Cultural or Primal?

I realize that I’ve made a lot of promises to upload photos and such, and been unfaithful with them. For that, I am sorry. I’m experiencing several time conflicts, and well, I’m a full-time, 40 hour a week teacher of 3 different ages, beginning to get involved with a church, and still trying to develop and foster relationships with those around me and far away. What can I say?? Oh My! Today, I had this thought, my life looks very primal right now. It’s actually really fun! For me, God has really opened up the revelation to me that my body is His Temple along with my spirit being His Dwelling Place. I want him to be honored and respected with every part of who I am, and with how I treat myself. I am perfect just the way he has made me, and I want to love myself the way He loves me. For me that means choosing to eat gluten free, and taking very good outer care of my body with natural products. Emotionally, I want to be alert and active, and physically I want my body to do what I want it to do, when I want to do it. Being here has really showed me the value in doing things at a slower pace too, and even working a little harder at certain tasks than I normally would in America. Taking some more time to be sure that things are done thoroughly. It's such an interesting thing, but there really is so much efficiency in America and I am so thankful for it! But I'm starting to see that it is so much more satisfying and valuable in certain areas to live simpler and work harder. Who would have thought?

Some of you may know that last October (2011) I decided to begin a Gluten Free lifestyle. Basically what that means is that I try my best not to eat any type of wheat, corn, or rice on a regular basis. Kristen began this lifestyle about two years ago by the influence and wisdom of a mutual friend of ours. One of the best resources for her in this decision is a book called The Primal Blueprint, by Mark Sisson. This book outlines the differences from today's American lifestyle, and that of the Primal people back in BC. It can be quite a stretch at times, but it's an excellent illustration of what our bodies should do and could do if we treated them with the utmost respect in what we put inside and outside. I am still in the process of becoming as close to 100% Gluten free as I can be, and moving to Korea has honestly been a REAL test for me in this. It's been very difficult for me to get my eating under control, especially with the copious amounts of bread products, sweets, and rice people eat here. But I have finally begin to get myself into a rhythm, and have experienced the negatives on a higher level of what gluten and lots of sugar do to my body. Some of you may say "Wait a minute! Rice, that's gluten free right?" According to Mark Sisson's research (heavily backed by numerous scientific studies), corn and brown rice (yes, corn is a grain) still have gluten in them, and white rice is gluten free, but has very little nutritional value and is mostly an empty carb. The point of eating Gluten Free is to stabilize insulun and sugar in the body, reduce inflamation, and maintain energy levels throughout the day no matter the activity. If you're at all interested, I highly suggest just reading the book. It's if nothing else, a very interesting medical and scientific read.

I have been interested in living naturally for many years now, and last summer I finally was able to begin taking steps toward making this a core value in my life by purchasing hair, body, and face products that are organic and chemical free. Joining it was my decision to eat Gluten Free, and it has been very beneficial for me. Josh is now beginning to eat Gluten Free, so one day we will be this Cute, Gluten Free, Healthy family who honors God in everything! ^_^

My perspective of time and treats is completely different than what it was in America in so many ways. It takes me 20 minutes to walk to work, 25-30 minutes to the big weekly grocery store, and 10 minutes to the subway. If I only travel 30-40 minutes by subway to get to a big shopping mall, a Zumba class(Which I do!), and church—that’s pretty great time! Everything timewise is relative here, and because I don't have a phone, meeting up with people can be a challenge if last minute things arise, or the subway runs late. Likewise, if I can get to bed on time (between 10 and 10:30), WHOPEE!! I'm set for the next day! 

I shop for a large quantity of fresh food once a week at the HomePlus or E-Mart, and can make trips to a smaller, local market to pick up anything extra I may need throughout the week. I don't have a hair dryer, but I have a straightner that I use maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks on special occasions, or when I feel like it. It's funny, but I haven't been able to regularly find time to actually cut, paint, and wait for my fingernails to dry before it's time to move on to the next activity or hit the sack. Which again is one step up from concrete, even with a bedquilt underneath two layers of the same twin sized sheets that are fully stretched and still folding over themselves on my double sized bed. I wear natural make-up every day and have a very extensive beauty regimen, but I love it because it makes me feel pampered. 

I do laundry once a week washing clothes in an all-Korean washng machine that I looked up online translations for and how to use, or I handwash clothes with a bowl and washboard. Yes, a washboard. All of my clothes air dry which FYI, if you don't put enough fabric softner in the wash will stand up on their own post-drying. I’ve been rotating the same outfits and food dishes for the last two months. I was finally able to go shopping last weekend, but I'm nowhere near ready for summer.

But you know what, I LOVE my life! I love getting back to the basics and simplifying the way I do things. I really enjoy taking in the culture on the subway, fighting the bedtime clock, shopping differently, and doing laundry and dishes manually not having every human convenience at my disposal. I love cooking nightly, though sometimes by the time I get home from work I’m exhausted.  I have found that I can spend more time connecting with people, exploring, and honestly just Being with God through some of these activities, and they make such fun stories! Ironically, though my weeks are extremely structured, and my weekends are beginning to get even more full of enriching and fun activities, I am learning to de-stress in many different ways. All that to say, I thought I’d let you in on my life a little bit and how I do things here. And yes, there are pictures ;-) Come Along!

HOMEPLUS Adventures

This is the gigantic display of Tuna. There's mild tuna, hot tuna, barbecued tuna, tuna for kimchi jigae (a hot kimchi, tuna, and tofu soup), and regular tuna in vegetable oil.

You can get carrots several differen ways, unwashed, partially washed, or fully washed and bagged. Each carrot is at least an inch and a half thick, and about 6-7 inches long. That's a big carrot!

Oh, I'm so in love with the produce here! Mostly seasonal, and BEAUTIFUL!

Check out how big it is! Each floor alone is about as big as a grocery store in America. This HomePlus has 5 stories.

Here's the fruit, nut, and "Glutious Rice" aisle. So fun to explore what they have and try and figure out what they are from the Korean on each bag!

The "antipasta" aisle, order just how much kimchi, lotus root, or squid salad side dish you want! They bag it right there for you :-) 

2 aisles of about 50 types of seaweed.

Fresh, and I mean, FRESH seafood! Some of it is still floating in the tanks next to the iced fish. They also have dried fish hung on lines that you're welcome to purchase, as well as fish chopped up into many sizes and cuts. Not for the faint of stomach to try and cook with.

They pride themselves on offering "Real American Beef!" Most of the beef is imported from Australia because there is nowhere for cows in Korea. Beef is a specialty.

Oh yeah, Ice Cream!

Your choice of coffee's to go, as well as flavored milks. With strawberry, banana, and chocolate to choose from, who would go for regular?

Look at that invalid! She's a dangerous one!

We got real chinese massages from a place called The Foot Shop. The ladies went full force from minute one. I was caught up in so much laughter at how they slapped, pounded, stretched, an contorted my body, but I left feeling more relaxed than I remember. I'm definitely going back!

We had so much fun.

To be continued.....