Turkey hats, Christmas trees, and chicken feet

ok, I know I didn't put up any pictures of the turkey hats last time so here ya go.
This is Sam:


Guess what! I now have a Christmas tree:) Yep, saturday I went to Homeplus and got a (fake) 4ft tree for 14,000 won. I bought strands of beads to put on it, but I still need to get some ornaments and maybe some lights. Its pretty cute though. I turned on Christmas music while I was putting it up. Here's the end result:


Later, I went to meet Kristina and her mom for dinner. We went to a sahm gyup sal buffet. You actually cook the meat yourself at your table and then you wrap it in lettuce along with rice, garlic, or whatever, and then u stuff the whole thing in your mouth. It was very yummy and cheap. Here are some pics:








mmmm yummy chicken feet! haha no i didn't eat the chicken feet. i'm not quite that adventurous when it comes to trying new foods.



After dinner, we went and got coffee. We also did a virtual roller coaster thing which was fun. Maybe if I did that a lot I could get over my fear of roller coasters. haha:) So that was pretty much saturday.

Sunday I went to church, picking up a couple of people I recruited along the way. Well, I didn't really recruit them. I told Mark, who is in the army and lives on the Yongsan military base, about my church and he wanted to try it and a girl named Abby was actually looking for a church and found this blog so she emailed me asking about it. But they are both really nice and I think they liked the church so that's good. Didn't do much else sunday.

Today was pretty much a normal monday. We put up a Christmas tree at school. So that was exciting:) I also got another kid to add to my pre-k class...not so exciting......I mean YAY the class has now doubled! They aren't quite as bad now, except Kathy who pretty much hides behind the easel the whole class except to come out in time to cry about not being able to color cause class is over. Fun times:)

Alright, well that's about all I have. Goodnight everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This has got to be the weirdest Thanksgiving ever. I'm away from my family and I don't even get the day off:( Doesn't even feel like Thanksgiving at all. We did have kind of a fun morning with the kids making turkey hats. They turned out so much cuter than those turkeys you make by tracing your hand. I took the supplies to make my own later...I dunno what I'm gonna do with it, but thats ok. We also had pumpkin pie after lunch which was pretty good. Other than that, its pretty much been a normal day. I found out what days I have off for my winter break today. Christmas is on a Thursday this year right? So I get Christmas day off, work Friday, and then I have all the next week off. I have no idea what I'm going to do during that week. Any ideas? Oh, and I have some videos from the snow last week that I thought I'd share.
I just thought this was funny!

It started snowing a little harder...

Time to play!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Well, I guess its about time for another update. We'll start with Friday. They have small groups that get together from church and I decided to go to one Friday night. I met Kristina and went with her cause neither of us had gone before. There were like 8 of us, which was a lot of people for one tiny apartment. It was much smaller than mine! It was 2 rooms. A bathroom and a kitchen/bedroom. It was good though. I enjoyed it. They meet at 9:30. The subway stops running at 12:30. If I had left right when it was over I would have been fine, but I made it to the subway in time to watch the last train leave:-( You would think the subway would run a little later especially on the weekends, but it doesn't. So I had to take a taxi home. One of the most valuable things you can have with you is your address written in Korean. I keep it with me all the time just in case. Cabs in Korea are pretty cheap too.
Anyway, I didn't really do much saturday. I did some laundry and cleaned, but other than that, I just relaxed. It was nice.
Sunday, I went to church and then after that, those of us who signed up for the Thanksgiving dinner rushed off to catch the bus to the subway station. We took the subway to Yongsan station and then we took cabs to a church where we got on buses to go to the military base. This process involved a lot of waiting and we were all very hungry. We finally got there though. They had the dinner in a place called the Dragon Hill Lodge. It was really nice. I thought it was going to be forever before we actually got to eat though cause they had this lady hosting the dinner that started talking about having teams and earning points to see which table got to eat first. We had to come up with as many words as we could out of the work Thanksgiving and the table with the most words got to eat first. We thought we were doing good with 28, but the winning table had 59...so we sat and waited and watched people walk by us with plates of yummy food. It really didnt take all that long though. It was an all you can eat buffet style dinner. They had turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and a plethera of other foods and desserts that are associated with Thanksgiving (plus kimchi). It was beautiful:) and very yummy. I ate as much as I could since I paid 40,000 won to go.

They had other entertainment during dinner too. They had people sing and apparently one of the singers was from a famous korean pop band called Fly to the Sky. We got a picture with him.

So that was pretty much it. Completely worth the 40,000 won in my opinion!

SNOW!!!

We had snow today for the second time this week! Too bad they don't do snow days in Korea like in NC. haha:) Tuesday it snowed for maybe 2 minutes. I didn't even bother with trying to take pictures cause it wasn't very much at all. Then this morning it snowed a little on my way to school. Again, not enough for pictures. You could hardly see it. Then after lunch it was snowing again, this time a little harder, so I got out my camera.

The snow kept getting bigger and falling heavier! So we went outside and played in it:) Can you find me in the picture?

Is my weekend over already? It feels like they keep getting shorter:( I went hiking with Natalia, her boyfriend, and his friend on Saturday. That was an interesting experience. We went to Manisan Mountain, which is on Ganghwa Island. We were told that it would take about 30 minutes to get there, but it took almost 2 hours. Traffic in Korea is terrible! It also was raining. I've never been hiking with umbrellas before. It wasn't raining that hard so I eventually just started using mine as a walking stick, but Natalia used her umbrella the whole way! The hike was stairs almost the whole time.

It was pretty steep too. It took us 4 hours to go up and come back down so it wasn't that long of a hike, but the stairs were torturous. Even though it was rainy, it was really nice. The leaves at the top of the mountain had already mostly fallen, but at the bottom, the leaves were really pretty.

There was an insane amount of people at the top of the mountain! I don't have any pictures that come close to showing how many people there were. I think everybody in Korea hikes.

Oh, funny story: we stopped one time to take a break and there was another group that was resting too. They got out their camera and I was thinking, oh they want us to take a picture of them together, but no, they wanted to take pictures with me and Natalia. It was quite amusing. Anyway, after that we had lunch and then went to see this temple. Well, me and Natalia went to see the temple. There was a 2,000 won entrance fee and the guys said it was too expensive, so we left them.

This is a prayer wheel or something. You're supposed to turn it while you're thinking about you life.

After seeing the temple, we came back home. I think the drive back took even longer. It was fun though. I'm really glad I went.
Sunday I went to church. I got there a little late so it's still taking me over an hour to get there even without getting lost. After church I was kinda just walking around before going back home and I ran into some people from church--a girl, her cousin, and her mom. They invited me to have coffee with them so I did. The mom is Korean, but she and her daughter, Kristina, just moved here from Hawaii and her daughter doesn't speak Korean. They were really nice. We talked for a while and then we went to a place called Rhythm and Booze for dinner. Its where a lot of the foreigners hang out. They have American food:) So that was nice. After that I came back home and that was pretty much my weekend! and now it's monday again:(

Sick in Korea Excitement

Well, I woke up this morning and my voice was completely gone. I was like, there's no way I can teach like this. I didn't actually feel that bad, so Ellisa said I could come in to school to fill out a notice of absense and then they said I had to go to the hospital. This didn't really surprise me cause apparently they do this every time they get sick in Korea. So, Erica, one of the Korean teachers, took me to the "hospital." It was right across the street and I didn't even know it was there! It's right above the bank. So it wasn't really like a full hospital. This was a somewhat different experience than going to the doctor back home. We didn't have to wait long at all. First, they brought me back to this room and they asked what was wrong and everything. Then the guy tells me to say ahh and he sprays this stuff down my throat. Then he sticks these things in my nose and sprays stuff in there too. Erica said it was medicine. A warning might've been nice though. Then we leave that room and Erica informs me that I need to get an injection! Korean's like their needles I guess. So I go into another room and I find out that I get to get an injection in the butt. Wasn't too excited about that, but it didn't really hurt. You could hardly feel it. Then, I got to do something really fun! I got to play with the nasal washer machine. It takes 3 minutes. You stick this thing in your nose, 1 and a half minutes per nostril and, as the name indicates, it washes out your nose. Lots of fun! I got all this for only 4,500 won (about $4). Then we had to go to the pharmacy, conveniently located downstairs, to get my medicine. They gave me medicine for 3 days.

I think the 2 yellow things are for tea, but the rest is medicine.

I don't know why, but everytime Erica told me how much something cost, she tried to convert it into dollars. So she told me the medicine cost about 45 bucks, but the pharmacist told me 4,500 won. I was relieved it wasn't $45! So anyway, now I'm at home resting. Hopefully the pretty Korean medicine will help me and tomorrow I will have my voice again.

Oh, and here's my latest ice cream adventure from a few days ago.

Milk mix, chocolate shell, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate chips. yum:)

Happy Pepero Day!

I did not realize until this morning that today is a holiday in Korea. I was quickly informed by my students that today is Pepero Day. It was interesting trying to get a bunch of kindergarderners to tell me what Pepero Day was.

Student: Teacher! Today is Pepero Day!
Me: What is Pepero Day?
Student: umm...is holiday!
Me: oh, what do you do on Pepero Day?
Student: you cookie umm eat!
Me: you eat a cookie? what kind of cookie?
Student: chocolate
Student 2: no! not chocolate!
Me: ok, when do you eat this cookie?
Student: teacher! today 1-1-1-1, pepero stick look like 1-1-1-1

I looked it up online. I guess it is somewhat similar to our Valentine's Day. Pepero sticks are long skinny cookie like things with chocolate on them. Today is Pepero Day because it is 11/11 and Pepero sticks look like 1's, so 5 pepero sticks make 11/11...yeah obviously a holiday invented by the makers of the pepero stick to make more money. So I got lots of pepero sticks today:)
On a less exciting note, I seem to be catching a cold. I actually feel a little better today than I did yesterday, but my voice is almost no more...not good for teaching. Airbourne don't fail me now!
Also, yesterday when I went in to teach the pre-k class I was surprised to find 2 new kids. That's just about the last thing I need. They were both pretty good, but I'm not sure it will last... Oh, and Kathy, the one who cries, was trying to find my stickers and she bit me! She doesn't cry as much as she used to, but tends to curl up in the corner the whole class.

random ramblings of my weekend

My blog seems to be turning into more of an update on my weekends. haha:) During the week everything's pretty much the same though. Some weeks the kids cry more, but other than that, pretty much the same.
Anyway, Friday after work the english dept of my school went out to dinner. We went to a nice buffet style restaurant that had both western and korean food. It was very good. I rode home in a taxi by myself for the first time. Taxis are pretty cheap here.
Oh, I also have a cell phone now...and a bank account! No money in it yet, but there should be monday. Yay:)
Saturday I went back to the mall at Yongsan station to meet a friend. The subway has become less scary and confusing, plus to get to yongsan from bucheon you can just take the subway straight there without having to transfer to a different line, so thats nice. We walked around for a while looking for a place to eat lunch and ended up in a fast food type restaurant. After that, we decided to go see a movie cause there's a movie theater in the mall. We stood there for a while not really knowing what to do cause there didn't really seem to be a line, just a mass of people, and they would randomly go up to the counter to buy their tickets. Then we noticed the numbers flashing above the counter. You have to get a number from a machine and when your number comes up, you go buy your ticket. It's the same at the banks here. We decided to see the James Bond movie. Another interesting thing about the movies in Korea is they give you assigned seats. They show you on the computer screen what seats are left and you pick where you want to sit. Pretty cool I guess. The movie was good (and in English with korean subtitles in case u were wondering). Other than the assigned seating, it was just like a movie theater back home. After the movie we walked around a little more. There was a concert outside so we got to see a little Korean rap, so that was interesting. That was pretty much it for Saturday.
Today I went back to that church. It takes me about 45 minutes to get there. I really like the church though. I signed up to go to a Thanksgiving meal that they are going to at the yongsan army base. Its not on Thanksgiving day, its the sunday before I think, but they're supposed to have turkey, ham, all the normal thanksgiving food.
Oh, and I don't think I said anything on here about the grocery store by my apt closing, but it did. I went by there right before Halloween to buy candy for the kids and it was closed...as in the building was still there, but the inside was destroyed. No signs that there had ever been a grocery store in there. It was just there one day and gone the next. I was sad:( Well, I was walking home today and I went by there and it was back! It was like it was never gone. No signs of construction anywhere! So I dunno what happened, but I went in and bought a toothbrush holder...

ok, I'm at school and I'm bored so I figured I would write a random post for whoever's still reading my blog to enjoy. In Korea many stores have little freezers with ice cream in them. You know, like the individual kind, like we have ice cream sandwiches and nutty buddys. Some of the ice cream is normal looking, but since its all in korean you kinda just have to go by the picture. I like to try a new kind every now and then and i thought this one was interesting:

The outside was like a waffle cone like thing

And the inside was vanilla ice cream with a chocolate shell and crunchy things

It was very good:)

Ok, now its about time for lunch so I hope you have enjoyed this ice cream adventure!

Halloween and World Fair Madness

well this has been a long week, especially these past two days! I wish I had more of a weekend to rest...oh well. Friday, obviously, was halloween. They don't really celebrate halloween in korea, but the english department of my school did! Everybody wore costumes, teachers and students. I was a doll cause. I didn't want to buy a costume so I just wore a skirt, curled my hair, and put pink circles on my cheeks. Natalia was a pumpkin (which I got to be today, more on that later) and Michael had a pair of glasses with eyes that pop out on slinky things. Here's a picture of some of the kids plus Natalia and Eunice.

So what did we do to celebrate halloween? It was slightly unorganized. There was a schedule (for the afternoon kids anyway), but I believe we have already established that schedule-making is not one of my school's strong points. Anyway, first we went trick or treating to the other classes in the school. It was kinda bad cause those classes weren't having a party or anything, so they just watched our kids having fun and getting candy. Then we had crafts, cooking, and games, so the kids were split into 3 groups. The crafts for the morning kids were decorating pumpkins and coloring ghosts. To decorate the pumpkins they glued on leaves, pom pom balls, and little bits of paper to mini green pumpkins. Kinda strange, but cute.

For the afternoon kids, they made "candy bags", which were really little paper cups with string tied on for the handle. These are 2 of the girls from my pre-k class. Don't let their sweet and innocent faces fool you.

They also made cat masks which were really cute.

For cooking, they didn't actually cook. They made ghosts out of marshmellows and silly face cookies with peanut butter, strawberry jam, raisens, fruit loops, and nuts (pretty disgusting). Not many of the kids seemed to like them either. When they made looks of disgust after trying them, Elissa said, "In Korea, we don't usually eat peanut butter and jam together." I told her that in the US we only do that on sandwiches, not on cookies with raisens and fruit loops.

I don't really know what all they did for games because I didn't ever help with that. So yeah, that was pretty much it.

After the kids left was when the real fun began. We kinda expected that as soon as school was over we would get started with getting everything ready for the world fair cause we kinda had a lot to do, but it didn't really happen like that. Nobody seemed to really know exactly what we were doing. It was very, very unorganized. I don't know how many times they told us to do something, which we did, and then they changed their minds. They said that the desks and everything needed to be moved out of the classrooms we were using for the world fair and into the classrooms we weren't using, so we did that, but then they decided to move some of them back. They said to put the maps the kids made all over the room, but low enough for the kids to see them, so we did. Then they decided to move them all to one wall and make a collage. It was pretty much like that all night. They weren't exactly great at telling us what to do either. They discussed everything in Korean so we hardly ever knew what was going on. It was around 11 something when we finally left and they still had a lot to do. I think they were there til 3:30am.

We had to be at the school at 9:30 this morning. When we got there, they gave us hotdogs that were cold and had ham, lettuce, cheese, carrot, etc. on them. It was like a hotdog sandwich...for breakfast. Very odd. Anyway, the basic set up was there were different countries in different classrooms. There was also a Halloween room next to the America room. Here's me in the America room.

The kids got passports and when they went to the different classrooms they would be interviewed by the immigration officer and then they would get a stamp in their passport. Eunice wanted Natalia to wear the pumpkin costume and give out candy in the Halloween room, but she didn't really want to wear the costume again so I said I would do it. I wish I had gotten a picture of myself as a pumpkin, but I didn't:( Anyway, they put me in this room by myself and gave me a tiny chair in the corner. Here's the Halloween room:

There was a tv in there playing Charlie Brown The Great Pumpkin over and over again. It didn't actually show the whole thing. Just part of it. I felt like I was being brainwashed. I never want to hear that monster mash song again. Eventually kids did show up and I wasn't in there alone. Most of them were really shy, but I only made one cry. Some of the kids were really greedy and kept coming back for more candy. Some of the parents would send their kids to get candy and then they would eat it themselves. I saw them do it. So that was what I did from 10:00-4:00. I felt really awkward in that pumpkin costume too cause being the day after halloween in a country that doesn't celebrate halloween, I was the only one in a costume. At least I've kinda gotten used to being stared at now.

Anyway, taking everything down and cleaning up wasn't as bad as setting up. When we left, we had gotten most everything moved back and didn't leave them with too much more to do. I got home at about 6 something. Soooo I am really tired now and I think I will go to bed:)