The Sunday Night Costco Frenzy

Two Sundays ago after church, Craig and I took a risk and ventured through Sunday traffic for our semester 2 Costco run. Such a decision could be considered suicide to some, but afraid of beginning yet another week with an empty fridge and no fixings for our favorite dishes, we grabbed each other's hands and swore that we wouldn't leave the other behind.

It was not a good sign to have to wait in traffic one block away from Costco with the traffic officer walking around with a sign saying, "Costco Parking Full". As we slowly inched closer, we decided to employ the divide-and-conquer method; Craig grabbed our shopping bags and rushed the front entrance. Twenty minutes later, the parking attendant waved in Rocky (our car), and we secured a parking space. I checked my phone to see Craig's ominous message: "It is CRAZY in here."

"Oh, dear," I thought, picturing Craig like a pinball with the shopping cart, constantly cut-off by countless oblivious shoppers from the front, left, right, and from behind, bumping into his cart, running their carts into him, or, heaven forbid, grabbing the last tub of Skippy peanut butter from under his nose! "I must find him!"

Riding the escalator down to the main floor, I gasped at the sight of mayhem, not unlike a Where's Waldo puzzle - checkout lines oozing shoppers and carts all the way past the vitamin aisles, raids on the free sample tables, kids running wild, lines in the meat section waiting for bulgogi samples. And Craig... taking a break in the corner near the seafood, breathing deeply to calm the vein popping in his forehead.

No longer divided, we went into emergency grab-what-you-can mode - with Craig keeping our cart afloat amidst the sea of groceries and bodies, I weaved in and out, around, between, first to the cereals and breads, dropped them off, then back to the meat section, then the dairy, followed by the nuts and chips section. Together we then forged through the frozen foods, and ahead to the check-out. Like a well-oiled machine, I waited in line and paid for the groceries while Craig disappeared to the frenetic take-out food counter to pick up our dinner.

With a swipe of the highlighter, we were thankfully "approved" for the escalator, bypassing the elevator lines.

"We did it, Craig! We OWNED Sunday afternoon Costco! What a team!" Tears of joy and a record-time 1 hour and 20 minutes. Next week's challenge: the train station on a Saturday morning. The Gordons will OWN that, too!

El Chaltén - Leg 4

El Chaltén is my kind of destination - no crazy traffic, pollution, congestion, crowded sidewalks. Founded in 1985 to settle land disputes with Chile, the population is a mere 600 in the off-season, and 1600 in the high season, while we were there. The small, simple cottage-style homes and shops keep it real, with the people of Buenos Aires choosing Calafate, the larger, more populated city 2 hours south of El Chaltén, as their vacation spot. Fine with me! El Chaltén has still managed to maintain its charm; it seems to be reserved for the hard-core trekkers, rock climbers, and people who can´t sit still - like us!
4:30am - arrived by bus to El Chaltén
5-6am - watched the sun rise over the cliffs and hills surrounding the town and illuminate the peaks with a pinkish tint
7am - eat a yummy breakfast
10:30-1:30pm - Rosario drove us out to her family´s estancia (ranch), where we met our 4-legged galloping friends, Sandy, Obelique, and Gan, and our guide, Rubén. A beautiful sunny day, and no broken necks despite our failed efforts to suppress our laughter. This made it very difficult to stay on the horse, but we managed.
1:30-4pm - met Rosario´s husband, eldest daughter, Rocío, and youngest daughter, Pilar, with whom we visited and asked cultural questions while they grilled our dinner of lamb on an open spit.
Returned to town, and I crashed for most of the rest of the evening!



New Year´s Eve: More relaxing day that included massages for Kir and me, naps, journaling, and sharing mate with a couple people in our backpackers common area. Dinner with Karina, then a New Year´s Eve party in a barn outside of town, complete with live local ska bands, balloons, a disco ball, and LOTS of people.

New Year´s Day: 3 hours of sleep, followed by a 14-hour hike including a zipline across a river, a Torre Glacier hike with cramp-ons, and even a 30-ft. glacier climb!


I was sad to say goodbye to El Chaltén early the next morning, partly because it reminded me of home (except that my hometown is not surrounded by majestic mountains, peaks, cliffs, and towered over by glaciers), and partly because we had yet to catch up on our sleep since 2009 (the 31st, that is). However, it would be a few days before we would have a chance to refill on rest.

Pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23065175@N02/sets/72157623311318808/

The Looong Road to Patagonia

For some reason, one of my favorite parts of traveling has been the public transport, like the numerous overnight hard sleeper train rides in China. "Why would you love the neck cramps and lack of leg room, Christie?" Everyone has a destination, a mystery, experiences and adventures from their preceding legs of their journey, a purpose, a personality, an outlook, an attitude, and over extended the hours, one learns these things - or imagines them - about those around them.

In Argentina, our chosen mode of travel: the bus, or omnibus, as they are called in Argentina. Bariloche to El Chaltén, 1200km, or 750 miles, 30 hours, not counting our unexpected 5-hour "layover" in the Perito Moreno bus station. While researching transportation options from Korea, I called TAQSA and encountered a less-than-pleasant agent who I found was telling the truth when I asked her questions about the seats:

"What are the chairs like?" "Plastic."
"Do they recline?" "A little bit."

Short, sweet, and not exaggerated, either way.

When we boarded the bus at 9pm, I began the trip with an uneasy feeling, mainly due to the imposing sign that said "Do not take your shoes off of your feet." Seriously?! OK, maybe it was for our best interests, here in our tight accomodations in which we were chained for the next 30 hours, more or less, but come on! I felt like a prisoner inside as we arrived at about 11:30pm at a gas station in the next town and I gazed at freedom through the fogged glass, where one of our drivers seemed overly cheery in signaling back to me that I could not get off the bus. About 15 minutes later we stopped at a restaurant... now, why couldn't he have indicated that before I used the bus bathroom in the dark??

The next morning when we stopped at another town at 6am for breakfast, the bus drivers, our fellow passengers, everything looked brighter. In fact, later on while camping out in the Perito Moreno bus station for 5 hours, we actually engaged our bus driver in a game of Hearts amidst the backpackers, packs, and luggage.

On our bathroom break in Bajo Caracoles, population about 50, we met the shopkeeper and Jorge, the mechanic, who was a pleasant older man to talk to for a portion of our time there. Mechanics would be critical in an area where very few cars pass. EArly on in our trip, actually, we stopped and a group of passengers helped the drivers push another car until it started again for its two occupants.



So, why 30 hours? Well, about 2/3 of the trip was on gravel road, which lulled me to sleep quite well, to the annoyance of Kirstin and Stephanie. After the spectacular sunset over the nothing, ruled by sheep and wild guanacos, camelid animals that reminded me of deer, 4:30am crept up and before we knew it, we were in El Chalten.


For more photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23065175@N02/sets/72157623280723046/

Spanish teachers in South America - Leg 2: The Road to Bariloche

Christmas Day enroute to Bariloche: Across the flat green plains and past the families celebrating the holiday in their swimmers and across the flat barren Pampas and under the full rainbow and over the extensive blue glacier lake and up and down hills, 20 hours west and south of Buenos Aires (deeeeeep gasp of air), to BARILOCHE we go!

That's right, and we sang Christmas carols, or "villancicos", all the way!... OK, although believable for me, I promise I DID NOT sing all the way - could you imagine how much longer it would take to walk to Bariloche? And I would have missed out on the view from my front row second-floor the snack, lunch, and breakfast of crackers and jam and dulce de leche and spreadable cheese. (Actually, we were very fortunate to be served on this bus trip.)

So, what did we do upon arrival at 11am to the porteño's (residents of Buenos Aires) favorite vacation spot?? Well, first we asked ourselves, "Did this bus spread its wings and fly to Austria or Switzerland while we were sleeping?" due to the chalet-like buildings and cottages. Then we cabbed it to our homey Greenhouse Hostel. THEN we enjoyed a scrumptious belated Christmas Eve dinner - for Dec. 26 lunch. Trout, steak, grilled veggies (very welcome after all of the bus crackers and bread) in a restaurant all to ourselves, overlooking the rough blue and white waters of Lake Nahuapi and the Andes Mountains on the opposite shore.

On a hike to a waterfall and lookout, we befriended Tamara (Jordanian working in Madrid) and Betina (porteña) and dined with them that night. Dec. 27, my first rafting trip, down the Lower Manso River with a boatload (two, actually) of New Yorkers, Canadians, twin Aussie brothers, a Dutchman, and an Argentine-born Korean, too! Argentina is truly a country of immigrants, just like the U.S. Rafting was great - except, am I supposed to keep my eyes open when we hit the rapids?? I struggled with that, but I kept rowing, no worries!

The next day was our running/relaxing/walking/self-guided chocolate tour/people watching day. Among the people we watched were many, MANY stray dogs napping in doorways and squares, people selling pictures with their Saint Bernards, and dozens of different student groups sporting matching attire while celebrating graduation with the customary trip to Bariloche. That night: the mother of all bus trips - 30 hours from Bariloche to El Chalten. "Christie, how could a bus trip possibly last 30 hours??" Stay tuned: my pictures in the next segment will explain!

More pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23065175@N02/sets/72157623102722981/

Spanish teachers in South America: Leg 1 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires - a capital city that surprised me in terms of how green it was. Buenos, Aires - our introduction to Argentinian beef (oh, the steak sandwiches complete with egg, ham, lettuce, tomato, and a slab of steak that hung halfway off either side of the bread), vos instead of tú, the sing-song accent and intonation, the Argentinian zha instead of the austere y and doble ll, the mate social tea-toting and -sipping culture, and TANGO. While far, far, far from capable, I was dazzled by the music played by the tango orchestra of strings, piano, bandonians, and singer, and how others "walked" across the old wooden floorboards so gracefully in the milonga, or tango dance hall.

Kudos to Juan, our guide for our bike tour of southern part of the city the day after our 30+hours of travel.

Kudos also to Buenos Aires and all other Spanish-speaking countries for drawing a line between family time and work; thanks to their commitment to observing Christmas Eve traditions of family dinners, we enjoyed our Christmas Eve dinner of soggy pre-packaged sandwiches, water, and Oreo cookies in a convenience store, the only public establishment open within probably 20 blocks or so of our hostel, except for the cathedral, where we went after our feast.

Kudos to those persistent pigeons who managed to shat on Kirstin's shoulder while we were resting for lunch at an outdoor Italian restaurant (I strongly dislike pigeons).

Kudos to the theater-turned-bookstore, El Ateneo, for holding the attention of these three Spanish teachers for 3.5 hours and being a magnet for our Visa cards, requiring us to buy a small carry-on suitcase to cart our purchased resources for the remaining 2 weeks of our trip. (Teachers love books, movies and music!)

For more pictures, please visit my Flickr site. (Yes, I managed to pare down my pics to a mere 41 favorites... for Buenos Aires. More to come!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23065175@N02/sets/72157623102347841/

80s no-rae-bang night!

OK, so some definitions first:
no-rae-bang = literally "singing room", complete with 2 mics, 2 tambourines, neon lights, couches, large books of songs in various languages (with a substantial English section)

One night, while returning to school from a staff dinner on a no-rae-bus (that's what I said), some fellow staff members and I recognized the need to have an all-out, full-on 80s dress-up no-rae-bang night. All 80s music, all blue eye shadow and big hair. Well, here's a bit of the evidence... funny how much we did not stand out - the 80s look has returned full-force here in Korea. Long live Bon Jovi!

Christmas in South America or Bust!

Yep, that´s right, this Christmas I, along with my two fellow TCIS Spanish teachers, Stephanie Liebe and Kirstin Erickson, will begin our 31-hour+ voyage to Argentina and Chile, two of the four Cono Sur (Southern Cone) countries waaaay down south. What are our plans? Hablar muchísimo español, eat lots of red meat a parrilla (grilled), read some Borges and Cortazar in Spanish on some loooong bus rides, dance the tango, ice climb on a gargantuan advancing glacier, trek, go white water rafting, and absorb all that I can of the culture, history, and language that I can so I can return and spew it back to my students (oooh, perhaps “spew” is too graphic… what I mean is, “share”)! WHOOHOOOO!!! Oh, and of course, in true Barrigar fashion, taking a ridiculous number of pictures. 
The itinerary:
Dec. 19-20: 9am depart Daejeon, Korea via airport bus for Incheon Airport > Tokyo Narita Airport > Dallas/Fort Worth Airport > Buenos Aires Airport
Dec. 20-25: Buenos Aires (La Recoleta to see Evita Peron’s burial site among others; tango dancing; colorful neighborhoods; museums; parrilla!)
Dec. 25, 1pm: depart on 19-hour bus ride to San Carlos de Bariloche, in the western Lakes District of Argentina, at the foot of the Andes
Dec. 26-28: Bariloche - white-water rafting (Kirstin was a guide in Colorado!), driving around the picturesque countryside
Dec. 28: depart at 9pm for a 30-hour bus ride south to El Chalten (north of El Calafate)
Dec. 30-Jan. 2: El Chalten – ice climbing and trekking on the Perito Moreno glacier, trekking through the Andes, eating parrilla, ringing in the New Year in the Andes, etc. etc.
Jan. 3: (last) bus ride from El Chalten to Punta Arenas, Chile – see penguins!
Jan. 4: 7am hopefully fly from Punta Arenas to Santiago, Chile
Jan. 4-8: explore Santiago, possibly hit the beach near Valparaiso, or see Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western hemisphere
Jan. 8: depart Santiago > Dallas/Fort Worth > Tokyo Narita > Incheon > bus to Daejeon
Jan. 10, approx. 10pm arrive back in Daejeon, hit the hay, and wake up to teach the next morning!
I have promised my brother that he will see pictures before June 2010, so stay tuned!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

Cross-country 2008

Our motto for cross-country season 2008 was "To be feared." Our opponents are fearing us more and more as our team gets stronger and deeper with every season. Both the boys and the girls teams finished 4th in our KAIAC conference this season. This particular picture was on our first pre-meet Fun Friday practice. In the spirit of fear, we jogged out for practice with our faces painted, chanting "To Be Feared, To Be Feared." I'm not sure it had the desired result - instead, I think they were afraid of their coaches' sanity more than pumped for the next day's opening meet... A valiant and fun effort, at any rate.

Please visit fellow coach Meredith Bird's flickr site for more pictures. I don't have many of my own, since my attempts at photography during meets inhibits my ability to cheer, scream, and jump up and down to my fullest capacity. (thanks, Meredith!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/merraberrabird/2906525944/in/set-72157607587852553/

Spanish field trip!

As one can imagine, the opportunities for authentic Spanish field trips in Korea are few and far between; however, the 20th Century Latinamerican Art Exhibit at the Korean National Museum of Art in Seoul warranted a daytrip up to Seoul on November 7. My Spanish Department parnter-in-crime, Kirstin, and I enjoyed a beautiful fall day with our 10-12th-grade students and artists like Kahlo, Rivera, Botero, Otero, Bracho, and Siquieros, among others. The museum is located inside the walls of one of the three palace grounds in the capital city, so we left the Latinamerican art inside the museum to enjoy the fall colors surrounding traditional Korean architecture. ¡Fenomenal! Our Friday in Seoul culminated with lunch at On the Border in Seoul, where we conversed en español over tortillas y salsa, burritos, tacos, y enchiladas. ¡Riquísimo!