Banana Bread

Such small simple things in life can bring us such sweet satisfying pleasure.

I really love baking. Really, I do. Unfortunately, I don't really get much time over here to do it often. Also, not all the ingredients I may want to use are readily available. I mean, when I made Russian tea cakes at Christmas time, I had to have one of our secretaries order powder sugar from Gmarket, an online store which has almost everything and then some.

Now, my friend Ray makes a legit banana bread. It's divine! So banana bread became our thing for the first few months I was here. 

"Ash, you got any overripe bananas? Save them if you do."

"Why? Are you going to make . . . BANANA BREAD??"

"Heeheehee . . . maybe."

And so would go our conversations before my mouth was full of soft, scrumptious banana bread instead words. 

This term, I have been teaching an intensive Level 2 adult class. When you spend two hours a night four times a week with people, you start to build a close relationship. I felt like a friend/mother/guardian of these students and would do almost anything for them. One night, we had joined with another class to have an hour of free conversation. Two of my old students from October were there and for some reason brought up the fact that I had made them delectable brownies one night. Well, one of my favorite students (due in large to the fact that he's sarcastic and jokes with me all the time), Isaac, turned to me and said, "And why haven't you made US anything??" So, thus came the promise of bread on Tuesday night, which was our final party. Last week, Isaac even reminded me about my vow to make bread for them.

So Monday morning came, and with it the mingled smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and banana, the aroma changing my apartment from house to home. Side note - my roommate really loved me because of this. Even more so after she got to 'taste test' the perfectly browned product . . . multiple times. 

Finally, the night came. Into the classroom I strolled, plate of bread in tow. To make a long story short, four of my six students came to class that night. The entire loaf was devoured within the first five or ten minutes of breaking out the snacks. I done good. ^_^

Banana bread - it's nothing special. In the scheme of life, it's really one of the simpler things one will ever encounter. Yet it can bring so much pleasure. I was pleased while making this loaf of goodness. My students and co-workers were pleased while savoring every last bite (as was I, I will admit). Pleasure filled me as I watched smiles spread across faces, saw eyes close slightly in pleasure or open wide in joyous surprise, and heard the sounds of people whose taste buds have been delighted.

Graduation, a new car, a big promotion, marriage - all these are big things that can bring us big pleasure. Don't forget to appreciate the simpler things along the way however. A baby's giggle, ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day, the flower that greets you every morning before you walk into work, and even . . . banana bread - all these can bring you joy if you take the time to let them. When you skim through a book, picking up only the main ideas, you will most likely understand the point being made. Without reading the whole book however, all the details from beginning to end, you will never be able to fully appreciate the work for what it truly is. Don't skim through life - details can make things so much better.

A Compliment a Day . . .

It had been a busy day. Then again, when, besides Sabbath afternoon, isn't my life now continuously busy? Anyway, I was hurriedly walking back from buying some kimbap for my evening adult students. We start class at 7:30 p.m. and don't end until 9:35 p.m. Sometimes they talk about how hungry they are, so I thought, Let me be a good teacher and bring them something to quiet their growling stomachs and put smiles on their faces.

The trademark black plastic bag carrying the precious vegetable and tuna kimbap swung back and forth in my hand as I walked down the last stretch of sidewalk to the institute. My earphones, which are a comforting and constant companion whenever I am out and about alone, were nestled in my ears, serenading me with happy tunes. An older man, maybe in his 60s, was walking the opposite way on the sidewalk.

Suddenly, with no warning, he stopped about 8 feet in front of me, stood rigidly at attention, and gave me an all-out legitimate military salute. I've now become accustomed to Koreans, mostly children and older people, acting, well, a bit different around me since I'm, well, a bit different from who they're used to seeing walking down the street. I smiled and gave a small chuckle, since this was one of the most ridiculous reactions I had ever had before - I couldn't help myself.

He then continued on as if he would walk past me, but he instead stopped in his tracks, turned toward me, and said, "Beautiful face! Beautiful face," as he circled his face with his finger to make sure I understood. I said thank you, chuckled a little, and as we were about to turn to part ways I said, "You have a lovely face, too!" as I made the same circling motion of my face and then pointed to him. He was so surprised. His eyes widened and his eyebrows went up so high I thought they would high-five his hairline. A huge smile lit up his face, arriving hand in hand with a laugh that came from deep within this man. He didn't expect to hear anything from me - he was shocked beyond all reason. And that made me continue to laugh and quietly giggle to myself as I continued on my way.

Compliments can do so much. They can turn frown into a smile; a bad day into a good one; and sometimes, enough can turn an enemy into a cordial acquaintance, sometimes even a friend. They're not hard to give. Just a few words here and there can mean so much, even if we don't realize it. Compliments can make life just a little bit better, for both the recipient and giver. So try it. Give a compliment. Leave someone surprised today. It'll make your insides giggle and your outside quietly smile.

Motorbikelandia (formerly known as Thailand)

A blanket of sun. A coat of perspiration. A billowing skirt of tropical breeze.
                                       A glimpse into my Thai apparel.

Returning to Korea from Thailand was like waking up from one of those dreams that have some sketchy parts but are overall, amazing. You don't want to open your eyes, even though your alarm clock is screaming at you. When you finally get physical with the alarm clock and it is silenced, you lay in your bed, hoping, wishing, waiting. But sleep never embraces you, the dream never sneaks back into your mind. So you roll out of bed and off to work you go.

For each of the few problems encountered on this venture to Thailand, there were multiple good experiences had. I had heard about tuk tuks before taking this trip. I had also heard about how their drivers continuously bombard you and try to pressure you into taking their tuk tuk, eventually charging you way more than they should because, as a foreigner, you know no better. A lot of that talk was quite true. We even got followed from our hotel by one driver who continuously kept asking us to take a ride and kept offering us prices. Honestly, it was quite annoying. However, we met one driver who was such a sweet older man. He charged us a small fare, brought us everywhere (I've seen enough temples to last me a few years. lol), and the conversations we were able to have (a pretty tall and solid language barrier stood between us) always had us laughing.

Where the magic happens - Pad Thai
in the making on Khao San Road.

The entire time in Thailand, I only ate at a restaurant one time. Walking quite a ways in every direction away from the hotel, there were no restaurants to be found. So, our meals ended up consisting of tropical fruit from the street market, street cart chicken and rice, and, a dream fulfilled for me, Pad Thai. I ATE PAD THAI IN THAILAND. Score. It was all soooo amazing!! I've decided that this type of diet would be the perfect one for me - I would never tire of the pure and exciting flavors that tickled my taste buds in Thailand. The hotel we did eat at was a Thai restaurant on the 32nd floor of our hotel. The view was great, the food was delicious, and our hostess was stellar. We got to talking and even ended up giving her an English lesson the next day. I guess you can take the teacher out of the classroom but not the classroom out of the teacher - any place, any time, anyone presents an opportunity to teach.

And since the picture above was taken on Khao San Rd, I might as well tell what happened on the way back from Khao San Rd. We were mugged of all our possessions on hand . . .

Me and my Thai dance teacher
of five minutes.

No, not really. But I did feel slightly like I was mugged of my anonymity, my own friend Ray being the cause. As we were walking back to the hotel from our visit to this lovely road which was so chalk full of foreigners I didn't know what to do with myself, we came upon a sidewalk that was filled with artists doing what they do best - art. There were sculptors, painters, and caricaturists doing some amazing work. There was also a band playing some Thai folk music. We stopped to listen, partially to rest from walking, partially because it was relaxing and entertaining. lol As the music continued, a woman in traditional Thai dress walked to the front and started dancing. A man in traditional dress joined her. It was great. Soon they started pulling a few people here and there from the large crowd to join them in dancing up front. This crowd consisted of Thai people and two foreigners - yes, those two foreigners were Ray and myself. Soon, the man pointed to Ray and motioned for him to come up. Ray ran and hid behind me (which is impossible since I'm pretty short) and wouldn't go up. Finally, Ray said, "If she goes up, I'll go," referring to me. So, I ended up agreeing, something I never usually would've done in a situation like this. As the two of us hesitantly made our way to the front, the crowd erupted in deafening cheers. I felt like such a star. So we started dancing - and had a blast (even though Ray crept away from the front and started snapping pictures). It made me realize that being spontaneous is okay sometimes and that even if you're scared to do something, sometimes you should just go for it, no matter what people think and no matter if you're successful or not.

Floatin down the river.

The floating markets - the same pressure you get from other shop keepers to buy their wares, only now your in a boat and you can't quickly walk past them. This statement isn't really an exaggeration either. I also think our boat driver and the shop keepers were quite irritated that we weren't buying anything, that we were just there for the ride. When your almost at the end of your trip and have no money with to spare though, the ticket for the boat and the range of your camera is pretty much all you can afford. Speaking of which, we could barely afford that. We had been told by someone that each individual ticket for the floating market was 1,000 baht. However, after a 45 minute ride in a taxi, we found out that no, each ticket was actually 2,000 baht. I was trying to explain how we didn't have enough money and how someone had told us the wrong prices and how we were very sorry that we couldn't purchase a ticket (I was feeling frustrated by how someone had again not told us the truth about prices but trying to keep my cool beneath the quilt of heat). That's when our driver stepped in. He offered to give us the extra 2,000 baht we needed. I refused it politely and said we couldn't do that and pay him back that much. He told us to hold on and then proceeded to talk with the manager in Thai. Soon, in what little English he knew, he told us that we only had to pay 3,000 baht AND he would give us the 1,000, which we could pay back to him once we reached the hotel later. He even tried to give us another 1,000 - "Food, souvenir, buy you," he said in a concerned manner. This man was a God send. We were so grateful and were then able to float and speed our way along the canals, past people's homes, through the maze of shops, and finally back to our starting point. It was a one-of-a-kind experience, and all thanks to our taxi driver who could have just taken us back, raking in our money for the taxi fare while we had made a worthless trip, but instead found kindness in his heart for a couple of duped foreigners.

Shanghai Sunrise

On our way to and from Bangkok, we had a layover at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The first layover was only a few hours. On the way back however our layover was ELEVEN hours. At night. With time change. We landed around 9:15, 9:30 p.m. local time. Our next flight was set to leave the following morning at 9:05. It was going to be a long night on chairs that had arm rests and no room to stretch out. I tried taking a nap and that ended up with my arm and shoulder being a complete mess muscle-wise when I woke up after only a short period of time. Sleep poked and prodded but continued to evade my firm grasp. A curved cold stone bench as my bed with only a thin dress as my blanket may or may not have had something to do with that fact. A jump, skip, and a hop away from us sat four or five Chinese men happily playing a card game. "Psh, we can do that too," I declared defiantly and pulled out my deck of Bicycle playing cards. We played 21 and I taught Ray how to play Speed. The group of men must have finished their game because soon, one of them was sitting on the chair beside us, hanging over the back of our chairs watching intently. Without any hesitation, using exaggerated hand gestures, facial expressions, and a couple of English words (which I'm pretty sure he didn't understand at all. lol), I asked him if he wanted to play. And so began another teaching experience for me - getting this man to learn how to play Speed, neither of us understanding the other's language. As I became his tutor and Ray his enemy in this game of agility and quick hands, a crowd began to gather. Soon there were about six or seven Chinese (all men, except for one woman) on all sides of us. They began to pick up on the object and rules of the game  as they watched and cheered on their friend. By the time 1 1/2 hours had passed, every single one of these people had played Ray, me, and each other. It was one of the most epic, hilarious, and eye-opening experiences I'd had in a while.  Layovers in foreign airports definitely provide for interesting experiences that become entertaining stories.

This trip was filled with life lessons - most of which I already knew but many of which I needed reminding or practice. Don't judge a book by its cover. Be open-minded. Appearances can be deceiving. Confidence can be one of the greatest things you will ever wear. Believe in your abilities and others will, too. A motorbike is a WAY better way of getting around than a car will ever be - you can disobey traffic rules and you're always at the front waiting for that green light. Step outside of your comfort zone. Find the good in every thing, every person, every situation. Words are only one thing that comprises language, they are what creates the barrier - love, laughter, smiles, and actions are universal, breaking down the barrier, if even just so much as a small hole to the other side. Mangoes and pineapple really ARE better in tropical countries - one can never return to eating Walmart produce after such an experience. So besides gaining a continuous sunburn with now peeling shoulders, a smaller amount in my bank account, and a wish for tropical fruit in my house every single day, I also was reminded of many important things in life. Yup, I'm a multi-tasker.

To answer your burning question of why in the world I renamed this country to Motorbikelandia, please see the following pictures (every single stoplight, I kid you not, looked like this).