another to a man from Cape Verde, and a fourth to a woman from the Phillipines, while I, of course, am married to a Turk. I have found my people, you could say: men and women who don't think my life is weird or that I'm crazy. How wonderful!

Lotus Blossoms and Scholar Flowers

I'm not a very good blogger, not like my daughter Kristina who posts several times a week(Pulsipher Predilections.) I'm not nearly as entertaining as she is, either, but I have fun putting up pictures about my travels. I had a great weekend going to Ulsan, on the southeast coast of Korea, courtesy of the U.S. Embassy. They sponsored me to give two workshops for high school English teachers. I really enjoyed meeting the teachers, and they were very interested and involved. The director was very kind and welcoming, as hospitable as my friends in Turkey, which is saying quite a bit. She took me out to lunch, giving me a choice of chicken or dog soup, both of which, she assured me, are very healthy and good to eat in the summer. She also made it clear that the dogs they use for soup are specially raised for that purpose, they're not people's pets. I chose chicken anyway. Their was a small whole chicken in the bowl, so I am sure it really WAS chicken.
I'm going to write more soon about my overnight stay at a Buddhist temple on Saturday night, but for now I'm putting up these pictures of flowers. The "scholar flowers" are called that because traditionally they could only be grown by government officials who had passed the civil service exam and, thus, were scholars. The lotus fields were in the middle of a city about 30 miles from Ulsan called Gyongju. Aren't they gorgeous?

Mom, I know I told you I wouldn't go to North Korea, but...

Is it just a coincidence that only a few days after I visited the DMZ, North Korea agreed to stop producing nuclear weapons? I leave it to you to decide. Okay, so I only went 3 feet into North Korea, surrounded by U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers and two busloads of other tourists. Still, I can say I was there! I went on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) sponsored by the USO. When I hear USO I think of WWII or Bob Hope, but the organization is alive and well and continuing to serve soldiers overseas. There were two buses full of tourists from the U.S., U.K., Australia, and assorted nationals from other countries, including a beautiful young Serbian photographer I sat next to at lunch. We drove about 45 minutes north of Seoul to Panmunjom, where the armistice suspending the war between North and South Korea was signed in 1953. It is the most heavily-defended border in the world. The pictures are of the buildings that house the negotiating teams for each side when they meet; the table with the ROK soldier standing at its head is where the main talks take place. I am pictured standing next to another ROK soldier, who is in a taekwondo semi-alert stance, on the North Korean side of the building. The other pictures are of the buildings---the blue are owned by U.N. forces, the gray by North Korea. The guard tower is also North Korean. The guy looking through the binoculars at us is a North Korean guard. He alternated between staring at us and ducking behind the pillar, out of sight. The other two NK soldiers would stroll to the limits of their boundary and then stroll back. The tourists would get excited and start taking pictures. It reminded me of bear sightings at Yellowstone. The town is in NK and boasts the biggest flag in the world; it weighs 600 pounds and requires 50 men to bring it down. The soldier who gave us our "briefing" said that Soldier of Fortune magazine has offered a million dollars to anyone who can bring back a 3 foot square piece of that flag. The bridge is called "The Bridge of No Return," used by soldiers in 1953 to return to either the north or the south.

A day in Seoul

A few weeks ago I spent the day with my friend Jackie as tour guide. We went to the Korean National Museum, where the pagoda is located, on a cruise on the Han River, which divides Seoul between north and south, and to the 63 building, so named for its 63 stories, the tallest in Korea. The building with the green dome is the Korean Legislature, whose session has been delayed by all of the protestors who gather nightly to demonstrate against importing American beef.

Seoul has many beautiful parks. We got off the cruise at Youido Park. It used to be the site of a water treatment facility, but it's been turned into a lovely park, with a footbridge built over the street. We could also see the park that runs all alongside the Han River. Jackie pointed out to me another park across the river, where there used to be two landfills. We Americans could learn a lot from Korea, whose citizens are VERY environmentally conscious. In fact, the biggest surprise the Korean teachers who visited ASU had was the way Americans throw garbage away together, without sorting it. Koreans have different trash bins for everything, which is then carefully recycled.

Hwasong Fortress and its Princess

I was invited by Brian, a salesman in the office where I work, and his wife Kirsten, an English teacher, to visit them in Suwon, a suburb of Seoul about an hour away by subway. May I just add here how terrific the public transportation system is here? There are six different lines that cover the whole city and its environs, and a ride costs between 1000 won (about $1) and 1500 won--only $1.50 to travel an hour to Suwon.

We visited Hwasong Fortress, built in the 1780's with its great wall, almost 16 kilometers around, complete with watchtowers. Visitors are allowed to ring the great bell at a cost of 1000 won. The first time you toll the bell it is to honor your parents, the second time, to bring prosperity and health to your family, and the third time is to make your personal wishes come true. It was easy to keep my mom and dad and the rest of my family in mind as I swung the huge mallet to hit the bell. The sound was awesome! It's deep gong sound reverberated for at least 2 minutes.

We also visited the palace, which King Jongjo built "as an act of filial devotion", according to the guidebook, to honor the memory of his father and for his mother's 60th birthday. There are 3 important milestones in a Korean person's life: reaching 100 days, their first birthday, and their 60th birthday. Hundreds of years ago, achieving these ages was not taken for granted and was cause for celebration.

Selin, 19 months old, was the little princess of the palace. She insisted on getting out of her stroller and walking almost everywhere we went; of course she promptly fell into a deep sleep as soon as we got back to the car.