Amanda in Korea

Mom's Trip-Last Day

2011-06-12T07:29:00.010-05:00

Today was the final full day of my mom's trip to Korea. So we went shopping!!! Myeongdong is known for great shopping. You can find almost anything here!!!

But when arrived we were hungry so we made a pit stop. This is a corndog with french fries on the outside. Mmmm
We also tried this egg bread. It is bread batter with an egg dropped inside.

See the egg?

Potatoes on a stick with cheese powder!

Then we headed over to Nanta. It is a very famous show about chefs that have a very full schedule. Mostly though, they just show off their chopping skills. They are also insanely funny and do a little magic!

At the door.

Then we headed over to the church. It is either the biggest or oldest Catholic church in Korea. I'm gonna go with oldest because I've been in a bigger one...

We decided to go inside. While we were trying to decided if we could take pictures a bride decided to walk down the aisle...

We headed over to a very famous noodle shop. The noodles (갈국수-kalkuksoo)are handmade and served in a delicious broth, beef flavored.

I ordered another soup (콩국수-kongkuksoo) with broth made of soy beans. I knew that I liked it, but I have weird taste so I didn't know my mom would like it too...

Sausages on a stick!

While we were looking for a place to rest before we headed to the tower we saw this, a man carrying too much stuff on his bike.

We were still looking for a cafe, when we saw the ad for a cat cafe. We think no...Maybe later though!

Honey bread. This is a big piece of bread that has all kinds of deliciousness going on. They call it honey bread because you should share it with your honey.

This is the part where we went to Seoul Tower. The pictures of the tower and the city didn't turn out all that well. But this picture is interesting. On the tower there is a fence (so people don't jump I guess) and couples have been putting locks on the fence and then throwing the keys over to signify that the lock (and thus their over) will be there forever. The wall of locks.

Lastly it was one of my friends birthdays so I took mom to one of the bars I go to most often and then a club that we generally go to. She had too much fun!

The next day the lovely twins took us too the airport and mom went home. Boo. The end.

Mom's Trip-Day 7

2011-06-10T19:04:00.014-05:00

Today I didn't have to work so I filled the day with a sightseeing frenzy.

First we headed to an area filled with traditional sights to see and when we go there we were able to try on traditional court clothes of Korean kings and queens. 광화문 (Gwanghamun-one of the gates into the city.)

Then we headed over to the Museum that honors King Sejong. He was the man who created the writing of the Korean Language. After that we headed to the Olleh KT building where we can use some of the newest technology. The stairs are even exciting!

Then on our way to the stream we ran into a demonstration. The college students were protesting the rise in tuition.

When we got to the beginning of the stream there was a festival. There are festivals a lot of the time but today we got lucky. They were having a traditional Korean alcohol and food festival. We got some free samples and we even got some free bottles of Korean raspberry wine. After getting a little buzzed we started on stroll along the stream.

Along our way we saw some men washing the window.

After that we headed to another Korean Palace. There are a couple of Palaces in Seoul but this one has a "Secret Garden" which I thought mom would like. But we had to go on a tour and the lady was really boring so... After we left the palace we saw a cop on a Harley and so mom had to take a picture for my dad.Then we stopped to get a late lunch. This is called 한정식 (hanjungsik-which is basically a bowl of rice with some side dishes)Then we went shopping for some souvenirs. While we were there we watched some guys make a special Royal candy.

After that we ate dinner with the twins at a 떡볶이 restaurant (ddeokbokki-rice cake in a spicy sauce).

Then we walked around the area of 삼청동 (samcheongdong-an area that is famous for cafes and little boutiques).

We also made a quick trip out to 동대문(dongdaemun-the shopping mecca in Korea).

Mom's Trip-Day 6

2011-06-10T19:00:00.007-05:00

Today we sort of took it easy. I had to work again so I couldn't spend all day with the mamma.

Mom started getting some presents together for people here in Korea and so she needed some wrapping supplies so she went to E-Mart (Wal-mart like...) all by herself. Then she came to school after lunch with her wrapped gifts. She read to my students and then waited until I got of work. Then we went to meet my 태권도 (taekwondo) master. After that we went to 분당(Bundang-the place that I used to live) and we had dinner with my old boss. This is 샤브샤브 (shabu shabu-hot pot. They give you a boiling pot of broth and you add vegetables and meat. Once it is cooked you pull it out and eat it.)After you finish the broth and veggies and meat they make you 죽(juk-porridge of rice and vegetables.) This picture also includes the sides that came with our meal.

After that we got some ice cream and went home.

Mom's Trip-Day 5

2011-06-08T09:28:00.001-05:00

Today I had to work again so mom came to school in the morning and had lunch with me.

We went to a Japanese restaurant.

She had pork cutlet.

I had Soba noodles.

While I was at work she wondered across the street and did some shopping at a department store.

When I finally finished work we went to dinner and had 찜닭 (jjimdak-spicy, soy sauce marinaded chicken and noodles). Delicious!

After that we tried out screen golf. I beat her...all is fair.

Mom's Trip-Day 4

2011-06-08T08:14:00.012-05:00

Today I had to work so we didn't do much. But mom did come to my school in the morning to meet some of my kids. After that she went home to rest. Later my boyfriend stopped by to take my mom to the mall. Coex mall is the biggest underground mall in the world. They didn't just go shopping they also went to a really neat aquarium. Pictures from said aquarium:

A harp with goldfish inside.

My boyfriend with his new girlfriend... A computer with "phishing" problems. Mom with her new school... My boyfriend after I caught him with new girlfriend.
Then after I finished work I went to meet them for dinner. Ty decided to take us to his favorite meat buffet. He is the man, he cooks the meat... The meat case where we can choose what and how much we want.
Some of what we chose. After that we headed to a nice neighbor for some cocktails. I had a blackberry dacquari and mom had a flower mojito. Both drinks were a very good end to the day!

Mom's Trip-Day 3

2011-06-06T09:05:00.010-05:00

Today after walking around in Namdaemun Market we got hungry. So we stopped to eat 냉면 (nang myeon-cold noodles) and 비빔냉면 (cold spicy noodles).
After that we visited 63 Building. It is one of the tallest buildings in Seoul.

While we were there we got to meet the President and First lady. We also got to meet Tiger Woods.
After that we went to the top of the building to get a view of the city. Then we decided to board a ferry to get home.
I asked the captain if he could make the trip a little more special because my mom was visiting for the first time. He said he would turn on lights and a water show at a bridge for us to see. Then we got hungry again and ate 자짱면 (jajangmyeon-black sauce noodles),

깐풍기(gangpoonggi-spicy garlic chicken and rice),

and 탕수육 (tangsuyook-sweet and sour pork).

Mom's Trip-Day 2

2011-06-05T08:51:00.027-05:00

On this day the twins, my good Korean friends, really wanted to drive my mom somewhere out of Seoul to see. So we went to 부여(Buyeo) a city that during the 백제(Bakjae) Dynasty was a capital city. But first on the way there we had to stop at a Korean rest stop. It offers not only a restroom but also a HUGE variety of snacks to try as to not starve on your road trip. Mom and the twins.Erika pointing to hotdogs that could be consumed. We did not eat these. Instead we ate bread filled with bean, dried-roasted squid and corn on the cob.Once we finally arrived in 부여 we visited a museum and palace of the 백제 Dynasty. It was filled with traditional houses and there was even a play about a man who wanted to marry the princess. This is a 5 story pagoda that the royal family used to pray to Budda in.After the museum we went to a restaurant that is famous in 부여.The famous dish. Lotus leaf rice. This is rice that has been steamed in a lotus leaf. It becomes stickier and has a sweeter flavor than regular rice.Another dish that my mom liked. This is 잪채 (japchae-noodles made of sweet potato and stirfryed with vegetables.This is the garden that is known for lily pads and lotus flowers. Me paddling a water wheel.After that we went to a sculpture park to relax.Then we went to the city's market.We saw this baby just crying and crying, until mom started taking pictures of her...then she stopped crying.Then we saw a record player being used to scare away the flies near the fish. They some how had a rod attached to the record player and it would go around and around scaring the flies away.

Mom's Trip-Day 1

2011-06-05T08:33:00.006-05:00

After a night of eating 닭갈비 (dakkalbi-spicy chicken stirfry) and drinking we had a late morning. But after we did get up we had a full day ahead of us. First we went to see the National Museum of Korea. I don't really like museums that much but this one is really cool. First it is really nice (marble, awesome exhibits and a huge building). There is also a really nice garden, which was nice for my mom to check out. And last it is all totally free!For lunch we had 김밥 (kimbap-vegetables and ham rolled in rice and seaweed)and 떡국 (ddeokkuk-pasta made from rice in soup)and 비빔밥(bibimbap-rice mixed with vegetables and red pepper paste) After that we went to a Prison from the time that Korea was struggling for independence from Japan.

After all that we headed to a Korean style bar where we ordered food and drank soju cocktail while playing drinking games with friends! It was a long day.

New Years Eve Party!!!

2010-12-30T19:07:00.005-06:00

This year I had a New Years Party at my house. It was fun to plan a party and have my friends over...I hope to do it again sometime.

We had spinach and mushroom quiche

Mini Cheesecakes

Pizza BreadSushiCrab stuffed mushroomsShrimp CocktailOne of Ty's friends brought a cakeI also made a red wine Sangria, white wine Sangria, Champagne and Soju Cocktail and Eggnog with whiskey. It was a great party.

As always you should make resolutions for the new year. But first let's visit how I did last year.

DONE1. Travel outside Korea twice (Jamaica, Philippines, Germany, China, or Greece are some of my options.)
DONE2. See a Korean Traditional Village
DONE3. Go bowling in Korea (I actually broke 100 two nights ago...)
DONE4.Bungee Jumping
DONE5. Get lost on a Seoul City Bus
6. Teach Dambi a new trick in Korean and English
DONE7. Find the spiciest Dukbokki in Seoul
DONE8. Get my 2nd Degree Black Belt
DONE9. Run a 10k (or maybe just a 5k)
10. Try 20 different beers (But I did lose like 14 lbs. so would've been impossible...)
DONE, NO PICS 11. Ride in one of the 3D machines
DONE12. Play in a Korean arcade
13. Go to a Casino (New Year Plan...)
DONE14. Go to the American Embassy
DONE15. Go to the DMZ
DONE16. Have a Barbecue party at my new house
DONE17. Make a video of my new house
18. Go to a pool party (or just a pool) (I really want to do this!!!)
DONE19. Go to the library in Korea
DONE20. Go to the Korean National Museum
DONE21. Go to the Kimchi Museum
DONE22. Go to a Meetup Meeting
DONE23. Go ice skating
DONE24. Make Jam (Made a Gingerbread House instead)
DONE25. Eat Silk Worm Larve
DONE26. Drink Alcohol in a Tent
DONE27. Go to the Zoo (I've heard weird things...)
DONE, NO VIDEO 28. Order Food to my house (and catch it on video)

so my NEW resolutions now...
1. Maintain weight
2. Go to a Casino
3. Go to a pool party

4. Finish my Korean books (STUDY)

5. Save more money

Have a good 2011 Everyone!

Resolution #5

2010-12-30T18:13:00.004-06:00

So today I "got lost" on a bus. Not really but you know...What I did was walk out of my building and to the bus stop (in the direction that I don't really go, there are buses going 4 different directions near my house, I live at a huge intersection...). I got on the first bus that came. I plugged in my head phones (so I couldn't hear the bus stop names) and rode the bus until I felt like getting off. I got to here:

It doesn't look like much, which is why I got off. Usually the signs and buildings and things like that make it too easy to know where I am. Anyway I wondered around for a while. Then Ty messaged me and told me to pick up some McDonalds on the way home...Luckily I was sitting in a cute little coffee shop across the street when I got this message, because I honestly didn't know where I was gonna find McDonalds in a part of the city I don't know. I don't really know where to find McDonalds in parts of the city I do know. I don't really like McDonalds much. Anyway, then I got on a bus back home. I have to admit that if I couldn't read Korean I would be lost, because I forgot what bus I got on to get here. But since I could read the bus schedule I got on the bus that went back to my house. Not to entertaining I guess...

Gingerbread Saga, Resolution #24

2010-12-28T09:35:00.008-06:00

Ok so this year I attempted (and succeeded) to make a gingerbread house. I think once in my life before we tried this and it wasn't easy...but anyway. New tradition for me, gingerbread house during the Christmas season. I researched this thing for a long time and the #1 tip was, make sure you have time. That is why I made it in this week that I have off from work and don't have anything else to do. So here's the process I used.
Day 1 Dough Making
Today I made the dough. Most recipes said that you should refridgerate the dough for a couple of hours but over night is better. I did the overnight option. I don't really know what the difference is but my house is still standing and this could be the reason...I did run into a problem or two the the dough making. First you should know that I don't have a mixer here so I had to make the dough by hand. For this particular cookie that is not an easy task. But I did my best. Also molasses in the syrup form was not available in the WHOLE country. Well maybe not but I found this and used it. I made it into syrup by boiling it on the stove with water. I needed about a cup so I used a cup of the sugar and boiled it is a cup or so of water. It never did get really sticky like molasses, but it got close. To make up for this fact though I just used a little less water in the dough...
Day 2 Bake Pieces
Today I cut out and baked all the pieces for the house. Not an easy task for a couple of reasons. My oven is only big enough for one piece at a time. Also I don't have a lot of counter space so where to cool the cookies was a problem. Also, stupid me didn't know that the pieces matching up was that big a deal. It was mentioned in all the tips that you could trim the finished pieces to be exact but to be careful because it's easy to break a piece like that. Well, I though I would rather use extra icing to fill in holes between the seems of the house than try to fix a broken wall. I found out later that making the thing exact is the way to go. Note for next year. Also, no flour on the top of the cookie like it says to do. Do it on the bottom and stop. If you do it on the top it is hard to get off and the cookie looks messy. Day Three Set Base
Today I set the foundation for the house. As advised I painted on the doors and windows before standing them up. This part went much better than expected. I used two batches of royal icing. I got through the first batch and the house was standing well, but I was skeptical so I made another batch to reinforce the bonds. Then I let this sucker dry overnight. At this point the pieces not matching perfectly still isn't a problem...Day Four The Roof and Chimney
Today is the day to finish the structure. On goes the roof and chinmey. Here is where the pieces MUST MATCH. The face that my roof-piece edges aren't straight and the wall-piece edges aren't straight made it impossible for the roof-pieces to have enough support from the house to stay on. There was really no place to attach the roof. They just didn't match up well...I used the cardboard pattern pieces from the front and back of the house inside the house to hold up the roof. Real houses have rafters and so does mine...Also the angle of the Chimney is really hard to guess until the house is together. Even though I made a pattern out of cardboard first and built the chimney to match that, the pieces being uneven plus forgetting that lots of icing would be holding this together made the chimney hard to get on. But it did make it! This also gets a day to dry...I had extra dough and icing, so I made snowmen...Day Five Decoration Day
Ty is the one with all the genius behind the decorating. We went to the store and he got a bunch of candy that he thought was "cute". He told me to make the icing for him and then leave him alone. I did, because I had so much other food to prepare... here's how he did.FrontSideI did make the snowmen and this back is all mine. I couldn't see all the candy go to waste...and I couldn't eat it. I think overall we did a great job. Next year we plan to do it again. But next year will be better because I learned alot about what to do better next year. Plus our candy selection will be better in America!

Resolution #14

2010-12-28T09:23:00.007-06:00

So today we started out doing things I've been meaning to do for a while. First we stopped by a coffee shop that I saw once and really wanted to try...As most of you know I don't really drink coffee much but this coffee was delicious. I even drank it black. The difference in this place and most coffee places (believe me there are millions in this city) is that they roast the beans in house...or something like that. Anyway a noticable difference.(Ty had off work today too so we got to spend the day in Seoul)Next, a building that I have been meaning to visit for a long time: the embassy. Just like everyone said, "it's ugly" is the only thing I have to say about it. We couldn't go inside, we got there too late. It's not hard to do considering they are open for abotu 30 minutes a day...Anyway I know where it is now. So easy to find.Lastly we visited a museum dedicated to King Sejong. He is important to Korea (so much that his face is on the $10 bill) because he helped invent Hanguel, the lanuge that Koreans write with. There is a museum and it is really nice. It is built underground...Me on the throne, my proper place. Me writing with a paint brush...All foreigners get there picture put on the wall, see the wall behind me...

After that we visited the Olleh KT building. They are a company that does cellphone plans or TV or something like that...Anyway they made this building with all the newest gadgets inside for people to play with. I spent an hour playing with the new iPad and Ty was on the new iPhone 4. The building is really nice and includes a little theater that has a jazz concert everyday for charity. There is also a coffee shop inside...anyway, nice building. Long day.

Resolution #27

2010-12-28T08:41:00.006-06:00

Today I went to the zoo. It wasn't the best weather for it but that left me the whole zoo to myself and no lines to wait in... I went alone. No one thought that the zoo on a snowy day would be fun...

The bears:The camels:

The tigers:

A snake:

The turtles:

A leopard:

The foxes:

The mountain sheep:

I took some other pictures too. These were the best. Overall it was a good day. The snow was beautiful and it made the park empty. With a city the size of Seoul it is hard to go to the park (any park) and for it to be empty. It was nice....Also, I heard bad things about the zoo in Seoul. I don't know if it was becuase there we no people there or because everything was covered in beautiful snow or because I remember the Chinese zoo, but this zoo was cool. It was big and had lots of animals and lots of space for the animals to run and play. It looked good to me. Also, it was super cheap, less than $3 for entry. I think I spent like $5 dollars the whole day, money to get there, ticket in, and a train fee once I got inside...I was the only one on the park train...

Resolution #23 and Christmas Festivities

2010-12-26T07:34:00.016-06:00

So this week was especially busy.

I went to the Christmas play that was put on by my old school on Tuesday. It was nice to see my old students on stage.

Then on Wednesday I got together with the twins and Jessica. We made so many cookies to give to our coworkers for Christmas.

Then on Thursday I went to a Holiday Party at my boss's house. She has one of the nicest apartments I've ever see. It is big and full of marble. She had the dinner catered. It was AMAZING!

Then on Christmas Eve Ty and I went to see the biggest tree in Seoul and some lights near the river. After that we got together with some of my friends. We had pizza and snacks and movies. It was a nice evening.

On Christmas Day Ty and I headed over to some of my old coworkers house for Christmas dinner. We had turkey, potatoes, rolls, cake, mac n cheese, stuffing, cranberries, and pumpkin. It was delicious. After that Ty and I headed to the ice skating rink to do some ice skating, fulfilling one of my resolutions.

Resolution Update

2010-12-20T02:42:00.003-06:00

Ok, so last and final update of the resolutions. I have 2 weeks left and I WILL do them! I'm excited! What's left?

2. See a Korean Traditional Village (no excuses, I NEED to do this)
5. Get lost on a Seoul City Bus (virtually impossible, I can read better than ever and know the city well, but let's try)
6. Teach Dambi a new trick in Korean and English (sorry, not gonna happen...)
8. Get second degree black belt... DONE! I'll post pics!
10. Try 20 different beers (in due time)
11. Ride in one of the 3D machines (technically done, not documented)
13. Go to a Casino (found, will do!)
14. Go to the American Embassy (this is important!)
18. Go to a pool party (or just a pool or an indoor water park...)
23. Go ice skating (it's cold again. I'll go soon!)
24. Make Jam (I'm having a New Year's Party at my house..all the food there counts instead)
27. Go to the Zoo (I've heard weird things...and after seeing China's version...)
28. Order Food to my house (and catch it on video) (this has been done so many times!)

I have two weeks left! One week I don't work so I might make it happen! Who knows?

Resolution #12

2010-12-11T05:28:00.003-06:00

So today I fulfilled another of my lasting resolutions. I went to an arcade. They are very similar to the arcades in America except (sadly) no skee ball and an abundance of Japanese games. Jess and I playing...Jess winning. Shea and I playing...Shea winning. It's a little bit hard to understand what was going on because the directions were in Korean so we had some trouble, but we also had a lot of fun! Anyway, 1 more down and like 12 left to go!

Nothing Special

2010-12-09T04:52:00.004-06:00

So nothing new is really going on these days. I spent last weekend visiting my boyfriend (who is in the Korean Army) on base. Since the attacks made by North Korea he hasn't been able to leave base so I went up to visit him. We went swimming, played Xbox, watched movies and played pool. It was nice to be in an area of Korea that is all Americanized.

Also this week on Wednesday we got some snow. Not our first snow, but it was a heavier, more notable snow than the first. It left a nice layer of ice on the ground. The days are colder and winter is definitly here.

I've also been busy these days putting together Christmas presents for my coworkers. I will get pictures when done and show them later. I hope to also get some cards together and send home to the US. Look for one in the mail! That's all for now!

Christmas with Seoul

2010-11-28T05:35:00.006-06:00

Today I decorated my apartment with some Christmas supplies. Since I'm not going anywhere for Christmas I need some decorations! Nothing over the top but it definitly feels more like Christmas season with some Christmas in my house. First stop near my front door:I decorated the storage boxes to look like presents. Then we move to the bathroom and I added a towel and green candles.In my hallway I hung a garland....that I made.I picked these branches off a tree that is on our building's roof and found these cute snowflakes to hang with them.In the kitchen I have another Christmas towel and a Christmas tin full of cocoa and tea!Next to my bed some branches and a candle.My version of a fireplace.My roaring fire.My mantle with pictures, plants and fake snow!Decorating my "column" with cards of Christmas past.The tree. I'm so proud of it...The effect of all of it together! SO NICE for me! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Korea!

2010-11-27T07:57:00.003-06:00

This year we had a HUGE feast for Thanksgiving. It was potluck style so we all brought something to share with each other! I have to say it was a really nice feast. I didn't miss anything except my family and my mother's rolls (your's are the best mom!). We also ordered a turkey. It was delivered and already fully cooked! Amazing. Some pics of the feast and friends:

Resolution #20

2010-11-21T07:27:00.007-06:00

Today we went to the Korean National Museum. After the Kimchi Museum I wasn't really expecting much...But boy I was wrong. This museum was so nice. Also it was huge and held many objects. I went with my "special Korean friend," Ty...he said on the way there that he was sure it wasn't going to be that nice and that was because Koreans didn't really go to museums. I was inclined to believe this statement because I've been to other museums and haven't been impressed, but this one actually blew us away and we plan to go again. Also one of the lunches from the G20 Summit (some stupid meeting where people from all over the world get together and talk...) was held here. I can't tell you all I saw because it was too much. But anyway here are some pics.

Resolution #21

2010-11-21T07:08:00.006-06:00

So another of my awesome resolutions were fulfilled this weekend. I made a trip to the Kimchi museum. It is conviently located in one of the biggest and nicest malls I've ever been in. On my way to the museum I was waiting for my friends and I decided to do some shopping. I have finally realized that Korea has gotten too cute. In Korea it is really common to have cell phone charms. (I have 3, two of them are Hello Kitty, so what?) But now cell phone charms have charms. Take a look at these pictures and notice that next to the charm is a littler charm attached. Too cute...

So the Kimchi museum was a tiny bit disappointing. It was small. We did get to taste some though, and I love kimchi so I was excited. There were tons of things that I didn't know about kimchi. Like that it is made of many different vegetables. Also, different places in Korea make different kimchi. A long time ago when there weren't refrigerators, ancestors would bury the kimchi pots in the ground to be able to keep it longer, it was the perfect temperature for fermentation. Also there are about 20 really interesting fusions of Kimchi that exist. Like kimchi bread and kimchi stuffed chicken and pork rolls... Anyway, some pics.

Resolution #19

2010-11-21T07:01:00.003-06:00

So I realized that the year is coming to a close and I still have a quite a few resolutions left. So I decided to get right on that this weekend.

On Friday for a field trip with my kids we went to a local library. Nothing to out of the ordinary but since I had never been to a library in Korea I was curious if they were similar to American libraries. They are exactly the same, smell and all. Here are some pics...The sign says Seong Nae (town's name) Library

Yes, they have lots of English books and I had a good time reading the children's books from my past...

Famous Foreigners...

2010-10-24T06:49:00.006-05:00

Of course as always this weekend was fun and amazing and interesting. First we started out Saturday morning at a Pink Glove Breast Cancer Dance. I will give more details when the actual video is done. Then when we left the place we decided to take the subway. But since we had to wait like 10 minutes for the next train we decided to the Korean game of Hwatu. Now for those of you unaware this game is like gambling for Koreans. They play for money and usually only the older generations know how to play. (It's illegal to bet for money in Korea, but they do it anyway. This adds to the fascination.) But I learned awhile ago and with the help of my Korean friends, the twins, a couple other foreigners I know, also know how to play. So we decided to play. Not even seconds after we got the cards out did we have a gathering of Koreans watching us play. I would have to say that they were pretty impressed that a bunch of young foreigners were playing Hwatu (their game) in the subway... It was awesome!

Taekwondo Test

2010-10-18T02:19:00.007-05:00

This weekend was a blur full of activities. As you should already know it was my big test for my second belt in Taekwondo...So I was quite nervous and stressed and now relieved.

First the weekend started out with a Friday night at the Jimjilbang. Basically a place filled with many different types of saunas. It is a great way to stretch and relax. Then I went home. Early night.

The next day we woke up and went for a walk in the Rose Garden. It is near where I live so we went to the Garden then walked through Olympic Park and walked home. This was a great way to get "warmed up" for the test. Then I got ready and went to take my test.

At the test Jessica (another student from my gym) and I were very nervous. We practiced our pumsaes and stretched and got ready. Then it was finally our turn. It was all over very quick. It took maybe 5 mins to do pumsae and another 5 to do the sparring. We both passed. Jessica is now a black belt and I am a second degree.

After that we went to a very nice restaurant for dinner to celebrate. Then we went to a bridge and watched a water show. It was very nice and relaxing. Great night.

The next day I went electronics shopping with Shea and then to go screen golfing. I finally got a par! It is really hard to do in screen golf, but I did it! Overall it was a good weekend.

Fall Persimmons...AGAIN!

2010-10-06T10:13:00.003-05:00

Fall has oficially arrived in Korea...The weather is cooling off quickly and the leaves are changing and all that good stuff. With the arrival of the autumn season comes the arrival of some other wonderful things: scarves, hats, boots, 호덕(a flavorful pancake that you buy and eat on the street) and persimmons. I think I once wrote about how much I love these little fruits. Well they are being sold around the clock outside my apartment buildings door now! I love these little guys and usually I eat them raw. Wanting to know what kind on nutritional value I wa looking at I did some research and found the little guys are packed with Vitamin C, A, dietary fiber and possibly betacarotine (possibly because I think I remember reading that but I'm too lazy to try to find the truth...). Anyway the point is that I decided to bake with the little suckers. Now if you've never eaten a persimmon you should know that they don't have a very strong flavor but they have a very distinct flavor. With this in mind I new anything involving chocolate would be bad. So I thought about it and thought that a persimmon pie might be good. But after looking at some recipes online I decided to go for cookies. A very basic cookie recipe (minus chocolate chips add raisins and almonds) substitute persimmon for oil and "voila" cookies. I think they are mighty tasty however if I had to do it again I would make a persimmon version of a carrot cake and add frosting. The cookies are good but they need more "uumph".

New Challenge

2010-10-04T18:23:00.002-05:00

It was a busy weekend this week. First started with the celebration of a coworker's birthday. A lot of my new coworkers went. It was really nice to get to spend time and get to know my new coworkers. First we went to a wine bar and then we headed to a hotel with a "night club" in the top. I had a lot of fun!

On Saturday we headed to a foreigner owned bar in Korea. We were really craving burgers so we headed to a place that is known for their burgers and has one of the biggest burgers I've ever seen. It comes with a challenge. My friend tries and fails. I'm gonna try later and not fail...

This burger has 4 1/2lb patties, each covered with cheese and two pieces of bacon. The plate includes fries and chili. You have 1 hour to finish the burger and everything on the plate. The prize: 1 pitcher of beer, shot of jagermiester and bragging rights...

Resolution #7

2010-09-28T09:47:00.003-05:00

I wanna fess up right now and tell you that I'm aware that this isn't the spicest dokbokki in Korea, however it might be the best. I had to wait in a line for 30mins for this stuff. It was AWESOME! It is awesome everytime too!

We also went to a Taekwondo Festival this weekend. It was nice, we saw extreme sparring and some amazing kicks! We did some sightseeing in Seoul because Jess's sister was in for the weekend. This is the gate to the Korean president's house, the blue house.

I've been doing some work on my resolutions but I'm not done yet and I only have 3 months left.

Some of the things left to do include:

2. See a Korean Traditional Village (no excuses, I NEED to do this)

5. Get lost on a Seoul City Bus (virtually impossible, I can read better than ever and know the city well, but let's try)

6. Teach Dambi a new trick in Korean and English (I'm just lazy and so is he)

8. Get my 2nd Degree Black Belt (date set: Oct 16th)

10. Try 20 different beers (in due time)

11. Ride in one of the 3D machines (technically done, not documented)
12. Play in a Korean arcade (also done, not documented)

13. Go to a Casino (found, will do!)

14. Go to the American Embassy (this is important!)
18. Go to a pool party (or just a pool) (too late now?)

19. Go to the library in Korea (hmm not too hard)

20. Go to the Korean National Museum (ok, again, should've already been done!)

21. Go to the Kimchi Museum (right-o)

23. Go ice skating (I should just wait till it's cold again...)

24. Make Jam (did I loose the recipe?)
27. Go to the Zoo (I've heard weird things...and after seeing China's version...)

28. Order Food to my house (and catch it on video) (this has been done so many times!)

I will get to work on it! I promise, only 3 months left!

China-Day 6

2010-09-24T20:12:00.008-05:00

The last day we spent doing my favorite (and what I'm most skilled at) thing: shopping!

This building is known as the Pearl Market and you can find a little of everything here. They have other more concentrated markets in Beijing, but this one is very famous so we decided to hit it up!Inside I bargained like a cheap Jew. But to be fair they were asking crazy high prices and I believe that they know that most travelers are too lazy to do the math to figure out how much they are paying so they don't bargain. I wanted a good deal, not just pay something I could afford. I'm starting to get scared about how much like my father I am. I bought two t-shirts from this girl. She wanted to sell them to me for the equivalent of $50 I got them both for $12, which I don't think is a steal but it's reasonable. She slapped me and told me I was crazy the whole time I was shopping though.

After shopping we were starving. So we set out to get some Peking Duck. Here is the Chef cutting our duck.This is our sides and duck.

It tastes best with some sauce, onions and wrapped in a bread similar to a flour tortilla.

Then we headed to the airport and back to Seoul. It felt nice to get back home. I like traveling but I think I'm done this year. I took 4 international flights already this year and had to deal with visas and dysentery and customs too many times. If you need to see me come to Seoul.

China-Day 5

2010-09-24T20:09:00.006-05:00

Day 5 we spent most of the day at the Great Wall. We had to hike quite a bit to get to the good views from the wall. But we spent a good bit of the day in the car to get to the wall. We went to a less touristy area of the wall. There were probably about 30 people in our tour group and besides that there was no one else on the wall where we were. It was nice to not have a huge amount of people around. The view was breath taking.

It was also very steep in parts!

Parts were well kept, but that added to the character of the place.

It's a really long way.

After this when we got back to the hostel we showered and hung out in the hostel all day. They were having a party to celebrate the Moon Harvest Festival (or something like that..). We got to sample free food (which you know I never miss) and we drank some drinks. We needed a relaxing night to make up for all the work we did today...

China-Day 4

2010-09-24T19:56:00.012-05:00

Day 4, we are determined to have a better second half to our trip. Looks like the weather will be accomodating so we head out.

First we catch the train to the electronics market in Beijing. Shea, the tall boy, wants to find a camera so we roll out. So crowded ALL the time...

We get to a really shabby market first and they have just a handful of cameras. But we did happen to find a really nice one. But the seller was kind of not nice so we didn't buy and we left. We made it to a much nicer area with a huge selection. We can tell that we will be paying a little more but the service is much better. We walk in a look at a couple cameras. We ask the price and because I make a gesture like "I can't believe that you are asking so much for this" a young (no older that 18ish) boy takes us through some back hallways and up an elevator. When we get to our destination we are greeted by a bunch of camera salespeople. They ask ridiculous high price and I say "wow, that's expensive." They hand me a piece of paper and ask what I want to pay. I put down a number less than half of their original asking price and wait to be laughed at and escorted from the building. They look at my price and smirk so we all get up and walk out. As we are walking out, salesmen in the hallway were asking us to buy their cameras and the people we just dealt with take our price. Shea got a new camera at that moment. It was good.

All that bargaining made us hungry so we ate for lunch. This is something we don't know...

This is a tofu dish...

This is a rice pastery, we think...

After the morning shopping we head out to some famous places around the Beijing area. Like this government building... And this museum...

And this People's Monument in Tienamen Square.

A nice view

One of the gates. Story here. As we are looking at this and taking pictures a man comes up to us and tells us this story about how today is a special day because tomorrow the Eqypt president or whatever is coming so today foreigners can go up in the tower and get a good look. Not that we aren't skeptical but we go anyway. We have nothing else to do...

A lamp in that tower...it was made in China. Look at the bottom of it.

This is the entrance to the Forbidden City.

We entered and saw this and a lot of this. The whole "city" is this and there is a lot of it. Most boring city EVER!

This is the Imperial Garden.

Mom, for you.

As we were heading back to our hotel we saw this {lake?} anyway it was beautiful to me so I took a picture of it...Then later that night we went to a Kung Fu show. Not that it was horrible, I just felt that my Taekwondo could come in handy too...They did do some crazy stuff I wouldn't and the kids in the show were beyond amazing. Heading through the night market in Beijing.

Then we went to bed. Early rise for the Great Wall tomorrow...

China-Day 3

2010-09-24T19:36:00.011-05:00

So as the city of Xi'an isn't that big we do the next thing that looks interesting to us. That is GO TO THE ZOO!! We are excited about reliving the days of our youth and seeing animals we haven't seen in a while. Let's just say there was trouble starting the minute we left the house.

First we had trouble catching the first bus of the day. We didn't know that the bus stop looking place with a bus schedule on it was NOT the bus stop. But after realizing the bus wasn't stopping for us we decided to find the actual stop. Once we got there we were suprized how long it took for our bus to come...then we realized that the buses were stopping in two different places. Ok, but we finally figured it out and got on a bus. Now, this wasn't the only bus that we needed to be on. We needed to take the bus to the park and transfer to another bus. We got to what we thought might be the park and got off the bus. We tried to ask if we were in the right place and if the bus #9 would stop at the place we were at or if we needed to go somewhere else.

While we were asking about our bus, it arrived. We got on with a couple other Chinese people. As we got on the driver lights a cigarette (on a no smoking bus) and the driver's assisstant tells everyone to get off. Since we don't really know what is going on we stay on and try to ask what's going on. The assisstant tells the driver (we assume) to start the bus and away we go. While we are moving she asks us for bus fare. She points to a ticket and the number on the ticket could have only been a 6 or a 9. Jess gives her a 10 and we get 2 tickets and 2 ones back. No matter how you do the math, this just doesn't make sense. But we go with it.

The bus heads along and Jess and I are somewhat worried because we are the only people on the bus and the driver is passing all the stops and not picking up any passengers. Then we stop for gas. They ask us to get out of the bus, so we do...At this point we wonder if we will end up at the zoo or if we will be part of a human trafficing scandel. But Jess assures me we are going to the right place because there is a bird on the bus ticket we bought so it must be headed to the zoo.

We did however finally make it to the zoo. A relief because we weren't sold into white slavery and let down because this is the zoo from hell. We should've left right away when they told us that there were no pandas. But we were determined to have fun at the zoo. As soon as we get in the park we are totally disgusted. First, you can't really walk, it's too big. So everyone piles into these tour buses and goes together. No getting out all the pics are taken from the bus. Not to mention that there was this hug douche bag on the bus trying to take all the window seats with his water bottle and bags. I sat in a seat with nothing in it and he proceeded to yell at me...whatever. Half of the animals that we were supposed to see weren't even there. No where to be seen. The ones we did see weren't in the best of conditions. They were underfed and dirty After the tour there were some building that you could walk around and look at smaller animals in. Like fish and the like. We found a building of monkeys. They looked sooooo sad. It was the worst conditions for an animal. A big concrete box with no vegetation (even fake) inside. No place for the monkey to play. Terrible.

The zoo was a total let down. It was abandoned and rundown and the animals looked so sad and scared.

But after we got back near the city we lifted our spirits a bit with this Xi'an famous pork sandwich. It was DELICIOUS!!! Really greasy but whatever, soooo good!

After the sandwich we got on the bus and headed for the airport and Beijing. I want to say that this was an easy, well planned flight. But I would be lying. We left like an hour late for our less that 2 hours flight. On top of that we had to stop in the middle of nowhere. Our flights said "non-stop" but that would be a gross exaggeration of the truth. Anyway we made it to Beijing late, but whatever...This was needed.
Some snacks we tried in the airport. We met up with our buddy Shea at the airport and headed to our hostel.

It was a nice enough place. Hot showers and comfy beds and an in house bar. Not bad really. We were tired so we all passed right out.

China-Day 2

2010-09-24T19:33:00.006-05:00

So here's Day 2. We woke up sort of early to go see the Terracotta Soldiers. According to wikipedia: is a collection of terracota sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China.
The figures, dating from 210 BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.
The figures vary in height 1.83–1.95 metres (6.0–6.4 ft), according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits.

First we head off to the train to catch a bus to the site of the Warriors. On the way to the station a Chinese man tried to pickpocket me. But my stealth reflexes and skills scared him off and I walked away with all my belongings and a lower opinion of the Chinese. I have been to 6 different countries and the only country thus far to have any person try to pickpocket me was in China. No worries though, I walked around the rest of the trip BEGGING another cheap bastard to try and take my money so I could teach him and American lesson (via Korean Taekwondo) about taking what's not yours...

Back to the soldiers. The basic story is that a farmer found them back in 1974. When the government found out about them they paid the farmer $5 (which isn't even enough to cover the entrance fee to the park today) and built a park around them. They are STILL working on digging up the rest of the soldiers.
We ate some corn and pea ice cream for a snack and headed back to the city.

After we got back we had dinner. Pearl tea...

Sweet and sour pork...

Let's call this "crazy spaghetti"...

After dinner we headed back to the market and went down a different road. Jessica bought souveniers this time. We picked up some pasteries on the way back to our hotel and then went to bed for the night.

China-Day 1

2010-09-24T18:08:00.007-05:00

I want to preface the whole trip with a couple facts that I found to be true about China. First I think the Chinese people we dealt with were super rude. Not all Chinese are that way but about all the Chinese that we bought things from or went to restaurants for or anything, rude. When we bought stuff many times the change or the thing we bought was thrown back at us. We thought it might be a cultural difference but then we noticed they didn't do it to other Chinese people. This, I think, goes hand in hand with another observation, their English ability is low. Now as a person from the States, a place that REQUIRES you to speak English or die, this was out of control. Ok, I get that I'm not speaking your language. I want you to know English but we can work with the language barriers, I can get around them. But to basically refuse help or service to me because I can't speak Chinese is rude. These two things made it difficult to get around and obviously buy things. Basically I wonder how deep the hate for white people is there. I do want to mention again that this is not EVERY Chinese person and some people were nice, just the majority weren't.

Food: not what you get in the American Chinese Buffet...Also I think that Colonel Sanders came in and killed General Tso because we didn't find any of his chicken. There were however so many KFC's...

Now on to our show...

The first day of our trip. We had a 2 hour flight to Beijing, China. Since we didn't think they would be feeding us on the plane we decided to grab "some" snacks!!! Some EPIC snacks!!! A Korean guy on the plane told us that these snacks were for kids. We were aware and didn't care...

Once we got to Beijing we met up with Jess's sisters. Then boarded a flight to Xi'an (pronounced She-an)Shortly after arrival we booked a room at this hotel:We are rich in China...

After we booked our room and put out luggage in our room we headed to the mall. As you are aware I love many things about malls. Clothes, shoes, stuff in general. But in a foreign country the mall can give you a good idea about how the people live. What they wear. What's important. That kind of thing. We ate dinner at the mall Food Court. We had sooo many options!

Next we went to a couple tour spots. The Drum Tower and the Bell Tower...Then got some Haagen Daaz and went to the night market.

I love night markets because you can get corny little trinkets and see crazy foods and bargain with the people. This one did not disappoint. After walking the maket for a while and purchasing some things we headed back to the hotel for the night.

My New Apt

2010-09-13T11:35:00.003-05:00

Finally I got the video of my new apt loaded and ready to go!!! Thanks for waiting!

A Weekend Of My Life!

2010-09-12T10:20:00.008-05:00

Ok so here's the story of a busy weekend. It started out innocent enough. I was at work teaching and hanging out with my kids. They are soo cute. Look at my little 4 year olds:

Then Friday night got out of hand. We went to a bar that we frequently go to. It is known for being a bar for foreigners mostly, but there have been lots of Koreans there lately...Not important. What is important is that on Friday nights they have a basketball shooting game where if you make a basket you win a bottle of alcohol. I made a shot and took a nice bottle of Absolut Vodka for my prize!Then two other people in our group won bottles as well. Needless to say we didn't "walk" out of this bar...

Saturday also started out innocent enough. I had lunch with the girls. Then we went to a soccer game on foreigner day and got a free beer and a free hot dog. It was awesome. My team lost though and so the bet was that the losing team has to take 7 shots of tequila in 1 hour. I will let you know how that goes later...Pics from the game.

Next we went and had a little celebration for Shae's birthday. Nice and simple. No overdrunken night!The next day Shea and I went to the Screen Golf place. It was really nice. I played the worst game of my life but it was still fun! Like $20 for 18 holes.

New School

2010-08-29T11:24:00.004-05:00

As most of you know I started a new school two weeks ago. It is different from my old school in a couple of ways. First, it's not an English school like my old school. It is a regular Korean preschool and the students just take an English class. So during school the kids are allowed to speak in Korean (not in their English classes...) and most of their classes are taught in Korean. Also the age group is different. I went from have kids between 6yrs (4-5 American age) to 12 (10-11 American). Now I have from 4yrs (2-3 American) to 7yrs (5-6 American). They are unbelievably cute! Also, I used to work with 8 other foreign teachers and countless Koreans. Now I work with 1 other foreigner and maybe 15 Koreans. Are school also finishes earlier. Since at my last school we had older kids our school stayed open longer. But now that we have younger kids my school "closes" at 4. I have to stay and plan but I finish teaching by 4 everyday, which is really nice.

These are the 4 yr olds. Sooooo small and cute!These are the 6yr olds, the classes I spend the most time in.These are the 7yr olds. The other foreign teacher spends most of her time with them. They are a handful!Another difference about this school and the last one is that we don't have to teach on Friday! Every Friday we have a different event like birthday party or field trips that take up the majority of the day. This Friday was a Fairy Tale theme so the kids spent all day do crafts and games that were centered around that theme.
!

Baseball Game!

2010-08-23T09:56:00.002-05:00

On Sunday we went to a baseball game between my favorite team in Korea (the LG Twins) and some other uneccessary team. My team won! The gang at the game.

Ty, the owner of the camera and the reason that there are suddenly more pictures of me on my blog...

Busan Weekend!

2010-08-23T08:48:00.007-05:00

We followed the popular crowds of Korea and headed to Korea's busiest beaches for the weekend. We went to Busan.
Me writing Korean words in the sand.Me on the subway on the way to the beach.Jessica and Lin on Hyundae Beach, the most famous beach in Korea.

Us in a market to eat live octopus...againSadness, going home.

The Twins Birthday

2010-08-22T01:35:00.004-05:00

To celebrate the twins birthday a bunch of my old coworkers and I got together at a place where you can eat all the food you want and drink all the wine and champagne you want for 3 hours. It was at a nice hotel so we all decided to "dress up" and have a nice evening out...

Philippines Day 8

2010-08-22T01:26:00.004-05:00

So on the last day of the trip I got a tattoo. I thought a long time ago about getting a frog on my foot and so I did. It took a long time because he wanted to do a bunch of artistic shading and what not...This is the LAST tattoo that I will get because it hurt sooo much. Anyway it is so cute!

This is the outlineMy tattoo artist, NickMe in a TON of pain!Finished product.

After this we took a bus, to a ferry, to a trike to our plane. It was a long trip home but it was nice to be heading home!

Philippines Day 7

2010-08-18T09:25:00.006-05:00

Today I changed up the routine a bit. A guy I met, Packy, and I went to do some exploring. We had both heard of these famous waterfalls near the town we were staying at. But first lunch: from left to right, squid (possibly in it's own ink), chicken and veggies, pork of some kind.Before we started on our journey we picked up some fruit at a local fruit stand. These are mango steems. They are delicious.Pull off the hard exterior and then eat the juicy insides. It is different than any fruit I've ever had and super delicious.After we got on a bus and road until they told us to get off we landed at this "park". Here are some pictures on the way to the falls.Packy, tired of me taken so many pictures and wanting desperatly wanting to get to the waterfalls.This is the place where no other people were so we decided to pick here for the place to swim.Dinner that night. Pizza with fish on it.

Philippines Day 6

2010-08-18T08:53:00.004-05:00

Today I started my day like many others...at the beach, swimming. It was a beautiful day so I took some pictures while I was out! This picture also includes the bar that we got those delicious local drinks from.

After my swim I decided to walk around for a while. There were a lot of little trails around the town we stayed at so I walked down a couple and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery.Interesting observation: there were goats tied to trees EVERYWHERE! This is the best looking one that I found. Most of the goats looked really hungry and sickly...Also there were sickly dogs everywhere. The state of the animals here was NOT good. They were not well cared for in my opinion.At the restaurant for dinner. Geckos were everywhere in the Philippines. I actually think they are really cute but they aren't as colorful as I thought they would be...Delicious raw fish salad.Sweet and sour fish steak. Also delicious.Intoxicating rum shake.The entrance to a bar we went to.

This bar had karaoke similar to the way Korea does it. It was a lot of fun to see so many Korean things in the Philippines.

Philippines Day 5

2010-08-13T00:57:00.005-05:00

Today we decided to go scuba diving. It was amazing!!! The views underwater are really cool plus we got to swim with the fish. I just wish I had a camera that could go underwater...

After having the scuba we had a barbeque with Erica's new boyfriend. They made us pork and fish and we ate it on the beach.

Philippines Day 4

2010-08-13T00:50:00.003-05:00

From here the days I spent in the Philippines all look similar. Get up, go for a swim, eat breakfast, swim more, get ready for dinner out and drinks. So from here it might get boring...but probably not. Look at the beautiful scenery...
Another teacher from Korea, a new friend who convinced us to go diving...

Philipines Day 3

2010-08-13T00:12:00.006-05:00

So I mentioned that we weren't really fond of Cebu City. We didn't like the city that much. We wanted beaches and less crowds. So we moved on. To Moalboal we went. We are at the green dot on the map now. We took a bus, around 3 hrs. It was interesting. Food that we picked up outside the bus stop. It was so delicious.

The views out the windows were amazing.
It was here in Moalboal that we decided to stay for a while. As soon as we got there we checked into our cottage and went out for dinner. I had chicken adobo.That was followed by drinks at a bar that was literally on the beach. This is a popular drink made with special limes. It is a deadly drink...but sooooo yummy!We were invited to go to a "big disco" that night and followed some locals to the dance. We ended up being super popular there, we were the only foreigners.

Philipines Day 2

2010-08-12T23:36:00.009-05:00

So we booked tickets and woke up and headed South to an Island called Cebu. Delicious food in the airport. Chai pork something or other.

It is also very popular. But it is famous for Scuba diving and hiking. We were excited...then we got there. Cebu city was not really our favorite place to be but we did have a good time. The best way to travel, the trike.We ate some exciting food, chicken heads and pork on a stick. Then we headed over to the mall. We needed an umbrella and a swimsuit. When we decided to leave we noticed a gathering in the parking lot. We decided to see what all the commotion was about. It was a boxing match. Right in the middle of the mall parking lot. It was awesome!!!

Later that night we went to a bar, of course and ran into some Koreans. We ended up drinking with them for the rest of the night. They were in the Philippines to study English.

Philippines Day 1

2010-08-12T23:21:00.004-05:00

So our trip started on Friday after work. Erica and I got on the plane to the Philippines...We landed in Manila at midnight on Friday. We originally had tickets to fly from there to a well known area called Boracay. But mysteriously these tickets got canceled on the morning before we left so we didn't have anywhere to go when we landed. We got some information at the information desk at the airport and decided that we should spend the night in Manila. It was a good idea. We stayed at a nice place and ate some nice food and booked our flights for the following day. Lomi, a delicious noodle dish.San Miguel the beer of the Philippines and it's stronger brother, Red Horse.

I'm not sure of the safety level in Manila but against our better judgement we went in search of a bar at like 2 in the morning. To ease Erica's mind I decided to carry a weapon for our safety. I picked up a rather nice size rock from the side of the road. We felt much safer and anyone we saw while walking on the road asked my why I was packing (a rock) and I said things like "in case I need to hit you" or "it's my pet". Needless to say our first night in Philippines was really fun. We had NO problems in Manila.

The Last Days

2010-08-05T11:45:00.002-05:00

Recently I finished my contract at the first school I started working at in Korea. I looved working there and after 2 years I really feel that I have made some life long friends and memories. But it is still time to move on. I need a change and need to see where else I can go. So I'm picking up and starting over. Here are some shots that were taken on my last days at SLP. I have been teaching some of these students for two years...

The party with all the co-workers.

Office seriousness...

Mud Fest 2010

2010-08-05T11:25:00.003-05:00

Hey all, this year, once again we attended the Mud Fest held in Boryeong. To refresh about this particular event it is a Festival held in a small town. Once the town found out that they had "special" "good for your skin" mud they used it as a marketing tool to get travelers and tourists from all over the world to visit their town. It has since turned into a huge muddy party where many foreigners get drunk. Pictures:

Soccer Games, Parties and Fireworks

2010-07-11T07:40:00.003-05:00

Each weekend that passes becomes a whirlwind of events. It's never ending in the summer in Seoul. I can't believe that July is half over and I will be leaving my school in two weeks...

What have I been up to, you ask? Well let's start with the continuation of the World Soccer games. Jessica and I go up at 3 in the morning and went to a local pub to watch the game with a bunch of other Koreans. The game was a tie but the bartender still bought a round for the bar. Shots at 5 in the morning after the game...not a great idea. It was a Wednesday morning and we had to work 4 hours later...We were able to convince more friends to join us for the celebration of the next game. It was at 11pm on a Saturday night. We headed out to Seoul and partied like there was no tomorrow. There were so many other people there...It was AMAZING!!!Unfortunatly SLP is losing many great teachers these days. One being Winnie, the Korean on the left. This is a picture from her going away party.Our 4th of July BBQand fireworks. It was a great celebration!!!We went rafting this weekend with the Taekwondo Grand Master. I don't have any pictures yet but I will get some. Next weekend is the yearly Mudfest. Be ready for awesome goings on!!

Again Busy

2010-06-20T03:39:00.005-05:00

I really sorry I haven't been updating regularly. I've been, as always, tooooo busy.

A couple of recent events have been making my life super busy. First take a look at my cute kids at one of our field trips. This happened on June 11th

The next day I went to a waterpark with my Grand Master and the taekwondo school. It was fun but too cold. As with all days that I try to do something outside, it rained. No pics, sorry. That night was the kick off for Korea entering the World Cup soccer games. We had a huge win against Greece and the city of Seoul went nuts. There was another game on Thursday, huge loss. The city was in a state of depression. There is another game this Friday morning. Something you should know about Korea is that they have an amazing sense of team spirit. Everyone will be watching the games. The Koreans all get together and dress in the team color red and become one huge Korean family for the duration of the game. I've never experienced this before in another country. It is truly amazing. Some pics:

The other big thing in my life right now is that Im switching schools. After 2 years with the same school I'm getting bored. I love my job as a teacher but I just need a change of venue. So I will be moving more into Seoul. I will be living closer to a friend of mine, Erica. I will also be making more money. All Fridays are planning days. I will also have a much nicer place to live. The bad things? Nothing except for changing visas and the general move are just things that are difficult. Once everything is set up at the new school I will get pictures and videos of the new house and school. Stay tuned...

2010-05-26T07:25:00.003-05:00

So we took a picture of the lovely port town of Mokpo before we left. Looks like it will be a nice weekend to be at a Island compared to Hawaii. Notice how I say "looks like". Us being ballers and popping champangne bottles of the ship as we left for our Island Getaway.

Day 2 wasn't worth photographing, this is Day 3. You can see how it would be nice if it wasn't so darn rainy.

Our hotel. To be honest we had a really good time. The island was beautiful and full of good food. There was a group of 14 of us (more pics on facebook). We went to a pier and drank and told jokes then played a bunch of games from childhood (think red rover) on the first night. It was a ton of fun. We did go to the beach and spend sometime there as well. We also had a really awesome water gun fight as well. Well Stu and I and another friend were the only ones with guns so it was more of an ambush than a "fight." Then the last day allowed for not much more than waking up late, eating a meal and catching a ferry(which we almost missed anyway). It was a good trip but we will have to go back to see some waterfalls and volcanic rock!!!

Summer Madness Begins

2010-05-18T09:29:00.004-05:00

The last couple of weeks have been a blur. It is that time of year all around the world I guess. We are busy with classes and parties for the summertime. These things have been made more complicating with a nice addition to my life: Stu, the boyfriend. So with the little free time I have I am with him and so even when I'm not busy I'm not here doing what I do best, nothing. So there we are. That's why I have been slacking on posts and pictures. I do plan on doing a better job. I have lots of excitng things coming up so look for stuff especially since I still have resolutions to do... Anyway, Stu's birthday was this past weekend, here are some pics and a video. Don't be offended by his language...he really is a nice boy even if he is Canadian.

Also this week there happened to be another Teacher's Day. Here are the gifts I got from my students. Not to mention (but I guess I just did) that we also got a lot of cookies, donuts and chocolates that were consumed before this picture was taken.

Birthday Blog

2010-05-17T00:13:00.003-05:00

My birthday this year was celebrated a little late. We went out to a place called Hongdae and just hung out in some bars in the area. Hongdae is famous for bars and clubs. It is a really famous hit place to go. We had a lot of fun. Then the next day I met the twins for lunch and cake. Some of the presents include: rollarblades from Stu, cosmetics from the twins, bubble guns from Jessica, cactus from Gina, Hello Kitty stuff from Becca and lots of booze from everyone else. It was an awesome celebration!

BUSY LIFE!!!

2010-04-27T14:02:00.011-05:00

So I've had some pretty busy weekends and weekdays lately and thats why I'm going to do a huge 2 weekend long blog. Let's start with Saturday April 17th. I went to Everland with a couple of my really close friends. Since the pictures look similar to the ones taken the other 5 times I've been there I decided not to post them again. Instead I'm posting my friend Erica (from America) dancing at a local bar. She is doing a belly dance to a popular Korean song. I missed a good portion of the beginning, just so you are aware...

Then the following day a group of girls and I went to Dr. Fish. This is a place where you put your feet into a tank of hungry fish and they proceed to eat the dead skin off your feet. No worries it's painless because either their teeth aren't that sharp or they know when to stop eating. Mainly it's just really ticklish.

The following Friday we went on a field trip to some Gardens. It was a nice warm day and the plants are looking lovely, as well as my students.On Saturday the 24th my Taekwondo gym walked 18miles down to a Taekwondo demonstration. Here are some pics and videos. I hope you like them!

Resolution #9

2010-04-12T09:33:00.003-05:00

So this weekend was a wirlwind of activities. Luckily the weather was awesome so we spent most of the weekend outside.
Friday night I went shopping with one of my coworkers. It has been a while since I last bought clothes. I needed some new jeans. I went to Dongdaemun with a coworker of mine and we found the awesomest "jeans lady" in Korea. She was able to get us the perfect size jeans and pick jeans that made us look skinnier. It was awesome. I bought 2 pairs for the equivalent of $6o. I was so excited.

Saturday one of my coworkers got married. It was alot like the other Korean weddings I went to. During the ceremony the bride started crying and someone from the wedding crew was right there wiping her eyes and retouching her makeup. In Korea, since they like tape everything it is really important to them to look perfect during the whole ceremony. Anyway, there was a buffet at the end. That was awesome!!!

Sunday was the day of my first 5k race. That is the equivalent on 3 miles or so. I ran it in about 25 minutes, a little less. There are no pictures because my camera was out of battery from the day before. After the race I met up with a bunch of my friends and we played football and badminton in the park all afternoon. We then went back to my friends apartment and ordered chicken and pizza. It was a really good weekend full of friends and fun.

Resolutions 25 and 26

2010-04-05T05:43:00.007-05:00

So this weekend I took an Epic Adevnture like my horoscope said I would and I went to the Port City of Mokpo. Mostly I went to visit Brad. He is a guy that worked with Erica (from America) and then switched jobs. I got down to Mokpo on Friday night. The weather was nicer than Seoul by a couple degrees. Once I got there we went out and got food. We went to a place to eat galbi, Korean barbeque. At this particular restaurant they served us a TON of side dishes one of which fulfills one of my Resolutions (that isn't on the list). Some pics:

Silk Worm Larve Resolution #25I didn't like it too much. On Saturday Brad and I went to the YuDal Mountain Flower Festival. While we were there we sat down in a tent on the side of the road and had some lunch. It consisted of Dong Dong Ju (a rice wine) and Whale. Yes, you read it correctly WHALE! It is pretty good, kinda fatty, but still tastes good. Pics from Saturday (Part 1):This is resolution #26. Ever since I started watching Korean drama and saw 2 of the main characters eat and drink in a tent on the side of the road I have wanted to do it. Here we are...After the Flower Festival we traveled to the coast to one of the Seafood Markets. We were still hungry after eating a whale and decided to go for live octopus. Something I already knew I liked we decided to have it again...

Not long after this video was taken a table of Koreans invited us over to join them. They proceeded to give us a ton of delicious seafood and of couse soju. They were like buying all kinds of stuff for us. It was really nice. Since both Brad and I speak a little Korean (Brad a lot more than me) we could even hold a decent conversation with them. All in all it was really fun. After dinner we headed to the rocks. There is a good story about these rocks that I'm sure I will mess up so maybe I will beg Brad to comment on here the story.

On Sunday we spent most of the day determined to find turtle to buy and eat. We didn't...Instead we ate this really good crab soup. We then walked around the city a bit and enjoyed the nice weather until I had to get on a bus back to Bundang. Anyway, Epic Adventure.

Busy AGAIN!!!

2010-03-31T05:02:00.002-05:00

Nothing to exciting going on over here right now. We are kinda keeping a low profile for the next couple of weeks. April has too much for us to do.

April week 1- biking trip in Southern Korea

April Week 2- A co-workers wedding and my 5k race

April Week 3- Our K-pop dance party

April Week 4- TKD does an 18 mile walk to see a demonstration

There is just no end to our activities...But in May I have nothing planned, except planning not to make plans. Good right? Im excited.

We did however have a "Reach the Beach" Party to welcome spring. Of course it was freezing, but it was fun anyway.

Taekwondo black belt

2010-03-27T02:30:00.004-05:00

So for all who have been patiently holding their breath(s) HERE IT IS!!! The videos of my taekwondo black belt test.

This video is me doing "Pum Sae"

This is me beating up a boy

This is the strength test

Resolution #4 and #16 (partial)

2010-03-13T23:35:00.006-06:00

Ok so yesterday I think I technically finished 2 different resolutions. Grand Master invited me and another girl that I work with and do Taekwondo with to go to Seoul Land with him for free. Of course we said yes. As if that wasn't amazing enough God decided to allow Jessica to win a bumper cars game and we got free tickets to ride this bungee jumping thing. AMAZING!!!

Then after the amusement park we all headed back to my house and asked one of the boys from Taekwondo and had a Bar-B-Que party. We grilled meat and had some soup. It was a good night. Plus the Grand Master got drunk which was also awesome!

Here's why I said this is partial. The bungee jumping thing was AWESOME but it isn't actual bungee jumping. Also I have no pictures from the Bar-B-Que.

Photos courtesy of Grand Master ...

I'm slacking

2010-03-08T03:42:00.003-06:00

So no recent resolution finishes this week. I have been out and about doing a lot though. I have been seeing my friends and findinf new bars and clubs everywhere. Really exciting stuff. I did eat some really delicious dukbokki but I'm told its not the spiciest so I am off questing again. Here are some pics of my recent "stuffs."

Melisa is a coworker that is leaving us soon. We have been trying (key word trying) to squeeze in all her favorite stuff before she leaves.My babies have graduated. They will enter public elementary school this year. I will still get to see them everyday, but I just can't believed they are growing up so fast. I have been these students teacher since I got here 1 year and 8 months ago. (I know, I can't believe I've been gone that long either)My boss took me and another coworker out for lunch on our day off. We were treated to dog meat. It was awesome. I just can't tell you how much I love this stuff. I found my family in Seoul!!!Cool right?

Resolution #22

2010-02-24T03:42:00.004-06:00

So I finished another of my goals!!! I went to a meetup meeting last night. Meetup is an internet based group of people that organizes stuff for people to get together and do. They have meetup groups all over the WORLD!!! Of course we have a group here is Seoul. So as a promise to myself I signed up to go to an event. You just can't know to many people. Just when you think you've met everyone, you meet someone else...Enough of that crackpipe. I went to see Chicago in concert last night. A group of about 10 of us went. It was AWESOME!!! I was so excited to get to hear some of the music I grew up on (thanks to mom and pop). Anyway quite an experience. Also I was super lucky because my lovely roommate Gina wanted to come with me, so I wasn't the only person under 100 years old there...

Vino at the Villa

2010-02-24T03:35:00.004-06:00

Gina and I decided to be "adults" and host a "sophisticated" party. We had a wine and cheese party. We invited 20 or 30 or 40 of our nearest and dearest in South Korea. I think like everyone showed up at some point or another. We ended the night with at least 30 bottles of wine and a couple more bottles of beer, soju and makeolli. It was quite a night, yet not as "sophisticated" as we were originally going for...Wonder how that happened?

Lunar New Year!!!

2010-02-17T08:33:00.005-06:00

So I just wanted to write and let everyone know that I'm not slacking. I actually did do something this week. I didn't finish anything else on my list but I did something fun! A couple of my friends and I went to Everland, an amusement park in Korea. I've been there before but they were having a holiday festival and therefore were allowing foreigners in for $20. It was a ton of fun!We went to Everland on Monday because we had the day off for the Korean Lunar New Year. It was awesome.
Also, today we bought tickets for China. I will be going there in September for the Korean version of Thanksgiving.

Resolution #17

2010-02-07T05:11:00.004-06:00

Alright so here I am sitting in my room writing another blog. Nothing exciting happened this week just normal run of the mill week. I didn't even really do anything this weekend. I had a great night out on Friday with my roommate(see picture at top). Saturday I relaxed all day after my Korean class. Then today I went for a hike, got a foot and leg massage and then made this video. "The video being what?" you ask. As promised it is the video of my new apartment with Gina. It nothing spectacular but we sure love it!!! Enjoy~

Mustard Sucks...

2010-01-31T06:23:00.007-06:00

So today we made a trip to the De Militarised Zone (DMZ) today. This completes #15 on things I want to complete this year. For those of you who don't know the DMZ marks the like line between North Korea and South Korea. There is an area that measures 2km on each side of the line that the countries aren't allowed to bring weapons to. First we visited Imjingak. This was a place that was built for those yearning for unification come to pray and wish. It is filled with various remainders of the battlefield.

Prayers and wishes for unification.The bridge. Its too foggy/snowy...This is the Bell of Peace built to represent peace of mankind in the new millennium. Lunch. Mmmm yummy.An igloo, random.A line which we couldn't pass to take pictures. Just beyond this line you can look through binoculars and see North Korea.Last we visited a place called Dora Station. It represents the hopeful unity to happen between North and South Korea. It will serve as a means to travel to/though North Korea. Presently they send 1 or 2 trains though daily for the exchange of goods. I really enjoyed my trip but feel like it didn't express the gravity of the situation. I can honestly say I don't know a lot about North Korea or how it is to live as a North Korean but because South Koreans are hopeful for unity and eager to forget the past they made this part of their country (a place that should be filled with sorrowing memories) almost equivalent to an amusement park. There was only one place that I really experienced the seriousness of the situation. We weren't allowed to take pictures there. In 1978 a tunnel dug from North Korea heading to Seoul was found. You can go down into the tunnel and see the door to the other side. At this point we were approx. 55 meters from North Korea. There was a whole lot of barbed wire in front of the metal door and we could see into a window that led to another metal door. I wish I could've taken a picture because it was the most serious place we visited all day. But that is probably why we couldn't...Anyway 2 down and I don't know how may to go. Every time I finish a resolution I think of another one to add to my list.

Skiing on Saturday and Sunday

2010-01-25T04:30:00.002-06:00

So I know that I'm supposed to be doing things on my "resolution list" but I thought I would make the most of a good opportunity instead. The grand master at TKD asked Gina and I (yes I will put that video up soon...) if we wanted to go skiing and we said "YES!!!" So we went. It was a really awesome weekend. Erica (from America) also joined us and about 15 other TKD students (aka the kids). We all headed to a resort about 1 and 1/2 hours away from our home. Once we got there we got set up in our rooms for the night. Then headed to the slopes. We were such a mess of gear and kids and such by the time we got there that we didn't really have a lot of time to ski. Part of that is also due to the fact that like tons of people were there too. We had to wait in lines and ski slowly around people and all sorts of other stuff. It was still a great first day though. We ended the day with a trip to the water park. At this resort during the summer it is a waterpark and a hiking place and in the winter it is a ski resort and they open the indoor part of the water park. Lets just say that that was an awesome idea. We spent the day outside in the cold and snow and then the night inside warm water. Nice...then we headed back to our sleeping space and played hwatu and drank for a bit. Not too much though because we were surrounded by kids. Erica's first time skiing was this weekend and this is the part where she made a breakthrough, she didn't fall down right away. To be totally fair though I was the one who was teaching her how to ski and I a) am not the best skiier in the world and 2)do not really know how I do what I do on skis and last) just thought it should be easy. But she was really patient with my horrible instruction and then we made a train and she totally got it. By the end of Day 2 she was doing really well.

Day 2 was more skiing, since we already had our gear we didn't have to deal with that mess this time and since we went so early in the morning there were hardly any lines. It was really nice. We then ate some lunch and headed home. Let's just say I was exhausted by the end of the weekend. It was awesome all the same. How many times can you say that you went skiing with your Taekwondo Grand Master? you:0 me:1

Potluck at the Palace #1

2010-01-20T08:03:00.002-06:00

It isn't on my list of things to accomplish this year but we did it anyway. We had our very first house party. It was AWESOME!!! It was potluck style where you could bring anything you wanted to. So we ate, drank and played some games. Totally awesome. One of the saddest parts is that this was kind of the first of many going away parties for Sarah Oh, who will be leaving us soon. Part of the crowd.

Lazy girls, just relax and have fun.

My Koreans: Sarah is in the front

My wife

Me cooking

It was a total hit everyone said so...The only thing that sucked was the next day. Be read for #2...

Resolution #3 Bowling in Korea

2010-01-18T10:34:00.003-06:00

I have finished my first resolution of the year. We finished it last Saturday, not even a week after I returned to Korea. The resolution was to go bowling in Korea. Now I know you are thinking "why does it matter if she bowls in Korea?" and here's my answer...it doesn't. Since I have been aware that there were places to go bowling in Korea it has been on my list of things to do on the weekend. So there isn't some amazing story about bowling just that it has been an idea of mine for a while. Luckily enough a girl at work had her birthday last Saturday and thought it would be fun to go bowling. Some things about our experiences: there was a large group of 13 foreigners all in one place, we were drinking which wasn't allowed (this is the first that ever happened) and we were acting crazy. It was a lot of fun. Some of us were really good bowlers and some of us (*cough* Gina and I) were just there for fun (because we sucked). Anyway we all had a good time and we were entertainment for the nearby Koreans. Many of the Koreans standing near us were watching and laughing. It's only because we are awesome though. Gina taking pictures of the bowling crowd.

Me being awesome.

Hannah strutting her stuff...Hannah is one of the better bowlers.

Autumn...enough said.

Us drinking when we weren't supposed to (and didn't know it...).

New Year, New Blog and New Hair

2010-01-05T10:51:00.007-06:00

First I wanted to start out the new year with new hair. I cut off the hair that I have been growing for the past 18 months to donate it to one of those wig making places. I cut off something like 10 or 11 inches. It was crazy. Here is my new 'do. Nice right?
Ok, so I am still stateside visiting family and friends. It has been awesome to see all of you that I was able to see. I will be leaving for Korea again in 4 days. Wow too soon but it is what it is.
This blog is a blog that will define the next year of blogs that I will write. I am going to share my list of "resolutions" for the year of 2010. As of now I have 23 "resolutions" that I am planning on completing before the end of the year and we will see how many I actually get through. I hope I get through a lot though...Here it is:
1. Travel outside Korea twice (Jamaica, Philippines, Germany, China, or Greece are some of my options.)
2. See a Korean Traditional Village
3. Go bowling in Korea
4.Bungee Jumping
5. Get lost on a Seoul City Bus
6. Teach Dambi a new trick in Korean and English
7. Find the spiciest Dukbokki in Seoul
8. Get my 2nd Degree Black Belt
9. Run a 10k (or maybe just a 5k)
10. Try 20 different beers
11. Ride in one of the 3D machines
12. Play in a Korean arcade
13. Go to a Casino
14. Go to the American Embassy
15. Go to the DMZ
16. Have a Barbecue party at my new house
17. Make a video of my new house
18. Go to a pool party (or just a pool)
19. Go to the library in Korea
20. Go to the Korean National Museum
21. Go to the Kimchi Museum
22. Go to a Meetup Meeting
23. Go ice skating
24. Make Jam
25. Eat Silk Worm Larve
26. Drink Alcohol in a Tent
27. Go to the Zoo (I've heard weird things...)
28. Order Food to my house (and catch it on video)
29. Find the tallest building (in my area) with an accessible roof

Some of these resolutions might not make since right now but as I document the different tasks I will give a more in depth explanation of what exactly I'm talking about and why I decided to do it.

2009-12-26T07:25:00.002-06:00

To all my lovely followers. All 4 of you...Just wanted to let you all know that currently I am stateside. I am loving being home. I missed my family a ton. It took too long to get here though. I am not looking to the trip back. It will be brutal I guess.

Anyway, right now we have tons of snow to play in...Pictures to come. Everyone have a Merry Christmas.

Kimchi and goodbyes

2009-11-29T01:49:00.005-06:00

So we made some kimchi this week. It was fun, but also a little messy. Here are the pics:

I would tell you more about how to make kimchi, but I still don't really know. Basically you grind up ginger, garlic, peppers, onions and small shrimp and make a paste, don't forget the red pepper paste! Then you cover heads of cabbage. Then you have a vegetable that will be edible all year. This is sort of a fermentation process so it is okay if it gets old. In fact there is a famous restaurant (that I have yet to visit) that is known for their 3 year old kimchi.

After work we all headed down to the local barbecue joint and said farewell to our boss and Graeme. It was a good time.

The Great Wall...of Korea

2009-11-22T08:15:00.003-06:00

Today I went on a hike with a couple of my coworkers. We went to a mountain not far from where we live. There, is a park that has the remains of the Namhansan Fortress (남한산성) and we walked around the wall. It was nice.

Namhansanseong (literally "South Han Mountain Fortress") is a park at an elevation of 480m above sea level, immediately to the southeast of Seoul. It is located on Namhansan ("South Han Mountain"). It contains fortifications that date to the 17th century, and a number of temples.
Tradition connects the site of Namhansanseong with Onjo, founder of Baekje. In 672, a fortress called Chujangseong (書長城) was built on the western edge of Namhansan to protect Silla from Tang China. Later the fortress was renamed Iljangseong (日長城). Goryeo kings kept the fortress in repair as a defensive outpost for Gwangju, the nearby provincial capital.

Anyway some pics (there was some snow on the mountain...)

Also we saw this cool church that is a mixture of a church and Traditional Korean Architecture

Then I couldn't take my dog on the bus home so I smuggled him in my shirt...

Nothing

2009-11-21T09:09:00.006-06:00

Just some random updates.

PS I thought I would let you all know that I decided that since I have already been here a year I didn't need to update as much. Things aren't changing and we all know I lived through the first year so I don't feel I need to update as much. Its NOT because I am lazy and don't want to, so there.

I have some pictures of me and my old sparring partner (in Taekwondo) in new pictures with our black belts on...they are good, have a look.

Also, I went shopping today (something new and different) and I saw these two older men playing with toys. It was interesting. I taped it...

For those of you totally unaware I am coming home to visit in December. I will be there on the 24th and will leave again on the 9th of January. Let me know if you want me to come visit you...

Stuff

2009-11-08T07:00:00.005-06:00

So as an effect of not having to teach all day for the last two weeks I got super lazy and used all my extra time to sleep or study.

I started taking Korean class a month ago and then I got upgraded into a new, much harder class. Most of the class is taught in Korean and I have to concentrate a TON! But I do love the class, it is nice to learn something that I can put into practice immediatly.

Last Wednesday I finally went to a local market that is really well known. I have been meaning to go to it since I heard about it. That was maybe a year ago...Anyway the market is full of all kinds of things. This is also the market that you would go to to buy a dog to eat. I saw them, too sad. Doesn't make me not want to eat dog, just is sad. I bought a "fruit" there. It looked strange so I thought I don't care what it is I will just buy it. Turns out this "fruit" is used like an airfreshner. You don't eat it, you just put it in your house or car and it makes it smell good. After it dries up you can make a sweet tea from it. I might as well try it, right?

Thursday was our birthday party, nothing new with that, picture anyway.

Friday was Halloween, well when we celebrated Halloween. Many of the teachers bought costumes online this year so many of us were some sort of animal. I was a skeleton with a couple of the other girls. I really wanted to scare my kids and make them cry but it didn't work...

We were going to carve a pumpkin but ours was really old and filled with maggots so I decided not to carve it...

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I need to go out and take pictures of the beautiful leaves before they all fall down. It is just starting to get cold here.

Updates

2009-11-03T02:57:00.002-06:00

So I'm sorry but I haven't posted in a while.

Right now Swine Flu has taken over. We didn't have morning classes last week and this week we don't have afternoon classes so I have been working half time for 2 weeks now!

Plus this week we have a day of birthday parties and preschool missed their Halloween Party so we will have it this week too.

I have no excuse for not being around, actually the problem is that with too much time on my hands I get lazy... I will try to post something interesting soon...

Have a good week but guaranteed it won't be as good as mine!

Hmmm

2009-10-24T09:38:00.001-05:00

Checkout my August 31st post. It isn't really new, I started it in August and just finished it, but since I started it in August it left the date the same...Anyway, just do it.

Updates: Late Style

2009-10-20T07:03:00.007-05:00

I am so bad. I have a couple of updates to let you in on that I have been to busy to share lately.

First starting October 10th I finally started going to Korean classes. Right now I am the smartest one in my class. We are learning the alphabet and all kinds of easy stuff, basically starting at square one. I can do almost everything in the book that we are using. But it is also good for me because I was self teaching myself before and now I am getting a better explaination of everything.Next I finally got my black belt in Taekwondo, this also happened on October 10th. I was waiting because Erica (American Style) has the video of me fighting (a boy) on her camera and I wanted to put that up to...I guess you will wait.

Then last Thursday (the 15th) we went sweet potato farming

.
On Friday (the 16th) we went to the TanCheon. The TanCheon is a smallish river next to the school. It is man made so there is a nice sized bank that they built playgrounds and swimming pools in all along the river. Anyway, right now there is a sculpture display and I thought it would be nice to take my students to.

Thats cool and all, but the really awesome part is that I will be on TV for a short while. They (someone, I don't know) were filming an English show and asked me to be in it. Of course I said "Yes." I will put up a link later so you can all watch!

Japan Day 4

2009-10-09T10:13:00.005-05:00

The last and final day of our trip to Tokyo. I just want to note that I am stellar for even having much of a last day. Our plane left the airport at 3ish so we had to be there at 1 or so which left very little time to sightsee on the last day. Not to mention the fact that we also didn't get in until 5am...A couple drinks turned into maybe one too many.
Anyway, I got up at 9 and tried to squeeze in as much as I could before I headed home. The first thing I did was go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Office. They have a free observatory from their 60th or something floor. It was nice. One of my favorite things to do is to see the city from up above. This was nice.

After that I headed over to a really huge garden called Shinjuku-Gyoen. It is a large park with an eminent garden in Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally a residence of the Naito family in the Edo period. Afterwards, it became a garden under the management of the Imperial Household Agency of Japan. It is now a park under the jurisdiction of the national Ministry of the Environment.The imperial gardens, which were once meant for the royalty, were completed in 1906, and destroyed in 1945, during the later stages of World War II. The jurisdiction over the Imperial Palace Outer Garden and the Kyoto imperial garden was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (now part of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) with Shinjuku Imperial Gardens in 1947.Basically I just wanted to see one of them there traditional gardens in Japan that everyone keeps talking about...
Then we got on the magic fairy (notice not ferry ㅋㅋㅋ) and headed for home. Not before snapping a few more picks of the Toyko skyline though!

Japan Day 3

2009-10-08T23:40:00.004-05:00

So even though we were out late last night we managed to get up early to see the infamous Mt. Fuji. We didn't want to climb it or anything like that so we just went to a famous little place called Kawaquchi-ko which is a lake that Mt.Fugi can be viewed from. When we arrived we asked the first person we saw if we could see Mt. Fugi today and they said "No" so instead we went to lunch and a winery. It's a well known fact that Mt. Fugi is "shy" and that you can't see her like half of the year or something... The not seeing of the Mt.LunchWineryWine from Missouri...random huh?My favorite Korean TV show advertised in JapanMe after a long day(bus ride =4 hours roundtrip), a couple drinks and a new hat...

Japan Day 2

2009-10-08T05:21:00.009-05:00

So Day 2 in Tokyo was a busy one. We started our day at the Tsukiji Fish Market. This is a place where you can obviously buy fish but you can also buy other things as well. You can buy many kitchen gadgets and trinkets. My favorite part however is that you can buy fresh sushi. We had the best sushi of my life here. We also visited the Namiyoke-jinja Shinto Shrine where the fishmongers go to pray before work. After that we took a nice stroll from the fish market to the Imperial Palace. Although all of Tokyo is easily reached by subway, walking allows you to see parts of Tokyo that you wouldn't be able to see if you were in a train all the time.

Then while we were casually walking around we saw this cafe and just had to stop inside. To me it was clear what to order because it was all over the menu, it looked like noodles...Here is my delicious "chestnut flavored noodles". I'm exactly sure what it is but they are delicious and I would eat them again if given the chance.Next we visited the Imperial Palace, well the grounds anyway, the palace is only open to the public like 2 times a year and it wasn't one of the 4 days we visited...

Tokyo Imperial Palace (皇居, kōkyo; literally Imperial Residence?) is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in Chiyoda, Tokyo close to Tokyo Station and contains various buildings such as the main palace and the private residences of the imperial family. The total area including the gardens is 7.41 square kilometers. During the height of the 1980s Japanese property bubble, the palace grounds were valued by some as more than the value of all the real estate in the state of California. Thanks wikipedia ;)After that we went out for dinner and drinks (nothing special there) and then went into a photo booth. I this photo booth, like other you get your friends together and act crazy in the booth but afterwards you get to decorate the pictures. You can put like comic vocal bubbles on the photos and other pictures like hats and bow ties and pick a back ground. It was really cool. This is a picture of some creators at the machine...

Japan Day 1

2009-10-07T01:54:00.009-05:00

First Day in Tokyo...we got off the plane and into a subway. Once we got off at what we thought was our destination we realized that we were really in another country. We had no idea where to go... We booked out hotel ahead of time and were desperately looking for it when Lydia (my traveling partner) needed to smoke. In Tokyo there are designated smoking areas (its illegal to smoke on the street outside) which are filled with good looking young Japanese boys. It took us no time to play the part of innocent lost tourists. We did however finally make it to our hotel. It was a small one too. Our room had enough space for a bed and that's it. This is how small the bathroom is: we all know I am not a big person, I'm short and my limbs aren't long either. But when I was in the shower I kept hitting my arms on the walls and felt like I couldn't turn around. It was literally the tiniest place I have ever been. But it was ok, we didn't spend a lot of time there. In fact as soon as we got to our hotel we left. The first thing I noticed was the amount of vending machines everywhere. They hold all kinds of things too, but mostly cigarettes. Our first stop? The supermarket. It is just so interesting what kind of things other countries sell at the supermarket. We even found our beloved soju, the drink of Koreans. Eventually we wondered into a restaurant and order some food and of course beer! Next to us were some very 짱 (awesome) patrons. Said 짱 patrons even sent over some chicken and snacks for us to eat!

After we left that place we went to a pachinko/slots place. Pachinko is a Japanese gaming device used for amusement and gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but with no flippers and a large number of relatively small balls. The player fires a ball up into the machine, controlling only its initial speed. The ball then cascades down through a dense forest of pins. In most cases, the ball falls to the bottom and is lost, but if it instead goes into certain pockets, more balls are released as a jackpot. Pachinko machines were originally strictly mechanical, but modern ones have incorporated extensive electronics, becoming similar to video slot machines.
The machines are widespread in establishments called "pachinko parlors", which also often feature a number of slot machines. Pachinko parlors share the reputation of slot machine dens and casinos the world over — garish decoration; over-the-top architecture; a low-hanging haze of cigarette smoke; the constant din of the machines, music, and announcements; and flashing lights. Modern pachinko machines are highly customizable, keeping enthusiasts continuously entertained.
Because gambling for cash is illegal in Japan and Taiwan, balls won cannot be exchanged directly for cash in the parlor. Instead, the balls are exchanged for token prizes, which can then be taken outside and traded in for cash at a business that is nominally separate from the parlor, and may be run by organized crime (yakuza). I won $25 here, it was awesome!!!After that I bought a lot of delicious juice with my winnings!

Chuseok

2009-10-07T01:45:00.005-05:00

So Chuseok 추석 Holiday was this past weekend which is why I had enough time to take a little vacation!!! Anyway, this blog post is only to show off the rockin' presents that I got!!! (and tell you a little about the holiday)
Chuseok is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, it is held around the Autumn Equinox. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food.

In modern South Korea, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans returning to their hometowns to pay respects to the spirits of one's ancestors. People perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning. They often visit the tombs of their immediate ancestors to trim plants and clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors. Harvest crops are attributed to the blessing of ancestors.

One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon (송편), a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles. We made songpyeon together at school and then we went outside to play. Pictures below:

Updates from the Lazy Me

2009-09-29T08:43:00.004-05:00

Ok, I'm sorry. I have no "good" excuse for not blogging. The important word being "good". I do have an excuse though...

Lets start with the last time I blogged: Sept 14th. Since then a lot of things have happened.

I decided what I will be for Halloween, Judy, Erika and I will be characters from Sesame Street. 5 pts to anyone who can guess who I will be...

Also I inherited 2 guitars for my PlayStation and have been playing Quitar Hero like I might die if I don't play.

Then Erica (from America) moved into her house and of couse recruited the most organized person she knew in Korea (and I might mention that I also am the most organized that she knows in the world...) ME!!!

Then that weekend I played soccer with 4 other coworkers and the other team was a group of 6 10year olds. We won but not by as much as I thought we would...

Bringing us to last Monday and last week. Which was sort of normal except I kind of started dating this guy and so he has been occupying a lot of my time. This of course included a couple of dates this weekend and by that I mean we were attached at the hip this weekend. His identity will remain a secret until things get more serious...then I will reveal more and maybe even include a picture. It was fun especially on Sunday when we went to the movies and we watched a movie together. It was a Korean movie. I understood a lot of the movie like 30-40% but it must've been much sadder than I thought because he was crying toward the end of it and most of the other watchers (girls) couldn't even smile afterwards. Wow, intense.

And finally that brings us to now, me finishing the loose ends of the work that I have before I go on my vacation. The destination to be disclosed at a later date. But be prepared it will be an awesome couple of days. I leave on Thursday and will be returning on Sunday night...

A group of us went to dinner at a delicious restaurant tonight also. Shabu shabu, then cal kuk su and porridge. First you get this boiling pot of spicy broth and greens and mushrooms. Next you add really thinly sliced pieces of beef. After you eat all the beef out you add the noodles. Then all the soup is gone and rice and vegetables are added. Delicious! Pic below:

Weakening Weekend

2009-09-14T07:56:00.005-05:00

So this weekend was jam-packed, on accident. I made plans with some of the co-teachers at my school who I haven't spent quality time with due to the fact that I was on my death bed for the last week and a half. So I decided to spend quality time. Not to packed mind you just enough to make me tired enough to sleep through the nights. But, my good friend from America, Erica (it rhymes and that's cool) came to be a teacher here on Saturday. She gave me plenty of notice and all but I guess I just didn't believe it so I made other plans anyway. She did come. That's why I was busy. Here is a rundown of what I did:

Saturday started off pretty low key. I thought Judy and Erika (the Korean) and I would die from boredom. I had something in mind though BUILD-A-BEAR. For those of you unaware of my fascination with this place be notified now that I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! They are places (usually all over the states) where you go and take the shell of a teddy bear and fill it with stuffing to your specifications, put a heart inside, put some sounds inside, dress it and take it home. It is this whole awesome process. I had already done it twice before: 1) Spring Break '06 in Destin, Florida and 2) New Year's '07 in New York. Now it is time for Korea. (PS for the person who usually receives these lovely creations of mine I'm sorry to spoil the surprise but this one is an addition to the collection that you own, Merry Christmas;)

Here goes the stuffingMe praying on the heartThis is me holding the umbilical cord. This is a new experience for me because it is only done in the BUILD-A-BEARs in Korea!I'm thinking now "Which outfit do I choose? I want one that represents the things I love and spend my time doing in Korea" Hmmm...Ta Da! Not a big surprise on the choice I suppose...

The finished product has yet to be revealed because I am entering him in a Photo Contest. When those pictures come out I will show you and hopefully tell you what I won!

Sunday. After spending the night with Erica in her new town I tried to help her find the way to my town. After that we went to Apkujeong, a really famous posh area of Seoul. Basically I just know one of the best places to get beer is there and so we decided to go there. Unfortunately the guy who makes the beer was gone so instead we went for sushi (you can order a beer there too). I messed up the ordering process so we had WAY too much sushi. The first round came out and we were like wow this is a lot but we can eat it all. Then the second round came out and we were like no way, impossible. We didn't have room on the table for all the food we ordered. It was delicious anyway. After that we got lost looking for the subway station and walked around a lot. Wow, go me for screwing up everything while showing a new inhabitant of Seoul around. We still had a blast anyway...

Hospitalized, literally

2009-09-10T22:13:00.002-05:00

Ok so now I feel really bad. I tried to get my life back and start doing things again but here's what happened: I ended up in the hospital, for 5 days.
That sounds a little intense. Basically what happened is that I got a cold and that developed into bronchitis. Then I thought I was better so I had a great weekend (see picks from bars and hiking...) Then I landed myself right in the hospital. Me being sick+little sleep (because I'm that stupid)=in the hospital...with mono.
My test results came back and apparently that is what I had. I am feeling much better now but a little weak. Since I missed my Taekwondo test and the first 2 weeks of the Korean Academy I wanted to enroll in, right now I don't have a lot going on. Instead I am going to try to make myself stick to curfews. (I loved not having curfews for a couple of years now but in Korea too many things are going on at all hours of the night and that is where I get into trouble. Coming home at 4 in the morning and then getting up at 9 to hike all day long and then staying out until 4am again is probably going to be the death of me.) Anyway I will be in bed before 2am every night of the week. That is a reasonable hour considering I don't have to be to work until 9:30 so I can still get a lot of sleep if I stick to my curfew.

Ok enough about the hospital...I am coming home for Christmas and am curious what you want from Korea besides me. I will be there. If you don't tell me what you want though you will end up with run of the mill crap from some souvenir shop. At the very least give me a color scheme and I will work with that. You are getting something its just a matter of what you want to get. Think about it you have until December.

2009-08-31T10:09:00.010-05:00

So this is a blog that I started way back in July and am just now getting around to finishing...During the summer Korea has some major rainfall, we call it monsoon season. There is a good reason as you will see below. First is a video of the river near my school. Flooded out of control. The rest are pictures in a before (lots of rain) and after (normal) style. The before pictures were taken in July and the afters were taken a couple of days ago. Normally, when the river floods, it is back to normal in a couple of days. There is a dam somewhere I think...

So Stupendous

2009-08-31T09:56:00.003-05:00

So I maybe over did it on Friday night but I made plans for Saturday: hiking! I hate being a flake and would say that 99% of the time I'm not one so I couldn't back out of this hike even though I didn't feel all that well when I woke up.

But boy am I glad I went. I can't remember the names of the places we visited but they were awesome. Seoul is filled with mountains and those have little "hidden treasures" of temples and shrines all over them that are just beautiful. We saw plenty of those this weekend. Didn't take any pictures of them but I did take some pics of the view:

Some crazy berries

Water fall and water wheel

Overall a very good day. I am so glad I went...

Sunday we made some of my favorite foods and went to the park to relax. There are a couple really nice parks near where we live that I like to go to. It is starting to not be as hot so I am happy to be outside. After that we went to dinner and a movie. We saw 해운대 which is a movie about a tsunami that hits part of Korea and leaves it in ruins. The film has a popularity higher than Titanic had. I didn't find it all that awesome but then again it was all in Korean so I only understood like 30% of the dialogue.

Finally Friday

2009-08-31T09:48:00.005-05:00

So I have been out of commission the last couple of weeks...Why? you ask. Is she ok? Did she die? Did North Korea bomb South Korea? Did she start hating it 1 year later?

The truth is I got sick. Nothing too horrible just enough to make me not go anywhere for a couple of weekends in a row...Until this weekend. My first weekend that I felt well enough to make plans and I over did it!

Starting with Friday, it was a normal day of school and Taekwondo. Then two of my coworkers wanted to go out and have a fun evening. I know a great brewery and so we went there and had a nice pitcher of home brewed beer. I would like to take this time to mention that this is the place that I had the first beer I had ever enjoyed and it is the place that led me to start drinking beer at all.

Sweetness

2009-08-09T05:17:00.003-05:00

So this week was good...Nice and tiring. I have had a cold for a couple of weeks now and I went to the doctor last Saturday and he gave me some medicine but it didn't get better so I went again Thursday to a different doctor and he said I have 'acute bronchitis'. So I am not allowed to drink alcohol and I must take a ton of medicine. I had a really boring week and weekend because of this. I did however finally go grocery shopping and made some porridge and glass noodles with vegetables. And it was the twin's (Judy and Erika's) birthday so on Friday I took them to dinner. Their birthday is really Sunday but they went home to visit their dad and older sister so while they were gone I left a surprise for them at their door...Our students made cards for Judy and Erika...I printed some pictures of the three of us...
Genie (another Korean) teacher helped me hang everything up!

Jeju Day 4

2009-08-02T10:21:00.006-05:00

Our last day in Jeju was one that was spent outside. We saw the rest of the beautiful sites that Jeju had to offer. First was this park. I don't remember the name of it but we walked around for about and hour and appearantly there are enough trails to walk around in there for like 2 days. Anyway as you can see it is very beautiful.

Then we headed over to Cheonjiyeon Falls. This place was nice and cold. There were also divers here that would go diving for Abalone and you could buy it right there and eat it. Amazing!

Another Beach, Jungmun Beach. Very beautiful and very hot!

A really cold creek that was so refreshing.

Then we headed to the airport and went home :( Oh well, it was a very nice and relaxing vacation.

Jeju Day 3

2009-08-02T10:10:00.005-05:00

Day 3 started at Hallim Park where they are a little but famous for caves. The caves were very cold and wet. Other pictures from the park:

After the park we ate lunch and headed over to SeongeumSeungma Park to ride horses.

Then it was off to Udo Island (a Satellite Island) to see the black beach made from volcanic rocks. It was beautiful here but not a place I really wanted to swim...

After dinner we then headed over to Loveland. Jeju is actually quite famous for this place. It is a "museum" that is focused on sex. I found this really interesting because in general Koreans are very shy when it comes to sex. They don't even show kisses on TV. So I was amazed that not only does this place exist in Korea but it is also a pretty famous place that everyone goes to.

I picked the tamest pics for the blog but if you would like to see more email me and I will send more ;)

Jeju Day 2

2009-08-02T10:00:00.008-05:00

Day 2 was meant to be for hiking the famous mountain in Jeju, Halla Mountain. However, as per the usual when I travel, it rained a lot and thus became too dangerous to hike. Instead we had an event filled day of touring the island.

First we visited Happy Town to watch some amazing Chinese acrobats. They also had a portion where 7 men on motorbikes got into this cage-ball thing and drove their bikes around like crazy...It was crazy amazing. Then we headed over the the O'Sulloc Tea Farm. It was absolutely gorgeous there. I can't tell you what it smelled like because I caught a cold and couldn't smell anything :(
After that we headed over to the Yeomiji Botanical Gardens, they were amazing.
A view from the tower.

Inside one of the indoor gardens.

Jeju Day 1

2009-08-02T09:55:00.006-05:00

So this is the beginning of my trip to Jeju Island. I should first preface this whole story with the fact that I went on this trip with Pam a coworker (who already left for America) and about 40 other foreigners. There is a group in Korea set up for foreigners who want to travel Korea and we did that.
The first thing we did once we arrived in Jeju wasn't to get our hotel rooms situated or anything but first to go sightseeing. This is called Dragon Head Rock.Then we headed over to Jeolmul National Forest. It was beautiful. The only problem was that since it rained before we got there it was a tad slippery. In fact very slippery, one girl broke her ankle...Our room (suite) and two of our roommates. We had 5 roommates in all.The kitchen.Pam and my room.The view from our room. After we settled in we ate dinner and started getting to each other...We did a little drinking and played a lot of fun games!

BUSY!!!

2009-08-01T07:48:00.006-05:00

So the last few weeks have wizzed by in a blur. In America the summer sort of creeps by due to the weather and school being out. But here in Korea the summer is one of the busiest times of year. We hold extra classes at the academy because students don't have public school. On top of that we have many people leaving and coming to the school. This means sad going away parties and weekends spent showing the new people around and where to eat, etc. Also we all get a week from vacation where we travel.

Lets start with last week. I had my one year anniversary and first acupuncture experience. Then on Thursday we had 생일 파티 (Birthday Party) and Speech Contest.
On Friday we had a going away party for Pam and Phil. Much drinking and eating occur ed.On Saturday I took one of the new teachers, Gina, to Itaewon 이태원 and we went to the spa. Like usual there was a little drinking in the street occurring. I am so bad...Then Saturday night Kwanjangnim 권장님 took us out for Korean Galbi 갈비(beef) and Karaoke 노래방. Sunday I spent the whole day in bed resting. Monday I spent the whole day cleaning and packing for Jeju.