I'm Home!

I guess I wont be posting so much now that I'm back home. I will be going back to Korea, but not until after Christmas. It is really nice to be back home, but I miss Korea too. My sleeping schedule is just starting to get back to normal. I slept til 3pm my first day back home. Didn't do much that day. Went to IHOP for dinner (yay for american breakfast), and got to see my neighbors. The next morning, I was awake at 4am, so I finished my book and started unpacking a little. haha my room is still a disaster. It looked so nice when I first got home. My parents had redone it for me. Anyway, I went to work with my mom to go through some of my stuff they had moved down there. Cookout for lunch! I love their milkshakes! I also went with my mom to pick up my mammaw from her hair appointment. She wasn't expecting me, so we surprised her:) I also got to see my aunt and uncle, and we went to my papaw's that night. Today I went to work again. I have soooo much stuff to go through. We went to a hotdog lunch they have at my papaw's church every week, so got to see him again. We also went to TARGET! and a grocery store. That was exciting...for me anyway! My mom made chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight and then i baked chocolate chip cookies!

Jeju

This past weekend I went to Jeju with Adventure Korea. I went with them last october on their DMZ trip as well. They have a lot of different trips that they offer on weekends throughout the year. Mainly other foreigners go on the trips. Its a really good idea and I would recommend using them.
Anyway, Friday night I went out with Kristina and Abby for galbi and then we went to rnb. Maybe not the best idea considering I had to be at the airport by 7:00 the next morning. Oh well, it was fun and I made it to the airport in time. Our flight was at 8 something, and we got to Jeju at 9 something.
First, we went to Seonyeo and Namuggun, which was like a museum that you go through to see what Korea was like in the 60's and 70's. Not the most exciting thing ever, but it was interesting. There was a random haunted house in there too. Not too sure how that was supposed to fit in.
After that we went to Sangumburi, which is an extinct volcano. They kept talking about seeing lava tubes. I'm not really sure what that even means. I don't think any of us really did. The crater was covered with grass and trees.

Next, we got to go ride horses! That was a little scary cause I don't know much about riding horses, and the guy leading us didn't speak much English. We rode around a little fenced off area. We had sticks that he kept telling us to hit the horses with, but I wasn't about to try that. It was fun when the horses were walking slow, but at the end he had them going faster, which was kinda scary. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the horse-riding experience.
After the horses, we went to have traditional Jeju black pork BBQ for lunch. It wasn't actually black. It was good though.
After lunch we took a ferry to Udo Island, which is supposed to be shaped like a cow. I never did see the cow, but it was nice. On the island, we saw a rock shaped like a lion.

That might've been sunrise peak. The view was really nice from there. We also went to a coral sand beach.
We had dinner at a Korean buffet. The food was good, but I wasn't feeling great.
Some of the group went out after we got to the hotel, but I decided to get some sleep. The hotel was really nice. Apparently some of the rooms didn't have beds, which is not unusual in Korea, but our room was like a typical western style hotel room. I had two roommates, one from South Africa, and one from Switzerland. They were both really nice.
Sunday, we got up early and walked around the area our hotel was in. We were right by the beach. There was a really nice view from our room.
When we checked out of the hotel, we went to a place called Happytown to see a Chinese acrobatic show and motorbike show. It was really crazy. They were walking on each other's heads and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. For the motorbike thing, they had this giant ball that they kept sending guys on moterbikes into one at a time. They eventually got 7 in there. I have some videos that I'll try to get posted on facebook soon.
Next we went to a tea farm. That wasn't amazing, but all the green was pretty...
For lunch we went to another Korean buffet. The food was really good. I felt much better so I could enjoy it this time.
After lunch, we went to a black sand beach. There were lots of caves that the Japanese had dug. It was cool to walk around in those.

Next stop was mysterious road. It was soooo weird. It looked like you were going up a hill that you were actually going down. They turned off the bus and we rolled "uphill". We got out and tested water bottles and other things too. There were guides giving tours to Koreans that seemed to be going into a lot of detail explaining things. Would have been nice to have that.
Mysterious road was right by love land, which was our next stop. Love land was soooo weird. It was mostly sexual sculptures and stuff. It was kinda weird for Korea though because they're kind of more conservative.
When we finished there, we stopped at a little place to pick up some souvenirs before heading to the airport. Overall, it was a really fun trip and I'm glad I went:)

It's so weird to be finished teaching, but still be in Korea. I'm trying to make good use of my time. Monday I didn't do much. It was cold and so windy the windows in my apt wouldn't stop rattling. I went to the store, but had no desire to be outside after that. haha:)
Tuesday I made kimchi! I'm so proud of myself:) I found online that they were offering free kimchi making classes at Soodo Cooking Academy, so I decided to sign up. The class was fun. We made 2 types of low sodium healthy kimchi. So now I have lots of kimchi in my refrigerator.

Wednesday I went to a stream in the middle of Seoul. Its called Cheonggyecheon Stream. It's kinda weird because at the stream there's all these plants and lots of nature, and then you look up and see all the big buildings. It was nice though.

(To get there, go out exit 3 of City Hall Station on Line #1)
Wednesday night was my goodbye dinner/Amy's welcome dinner with the teachers. We went to a really nice Korean resaurant. I tried eel and jelly fish. Yum.
Today I went to Olympic Park. It took quite a while to get there, but it was cool. Nice place to walk around. Its really big. I was there a long time and still didn't see everything.



(Olympic Park Station on line #5, exit 3)

Ahhh! I can't believe I haven't posted since Japan! Ooops. I finished teaching last Friday. It was such a hard week for me saying goodbye to the kids:( I have a new roommate now too. She got here last thursday night. Her name is Amy. She's really nice. She observed classes all last week, and then she had her first full day of teaching today. I did get to go on a fun field trip last Wednesday to some traditional Korean place. All the kids were dressed in their hanbok. When we got there, they gave me and Joe hanbok to wear too. It wasn't like the hanbok I'd worn before. It was wedding hanbok. The sleeves were so long, I had no hands. Anyway, we played traditional games, made traditional toys and candy, then drank tea. It was fun.
Thursday was kinda hard. I had my last classes with my Tuesday/Thursday kids. I cried with some of the girls in my last class before they left. I've gotten really close to them. There's one boy in that class too. When I got home, I had an email from him saying he had cried a lot at home:( Friday was even harder. I said goodbye to all the morning kindergarten kids and a lot of them cried, especially the girls. I was crying again too:( It's so hard to think that I'm probably never going to see these kids again. I wish I could bring some of them back to America with me.
Anyway, Friday night Amy and I went and met Abby at R&B. We had dinner there and later met up with Joe and ended up at noraebang. It was a fun night. Saturday, Abby and I went to Myeong-dong. We went to Forever 21 and California Pizza Kitchen. Abby and I also explored the Hyehwa area. I'd been there once before and thought it looked cool, but it had been night time. We went during the day. Its like an artsy area. There are a few universities around there. We ate at an American diner called Platters. The burgers were pretty good, but the milkshakes were very disappointing. We walked to one of the universities, but we didnt find much exciting there. It has gotten cold here really fast. Its like it skipped fall and went straight to winter:( Today, my first weekday off, it was really hard to make myself leave the house. Its soooo windy. I'm trying to plan some fun things to do for my time off. Tomorrow I have kimchi-making class, so that should be interesting. I've made a list of some other places I would like to go too. I'll be going to Jeju this weekend with Adventure Korea. Not too much longer before I'll be coming home!

Japan: Part 2

Ok, so when we came out of the yen store, we ran into a couple who wanted to sell us their tickets for Puroland. We were a little scared, but they seemed nice and said their friend had cancelled on them and the tickets were cheaper, so we went ahead and bought them. The let us in, so everything worked out fine. haha:) Puroland was really cool. We got to see Hello Kitty's house, where we got to get in Hello Kitty's bathtub, sleep in her bed, and actually meet Hello Kitty herself! We had lunch in a food machine restaurant. It was like cafeteria style, but all the food rotates around and you choose what you want. I think I got the Hello Kitty kids meal. It was yummy:)
After Hello Kitty Land, we went to Harajyuku to go shopping and see all the crazy dressed up people. Then we went to Shibuya. We stopped to have dinner, which was...interesting. We tried ordering 8 chicken shish kebabs and edamame. It took them forever to bring our food. They brought the edamame and then they bring us a plate with one kebab. We waited for a while to see if there would be more. Finally, we asked them if there was more. I dont think they had planned on bringing us anything else. They brought us a plate of kebabs made from various chicken parts including heart and liver. yum. haha:) We left the restaurant to explore Shibuya a little more. Most of the shopping was closing. We listened to a band playing out on the street for a while, then got free hugs from the free hug people. They also sang happy birthday to Abby. We like fake birthdays. We barely made it home by midnight, when the subway closes. We made plans for our last day and went to bed.
Sunday, we woke up at 7:30. We got ready and checked out of our hostel. We left our stuff there so we could have more adventures before going to the airport. We went to a temple and did some souvenir shopping in Asakusa. Then we took the subway to Ueno, where we did a little more shopping. We went to eat lunch at one place, but after looking over the menu, we realized we had ended up at a Korean restaurant. We like Korean food and everything, but we wanted Japanese food, so we moved on to another restaurant. The food was much better and faster than our experience the night before, but we still ended up leaving later than planned. We were in a bit of a rush to get to the airport. We had to take the subway back to Asakusa, go to the hostel to pick up our stuff, go back to the subway, and take the hour and 20 minute ride to the airport. My flight left an hour before Abby's and Kristina's. I got there about 30 minutes before my flight was supposed to leave. I missed my flight. I was really scared I was going to be stuck there til the next day. I was supposed to fly back United Airlines and they didn't have any more flights out til the next day. Luckily, I had flown there on a different airline, so I could get another flight an hour after Abby and Kristina's. Several people showed up who were supposed to be on the same plane as me and they weren't able to get a flight til the next day. It wouldn't have been a huge deal I guess since I had Monday off, but I was glad to get that flight. So once again, Abby and Kristina were waiting for me at the airport with an even bigger and better Babo sign;) I felt bad because they both had to work the next day. I told them they didnt have to wait for me, but they're good friends:) We barely made it on the last bus to Bucheon. It didn't take too long since there wasn't much traffic. I got home and fell into bed. I'm so glad I had Monday off to recover!

Japan!!

This past weekend was Chusok, so our school had Friday and Monday off. I went with Kristina and Abby to Tokyo for the weekend. We left EARLY Friday morning, took a cab to the airport. Kristina and Abby were on a different plane so I was a little scared about finding them in Tokyo, but they were waiting for me at my gate with a sign and everything:) Our next challenge was to figure out how to get from the airport to our hostel. The Japan subway and train system is soooo confusing and expensive. The money was hard to get used to too. They have coins that go up to 500 yen, which is like $5. It made you feel like you weren't spending as much money as you really were. We finally got on the subway. On the map, the airport looked like it was really close to Asakusa, where our hostel was, but turned out there were lots of stops that weren't even on the map. We were so confused! We asked some Japanese girls, who tried to tell us we were on the wrong train, but then they went and got their english teacher. She told us we were on the right one and where we should transfer. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Asakusa. Once we got there, we luckily ran into some people staying in the same hostel who led us there. I don't think we could have found it from the website directions. We got checked in and dropped off our stuff, then headed out again. First, we took the subway to Shinjuku. There was lots of shopping there. I dont think any of us really bought anything there. We more just looked around. We found a Hello Kitty store that had a Hello Kitty popcorn vending machine inside. You can't just pass on an opportunity like that! Video is posted on facebook:) Next, we took the subway to Ginza, which had several themed restaurants. There was a vampire one and an Alice in Wonderland one. We chose Alice in Wonderland. It was soooo cute. They were decorated for Halloween too, which was a little much. The waitresses were dressed as Alice, the cheshire cat, mad hatter, vampires, etc. I got pasta made to look like the cheshire cat, Kristina got pizza shaped like the queen of hearts, and i think abby's was a mouse or some kind of creature. We got tweedle dee and tweedle dum icecream to share too. It was not a cheap meal, but definitely worth it! After dinner, we headed back to the hostel. We decided to wake up at 7:30 to get to Puroland when it opened at 10:00. We overslept a little (8:00-my fault!). It was a little confusing trying to figure out how to get there. We had to take the subway and the train. It took us a while to get there. I think we got there around 11:00. We also found a Daiso store, which is like a dollar store. We have it in Korea too. We went in to see what kind of Hello Kitty stuff we could get really cheap before paying a lot for it in Puroland. I bought quite a few souvenirs at the dollar store. Ok, sorry to end at such a weird spot, but I'm at school and this is taking longer than I thought. I'll try to finish this later today! Sayonara!

I hate that its starting to get cooler again:( It's always sad to say goodbye to summer. Not too much longer before I finish my contract and I have to say goodbye to all my kids. As excited as I am about coming home, that makes me really sad. Katie just recently went back to the US. It was sad to have to say goodbye to her. This morning I just found out that a friend from church who had gone back home a while ago, just died in a car accident. He had a wife and children too. Just makes for a really depressing way to start the day...
Anyway, Kristina just moved into a new apt, so last weekend we kinda helped her some with unpacking, then had a girls night at abby's with a few girls from church. First time I'd played truth or dare in a while. hahaha:)
This weekend, not too eventful. Friday night I met Abby and her new coworker for Korean bbq then rnb. Saturday we went to myeong dong for quiznos and forever 21. Sunday I went with Abby to Bupyeong.
Japan is coming up this weekend! I'm really excited. We leave Friday morning and get back sunday. Then I have monday off, so i'll be able to have a day to recover before work.
Well, its about time to get back to work. I'll be sure to post a Japan blog soon after we get back.

how come nobody told me they changed the penny??? and does anybody else feel like they shouldn't be allowed to do that??

10 Things I miss from home:
1. Having an oven (baking cookies!)
2. Having a dryer
3. Real napkins (opposed to the small square napkins or toilet paper)
4. Soap in bathrooms
5. Not having to worry about whether or not the bathroom has toilet paper
6. Double stuffed oreos
7. Cookout milkshakes
8. Going places without climbing mountains of stairs
9. Thunderstorms
10. A/C

10 Things I will miss about Korea:
1. The transportation system
2. Having a button on the table at restaurants to call the people over
3. Having random Koreans come up to me to say, "Hello! Nice to meet you." or to take a picture with me.
4. Being able to talk about people without them knowing what you're saying
5. Hello Kitty EVERYTHING
6. Kimchi! haha i'll miss Korean food
7. noraebang
8. heated floors in the winter
9. Being able to walk around by myself at night and feel safe
10. The endless opportunities for new adventures

So my flight date has moved from Oct. 3rd, to the 5th, to after the 16th. I can choose a day after that. So just thought I would update you guys on that. AND now I get to go to Japan for Chuseok! Yay:)

I know I just posted, but I have more to say. haha:) Since my post earlier today, I have lost my voice yet again. This is like the 3rd or 4th time this year! I hate it! I think most of the kids feel sorry for me though so they're a little better behaved. I was asked several times if I had swine flu though.
Then in my last class today, we were talking about our favorite foods. I got a lot of the usual answers like pizza, spaghetti, and hamburgers. One girl said rice. Really, whose favorite food is rice? It has almost no taste. Another girl thought for a second and tried to ask her friend what the english word for kimchi was. They were shocked that I knew what kimchi was. I named a few other korean foods that I liked and that really impressed them. I've been here almost a year. How could I not know about kimchi? Its like they think I come to school to teach them every day and then at night I fly back home to America. I've had kids show me Korean money before like they thought I'd never seen it. haha, fun times:)
So I just asked again about my flight date, and I was told maybe Oct. 5th, so we'll see! Ok, thats all I had to say. Pray my voice comes back quickly!

So I'm down to less than a month before I leave Korea (I think). I was supposed to leave by oct. 3rd, but that's right at Chuseok, a big Korean holiday, so my school wants to extend my visa a little later. Who knows when I'll actually leave. I'm still not really sure how long I'll stay home either. I would like to be home for Christmas, but that's kind of a long time, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do for 3 months, so maybe I'll come back after Thanksgiving. Still have to find a school though. I have to figure out something to do for Chuseok too. We get a few days off for that. Abby and Kristina are going to Japan, but they told me that if they extend my visa, I wouldn't be able to leave the country and come back:( Any ideas?
It's been a while since I've updated this. Lets see if I can remember what's happened. The weekend after my birthday, we went to Hongdae to celebrate. We went to Korean class that morning, then ended up spending all day in Seoul shopping. We went to to Insadong, Namdaemun, and Myeongdong. We had planned on coming home to get ready and then going back out again, but it was so late when we finished shopping, we changed plans a little. We got dresses at Forever 21, changed on the 4th floor of Dunkin Donuts, and did makeup in Etude House. Joe, Abby and her friend Krash met us later in Hongdae. We ended up finally staying out until the subway opened at 5:30 the next morning. We were all pretty dead. When we finally got back, Joe and I stopped by McDonalds for breakfast and then I headed home for lots of sleep. That was pretty much it for that weekend.
As far as I can remember, the next week at school was fairly uneventful. The schedule changed some at school. Mondays are horrible. I have like no breaks at all. I didnt really lose any classes, but I got some new ones and a few new kids in the old ones. I teach a kid named Dragon. I was pretty excited about that.
This past weekend, I went to Korean class and then we all met up for lunch. I got my birthday present:) It was a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff and a really cool scrapbook that they put together for me. I loved it! After lunch we headed to Seoul to ride the swan paddleboats. That was a lot of fun. Then Kristina led us to a really big bookstore with a good English section. I bought a couple of books. Probably a bad time to start buying books, but I'm an English teacher. I should probably be reading. After the bookstore, we got dinner and then we went to Seoul Tower, which was the 4th time for me. We didn't quite make the subway all the way home before it closed, so we got a cab. We got an interesting driver. He didnt seem to really know where anything was. It probably didn't help that he was trying to learn English with my Korean flashcards. Somehow he found my apt though.
When I woke up sunday, I wasn't feeling great, so I just stayed home all day. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I dont think its pig flu. They're getting really scared of pig flu here. Schools are closing over it. Kids and teachers have to use hand sanitizer as soon as they get to school, they checked my temperature last week, but they stopped doing that, and they like to go around spraying doorknobs and handles with disinfectant every few hours. Its exciting. Well, time to get back to work!

I really am going to miss my kids a lot when I leave. Even the ones who drive me nuts. haha:) My birthday was yesterday. My parents sent flowers to me at school. They're beautiful! Thanks mommy and daddy! A lot of the kids gave me little cards and small gifts too. It was really sweet. I went to Outback for dinner with Kristina, Katie, and Abby. Abby got me an ice cream cake shaped like a little mushroom house. It was really cute:) Yummy too.
So the cave trip last weekend was a lot of fun. I'm really glad we went. We took the train late Friday night to the east side of Korea. It was a 6 hour train ride. This train had a little snack bar, computers, video games, massage chairs, and small noraebang rooms. We got off the train at 4:30 saturday morning. We were right by the beach. We had tofu soup for breakfast, then went to the beach to watch the sunrise. The water was really clear. We took a bus around to several places before going to the cave. We went to a fish auction/market. That was...interesting. We had a 40 minute hike to get to the cave. It was torturous. We were walking up super-steep hills, which later turned into lots and lots of stairs. We did get to see a nice waterfall along the way:) It was so nice to walk into the freezing cold cave when we finally got there. It was really big. There were quite a few stairs in there too, but its not as bad in the cold. Going back down the mountain was much faster. We got back on the bus, which took us to the train station and we had another 6 hour train ride back home. Like I said, it was a really fun trip and I'm glad I got to see the east side of Korea before I go home.

I know its been a while since my last post, so I figured I'd attempt to write a quick one before work. I guess most of you guys know my grandma just passed away. No one was expecting it, so it really came as kind of a shock. It's been hard for me being in Korea and not being able to be with my family. I was really upset about not being able to go to the funeral. I know everyone understood why I couldn't make it, but I still can't help but feeling like a bad granddaughter. Being in Korea has been amazing, but I knew when I took this job that I was going to miss things, both good and bad, that happened back home. I'm almost down to my last month here, so I will get to go home really soon. This weekend I'm going on a caving trip with Kristina, some of her family, Abby, and Katie. We're going to the east side of Korea, so we'll get to see the ocean over there too. Oh, and last weekend I finally did Dr. Fish. That's where you put your feet in a little pool and let fish eat the dead skin. It really tickled. Then this week at school, in one of my classes the kids were writing a thing about their favorite animal and one boy, Chaz, said his favorite animal was Dr. Fish. He drew a nice picture too. It made me laugh:)
Ok, time to get ready for work!

Bali: Part 3

Here we go again.
Friday we had another early start. We wanted to go to the safari place we had planned on going to on wed. We wanted to take the shuttle, but apparently you have to reserve your seat and it was full. We ended up getting a driver to take us. This place was so much better than any zoo I've ever been to. We got to pet a tiger, hold an orangutan, ride a camel, and feed and ride an elephant. It was so much fun:) We went back to the hotel after that where we got ready to go out for dinner and shopping. Shopping could be a little intimidating there. You walk into a store and the people are all over you trying to make you buy stuff. Then they give you a price that's way higher than you should have to pay. You could almost always get them down to half the price they originally asked for. I don't think I bought anything that night, but I helped barter with the people. That was fun.
Saturday was sad cause it was our last day:( We had to be out of our room by noon so we got up early to pack. Me and Abby finished, so we went out and did a little shopping. Checking out of the hotel took some time because Sarah had lost her wallet the night she arrived so she had called the US several times to get credit card stuff straightened out. They charged a lot for those phone calls, plus Kristina had to pay $80 for the toilet because she accidentally broke the lid when trying to save us from a cockroach. After that was all taken care of, we had lunch and then headed to the beach. Katie and Sarah went surfing, while Abby, Kristina, and I laid out and tried to get at least a little tan before going home. After a few hours at the beach, we went to do some more shopping. I bought a few dresses, some sandals, a wallet, and a few other things I don't even remember. Everything was so cheap. I kinda wish I had bought more. Bali has double stuffed oreos, so I really should have bought more of those than I did! haha:) We had our last dinner, then I think we did a little more shopping before going to the hotel where Justin and Sarah were staying since they were there a little longer. Me and Abby went out to stock up on oreos, but we were distracted by $5 manicures and pedicures so we never made it. When we finished there it was time to get our stuff and go to the airport:( Goodbye Bali! The flight home was long and uncomfortable. I didn't get much sleep at all. We got back to Korea around 11am sunday. I spent the rest of the day not really doing anything. In fact, most of my stuff is still in my suitcase. I'll get around to unpacking eventually. If you want to see pictures from my trip, check out facebook cause I don't really want to bother with putting them up here too.

Bali: Part 2

ok, deep breath...
Wednesday we had planned on going to this safari place, but Justin wasn't feeling well and he had really wanted to go. Maria finally called and came up with a plan for us. She's Indonesian so it was helpful to have someone who could somewhat speak the language. She got us a driver who would take us around all day for like only $30. First we went to take pictures out by some rice patties. It was really beautiful with all the green. We get a little nature-deprived in Korea sometimes. We stopped at a cute little place to have lunch. I had mie goreng ayam, which is fried noodles with chicken (ayam), vegetables, and egg. It was really good. After lunch, we went to a place called Tanah Lot, which was a temple out at the water. It was really beautiful, but we were kinda in a hurry cause we wanted to drive somewhere else to see the sunset and watch a traditional dance. We really were chasing the sun. We got there just in time to see the sunset. We watched the dance afterwards. It was basically a love triangle story. I took some videos which I will post on facebook later. After that, we went to another beach for a few minutes, then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a really late dinner. Abby got to the hotel shortly after we got back, and then it was time for bed.
Thursday, we woke up early again and met Maria for breakfast at a pancake place called Flapjacks. The food was good, but I'm not sure it was worthy of being our most expensive meal in Bali. After breakfast, we went out to the beach for a while, then back to the hotel to get ready to go to a monkey place. The monkey place was amazing. There were monkeys everywhere. The baby monkeys were soooooooooo cute. We stocked up on bananas on the way in. The monkeys would take them right out of your hands. Abby was holding a big bunch of bananas and the monkeys kept jumping all over her. One even bit her face. Luckily it didn't break the skin. After the monkey place, we stopped for lunch at a little place overlooking the rice patties. It was really nice. I had nasi goreng, which is basically the same as mie goreng except rice instead of noodles. After lunch we wanted to go silver shopping, but the place where our driver took us was really expensive, so we headed back to the hotel. Later we went out for cheap $5 massages then dinner at Sky Garden again. I split lasagna and a fajita wrap with Abby.
Ahhhhhh I'm so tired. I guess this is gonna be a trilogy. Good night guys!

Bali: Part 1

Bali was soooooooo much fun. I felt like our week there was way too short. We did so much, but there were still so many things we would have liked to do. I love Korea, but it was definitely nice to get away for a while.
I met Kristina and Katie early (7am) Sunday morning to take the bus to the airport. Our flight was was at 10 something, but it left kinda late. We were so confused on the plane because our tickets didn't have our arrival time, we weren't sure how long our flight was supposed to be (I think it took about 6 hours), and we weren't completely sure of the time difference (Bali's 1 hour behind Korea). I think it was 4 something when we got to Bali. Kristina's brother, Justin, also arrived in Bali around the same time as us, so when we finally found him, we got a couple of taxis to take us to our hotel. We definitely got ripped off by the cab drivers. We had no idea our hotel was like 5 minutes from the airport and we had no idea how much we should pay for that, so we paid 70,000 rupiah (about $7) for each taxi. We shouldn't have had to pay more than 30,000 per taxi. I wasn't even expecting them to drive on the left either. I guess most of the world does. It's kinda weird that Korea drives on the right. They aren't any better at driving in Bali than they are in Korea either.
The hotel was really nice. We could have used a bigger room. Our room was only meant for 3 people. We started with 4 people and by the end of the week we had 6. Anyway, we took our stuff to the room then we walked to the beach, then went swimming in the pool. I loved our pool by the way. It was soooo nice. We walked around a little and then had dinner at a place across the street from our hotel. Food is so cheap in Bali.
Monday we woke up around 11, which was the latest we slept all week. We didn't realize it was so late because it was so dark in the room, but I think we all needed the extra sleep. We headed to the store for towels and sunscreen, which we paid way too much for, then we headed to the beach. The beach near our hotel wasn't the nicest beach in Bali, but it was a beach. As soon as we walked out there, we were attacked by Linda, Lucy, Jenny, and all their friends trying to sell us their stuff. I seriously thought they weren't going to leave, but they finally did. You can't get away from people trying to sell you stuff. When you're walking down the street, there are people constantly asking where you are going and if you need transport. On the beach, people want to give you massages and sell you jewelry. It's crazy. Anyway, we stayed at the beach a while, then went back to the hotel where we had lunch by the pool then went swimming and laid out. Kristina's friend Sarah was supposed to be coming in that day, so we waited a while for her. She never came so we gave up and went out for dinner. The main streets for shopping, food, etc are called Poppies 1 and Poppies 2. Kristina had done some research and she found this restaurant called Poppies that she wanted to go to, so that's where we went. We had pina colada's in big dragon heads and I had pasta. It was really good. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday we woke up at like 8:00 and had breakfast at the hotel. It was really good for continental breakfast. A driver from the hotel took us to a place where we got a package deal to go out on a glass bottom boat to go snorkeling, parasailing, and to a place called turtle island. We went snorkeling first. That was a lot of fun. The water was a lot clearer where the boat took us. Next we went to turtle island. On turtle island, we got to hold all these different animals including turtles, iguanas, snakes, eagles, bats, etc. I think the bat freaked me out the most. We had lunch on the island before heading back to go parasailing. I was really scared, but it was actually a lot of fun. It was really peaceful and quiet up in the air. After that we went back to the hotel and went swimming in the pool. Sarah got there. She had gotten mixed up on what day she was coming because of the time difference. Justin also had a few friends who were staying in Bali so we met up with them for dinner at a place called Sky Garden. Maria, a girl we know from Korea, was visiting family in Indonesia so she came too. The menu there was huge and all the food was sooo cheap. Katie, Maria, and I split a pizza, buffalo chicken salad, and crab dip.
Ok, I didn't think this was going to take so long. I'm gonna stop here so I can go to bed. I'll try to finish blogging about my Bali trip tomorrow.

Just thought you guys might like to see my mud rash. It's cleared up since these pictures were taken.

In other news, I got to see the solar eclipse today. The longest solar eclipse of this century. We all went outside to see it. Michael and Joe made some kind of contraption with cardboard boxes so you could see it. I forget what it was called, but it was really cool.

It's raining here, it's raining there, it's raining, raining everywhere! Make it stop please! I walked home from work the other day and when I got home, I was so wet you couldn't even tell I had been carrying an umbrella. On the way to work the wind blew my umbrella inside out:(
In happier news, my rash is a lot better. The cream the pharmacy gave me helped a lot, with the itching anyway. It doesn't really itch at all anymore. The red spots are slowly fading. I still look slightly diseased. I showed one class my feet and told them I got it from playing in the mud, and one boy, Matthew, says, "Teacher, that's so wonderful!" I'm not sure if he was referring to my rash or the fact that I played in the mud, but it made me laugh. Well, not much else exciting. I'm supposed to go out with work tonight, and I think we're going shopping for Bali this weekend...other than that, no real plans.

Boryeong Mud Festival

The mud festival was this weekend! It was so nice to get away from this area. This was my first real trip since I've been here. The festival was in Boryeong, which is like a 3 hour drive from Bucheon. A group of us from Rhythm and Booze took a big bus Friday night so we could be there all day Saturday and part of Sunday. The bus turned out to be a noraebus (like a noreabang, except on a bus), so no sleep for me! I think it was about 2am when we got there, but we wanted to go exploring and find the ocean right away, so after dropping our stuff off in the room, we were off. It was soooo nice to be on the beach! After walking around for a bit, we headed back to our room. They were having a bbq, so we hung out there for a little bit before going to bed, not that there were any actual beds. There were 7 of us sleeping on the floor in this room. The bathroom was a toilet, a shower faucet, and a bucket. There was no sink, no walls or doors of any kind seperating the shower. Just a drain in the middle of the floor, which doesnt work as well if you spray the water directly at the door and let the water run out and flood the room where people are trying to sleep. One of our roommates let some people shower in our bathroom and they decided to try that. Anyway, Saturday was mud day! We wanted to take some pictures, so we decided to go out and do that and then come back and drop off our cameras before playing in the mud. The people at mudfest don't like it if you're not muddy though. We were taking pictures at this mud pit thing, and these guys look at us and are like, "You're too clean!" and they throw mud on all of us while we are holding our cameras. That was when we decided it was time to take the cameras back. Luckily, none of them got messed up. There were mud slides, mud obstacle courses, mud wrestling, etc, but the lines were soooo long. We were gonna put off the slides until sunday, but it rained sunday so we went home early without even playing in the mud at all that day. So we just got in the mud bath and mud wrestling thing. There were so many people in there. It was kinda scary, but fun. There was a place on the beach too where you could paint yourself with mud, so we did that. It was a lot of fun:) We were completely covered in mud. I have a mud rash all over my legs and feet now. Its really itchy. Apparently a bunch of kids got it last week. I got some sort of cream from the pharmacy today, so hopefully that will help. I think it was worth it though. Despite the weather and the rash, we had a lot of fun. and not this weekend, but next weekend is when i'm going to bali!! i'm so excited!

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July:) It was a little weird to celebrate in Korea, but it was a fun day. Let me back up to Seoul Land cause I'm a slacker and still haven't posted about that. I went with Abby, her friend Esther, Katie and Kristina. We had soooooo much fun:) We got there around 1 I think and stayed til it closed at like 10. It was a really nice day. A little hot, but there were misting things everywhere, plus little kids running around with water guns. They seemed to have a "Shoot the Foreigner" game going on too. There was also this really cool thing called water wars, which is a thing set up for you to shoot water balloons at your friends with a giant slingshot. Fun! I didn't ride any roller coasters (unless you count the baby Christmas one). I almost got talked into riding one because they tried to tell me it didn't go upside down, but it was called double loop or something like that. I may be blonde, but I'm not a complete idiot! haha. I did end up riding an upside down ride (I knew it was gonna go upside down too). It wasn't that bad. You guys would be proud. The lines for the rides were surprisingly short. I don't know why. It was a really nice day.
Sunday, I went with Abby and Esther to see Seodaemun Prison, which was a prison the Japanese used when they invaded. It was quite disturbing. I have no desire to go back. After that, we headed to Myeong dong cause we wanted California Pizza Kitchen. Then we did a little shopping and headed home.
Reading these blogs I guess it does kinda just sound like I'm on a long vacation cause I guess I don't talk much about work. School's going pretty well. I have one class that kinda makes me want to scream. They're kindergarteners and most of them are on a really low level. There's 9 of them, which is the biggest class I have. Some of them are pretty good, but there are 2 boys that I just don't know what to do with. One seems to be off in lala land all the time. He sits there and makes weird noises, occassionally screaming (not angry screaming, he always looks happy), and he hardly responds at all when you speak to him. The other one has SOOO much energy. Getting him to stay in his chair for 2 seconds is a big accomplishment. Most of my other classes are going well. The kids are so cute and I really need to start writing down some of the stuff they say!
Saturday, as you know, was the 4th of July, so Friday after work I went to Costco with Kristina, Katie, and Abby to stock up on food. Kristina and I made the hamburgers so they would be ready to cook the next day. Making hamburgers is fun! I can't believe I've never done it before. We had the meat in frying pans sitting on Abby's floor. It was like playing with play-doh. I made a Hello Kitty, an angel (it was the only cookie cutter Abby had), and a firework. Kristina made some...interesting ones too. Saturday, a big group of us had a bbq in the park, which is apparently illegal. It was the 4 of us plus Joe, Michael, and a couple of Kristina's coworkers, Carissa and Sarah. After we started the grill, we had several Koreans come up to yell at us. Abby and Carissa, who were the ones cooking, somehow managed to make us all burgers though:) It was a really nice day, so after lunch we just relaxed in the park. Abby, Joe, and I went to rent this really cool bicycle-like thing. We took turns riding that around the park. It rained a little, but the sun was still shining and it was kind of refreshing. It felt like the 4th of July to me. That night, Katie, Kristina, Abby, and I went out for Korean bbq. Yum! Then we played with FIREWORKS! Yay! It was funny cause we got yelled at so much for cooking in the park, but not one person cared about our fireworks. Even the man I shot with a firework was laughing (it didn't hit him). We went to rhythm and booze for a little while, then more fireworks. Fun times:)
Sunday, wasn't a super-eventful day. I went to church, then we ended up at Kristina's to cook our leftover hamburgers and watch a movie. It was a nice, relaxing way to end the weekend. Not too much exciting happened today. Just another monday. This weekend I'm going to a mud festival thing, so that should be fun!
k, well this is getting kinda long and i'm out of stuff to write about so im gonna say goodnight!

Sooooooo glad this week is over. It wasn't a horrible week, there was just so much to do with open class and report card comments along with regular classes and lesson plans. Open class went really well I think. I only had to do one class. I had a really good group of kids, so I wasn't even worried about their behavior. I was just nervous about having all those parents watching me. Some of the kids were a little nervous so they were a lot quieter than usual and weren't volunteering to answer as many questions. It's amazing how much faster the lesson goes when you aren't wasting so much time trying to get them to be quiet and sit properly. Several of the teachers including myself found ourselves trying to drag things out to fill some extra time. They told me the parents enjoyed my class so I guess I'm not gonna get fired or anything. Some of the parents were surprised my voice could be so loud. haha:) Anyway, open classes were just for the morning kids, but we had 2 days of it. Half the kids went on a field trip to a traffic park (i dunno what that means) and the other half stayed for open class, then the next day they switched. I was supposed to get to go on the field trip, but then they changed their minds because they needed someone to help with the montessori class:( Thursday night all the teachers went out to dinner to celebrate open class success. Dinner was good, and afterward a few of us went to noraebang again. I'd been in this country i dunno how many months without ever going to noraebang, and now I somehow end up there almost every week. Last weekend we went there friday and saturday night. Some of Kristina's coworkers, Mike and Melinda, were celebrating their last weekend in Korea. They really like noraebang. Abby and I were gonna go to a movie friday, but we ended up at noraebang with them instead. Saturday, it was POURING rain, so we went to Bupyeong for some underground shopping. Then we had shabu shabu for dinner, went bowling, then more noraebang. Fun times.
I'm so excited cause today we're going to Seoul Land!!! I've been wanting to go there for a long time. We were gonna go last week, but it rained:( Today's supposed to be nice and hot though. Speaking of hot, my classroom and my apt are starting to get bad. This is gonna be a long summer.

k, I haven't done an ice cream post in a while, so of course I waited until I have tons of report card comments to write and stuff to do for open class (when the parents come sit in on class) to do this.
This first one is watermelon ice cream. I must say, I was not a fan. It would have been fine if they had left out the "seeds" I think. The seeds taste like little bits of chocolate-covered nuts, which didn't really go well with the fruity ice cream. Cute idea, but I think I actually threw most of this one away.

Next up is a coffee milkshake in a bag. I love these things! The only problem is many times you have to let it sit a while before it thaws enough to drink. The flavors I have seen are coffee, cookies and cream, vanilla, and strawberry.

Here is another favorite of mine. I think they come in other fruits, but the pineapple is the most common. The green part is a lid that comes off, and when you buy it, they give you a little wooden spoon at the counter. Inside is like hawaiian ice. So yummy and refreshing, especially on a hot day!

Alright, I guess I should get back to those report card comments:(

I'm sad I dont have my mom or anyone here with me to do my blog for me anymore:( This is a lot of work...so COMMENT PEOPLE! Seriously, it makes me feel better. Anyway, where was I? My mommy left me on Wednesday:( I did get to go with her to the airport cause my school gave me the morning off. Abby went with us too cause she's cool like that. I was pretty dead after basically playing Korean tour guide for 2 weeks along with work. I'm getting really good at it though! Who's next? Haha:)
From what I recall, the rest of the school week was pretty uneventful...
Friday night was one of Kristina's coworkers birthday so a big group of us went out for Korean bbq and noraebang. Yes, I sang this time. I sang A Whole New World (from Aladin) with Abby! I also used a squat toilet for the very first time...and in more depressing news, I broke another watch:( It was my new Hello Kitty one! I have the worst luck with umbrellas and watches in this country! Oh well.
Saturday, Kristina and I were both craving Quiznos, so we made a trip to Itaewon. We were trying to figure out when the last time we'd had Quiznos was and it was like in January or February! I dunno how we went so long without it. After that, we met up with a friend of hers who was visiting her family in Korea and we went to Myeongdong to go shopping. Yay for Forever 21:)
Sunday I went to church, then we were gonna go to Costco, but after waiting forever for the bus that never came, Kristina talked us into going to see a scary movie that I would not recommend anyone else go see. It was called Drag Me to Hell. Doesn't sound very nice, does it? There weren't 4 seats together anywhere, so me and Abby ended up alone in the front screaming through the whole thing. I feel like I didn't even see half the movie cause I was holding the popcorn bucket in front of my face the whole time. So yeah, that was my weekend.
Today was an interesting day as well. We had our first fire drill at school. Fire drills must not be big here, cause none of the Korean teachers knew what they were doing. They thought it would be a good idea to run through the school screaming FIRE! and then line the kids up right outside the door of the "burning building." We did have a real fire truck though, so that was exciting. All the Korean teachers were taking pictures as we were escaping from the building. It was amusing. THEN, after taking pictures with the firefighters, they got the hose out and proceeded to spray it beside our school building. That was fun.

Mommy's Visit

k, i know this is really lazy, but my mommy is here and i dont have an abundance of free time...so here's the link to her blog:
http://sherrysimpsonblog.blogspot.com/

I know its been forever! My friend Robin came to visit me last week so I've had zero free time. She got here sunday evening. I did my best to give her tips about traveling in Korea, subway, bus info, etc. I had to work, but she was really brave and went out sightseeing on her own. I dont think she got too lost. We did stuff together in the evenings, which was really fun, but also quite exhausting! Im not sure we got home before 11:00 at all that week. Monday night we attempted to find the 63 Building, but we gave up and went to Insadong to do a little shopping instead. Tuesday night a group of us got together to study korean cause we had a test saturday. We didnt actually get very much studying done. We went to TGI Fridays and then bowling. Wednesday we made a second attempt at the 63 Building...and we found it! Yay! There's a sea world thing and some other stuff in the building, but we just went to the observation thing at the top. The view was really good. Thursday night we went to Seoul Tower. We wanted to take the cable car to the top, but we had some difficulty finding the cable car thing. We hiked up and down this hill a couple of times before we ran into another foreigner who informed us that it was in fact up the hill. We just hadn't gone nearly far enough. You would think taking the cable car would be a way to get around hiking. Guess not. We eventually got there and got some good pictures. Friday night I wanted to take Robin for Korean bbq. We met Kristina, Abby, Katie, Michael, and Joe. Dinner was really good. After dinner we decided to get a lion ice cream cake from baskin robbins, then we moved the party to mcdonalds to study korean (sorry robin). Saturday morning I took Robin to the bus for the airport:( I went to Korean class where we had our test. We won't talk about that. It makes me a little angry. After class, we went to Bennigans for lunch cause we had free coupons. While we were eating Robin called and informed me that she was back at my apt because after getting to the airport, she found out that her flight wasn't until sunday. oops! haha;) i went back home and after resting a little, we went to bupyeong to meet abby, katie, and kristina. we went to a hookah bar that kristina had heard about then we went to meet michael and joe at rhythm and booze. sunday morning robin left again:( Abby, Kristina, and I went to Forever 21 later for some summer/bali shopping. Yeah, I'm going to Bali for my summer vacation! Im excited:)
More exciting news: MY MOMMY IS COMING TOMORROW! Yay!! I can't wait! She'll be here until next wednesday. I'm hoping the weather will be nice. We had a thunderstorm yesterday...the only thunderstorm i've seen in the 8 months i've been here! Its my 8 month anniversary by the way! Time has really flown by.
Lets see...what else is new? Everything's going good at school. One of my kids just came back from america. She brought me a keychain from Texas. The idea of one of my korean students giving me a souvenier from america made me laugh a little. I've never been to Texas though.
Its funny how kids I've been teaching for months will tell me like they've just noticed, "Teacher! Your eyes are blue!" Well today I was informed by one of my kids that my eyes are in fact purple. I tried telling them they were blue, but eventually just gave up and accepted it.
I'm sorry about there not being any pictures, but they're on facebook. I dont feel like going through the effort of posting them here too. I gotta go clean...cause MY MOMMY IS COMING!

One of my kids gave me a dead flower today for teacher's day (which was last friday). I suppose its the thought that counts. haha:)

Last Friday was teacher's day:) I got a lot of handmade soaps, chocolate, candy, cards, etc. It was like Christmas! We also got another new teacher Friday. Joe from England. He seems pretty nice.
It rained all day saturday, but it was still a fun yet relaxing day. Korean class in the morning followed by lunch at this little italian place Kristina, Abby, and I found. We decided to just relax and study Korean in a nice cafe we found nearby. We split chocolate cake, tiramisu, and gelatto.

Yum! After hanging out there for a few hours we went to the mall to do a little shopping and check out a hair place someone recommended. We just wanted to see about coming the next day for haircuts, but the guy also styled all our hair for free:)

Later we went to a Korean bbq place for dinner. We decided to try out a DVD bang(room), which is a place where you go to watch movies, but you get a private room. We watched Meet the Parents. Sad news: I left my umbrella in the cab that took me home:( That's 3 umbrellas I've lost here. I only have one left and of course its the ugliest one.
Sunday I went to church then we went to get our hair cut. The place was really nice. He did treatment, washed, and cut our hair for only 18,000 won. I'm happy with my hair.

Ok, so today one of my kids gave me this note she wrote. Its about a book we just started using (TOFEL) in her class that's pretty hard. I thought it was kinda funny so I thought I'd share.

Hey Jennifer Teacher!
To: Jennifer Teacher
Hello! I'm Cindy. You know I said that TOFEL is very hard and its my enemy champion! But you said we can do it. I think you know like I hate TOFEL and hate my Tuesday and Thursday. But you know sometimes I like TOFEL a little bit and sometimes a lot. Do you think I could understand and could stop being the enemy of TOFEL? I think I could do it. Can you help us being good to TOFEL? I wish you do so you know that I like you and hate or like TOFEL a bit. But you always know that TOFEL isn't the one book I hate. I hate Grammer what I do in Monday, Wensday, and Friday. I wish that I could not do one of them. (TOFEL or Grammer) What could I do?

haha I dont like that book either.
Completely random sidenote: Korean's make a big deal about blood type and what it means about your personality. Correct me if I'm wrong mom, but I think I'm type A.

Type A: Obedient, careful, sympathetic, polite, honest, loyal, self-sacrificing, tend to avoid confrontation and are uncomfortable around people. Shy, withdrawn and they never feel like they fit in. They are very considerate of everything, hesitant to change, can be indecisive. They are very creative and the most artistic.

haha ok that is all.

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's been kinda rainy yesterday and this morning, but over the weekend it was really nice. Friday night I went to Rhythm and Booze for a little while with Abby, her mom, Kristina, Katie and a few of their other coworkers. We weren't there long cause most of us were pretty tired, but Abby's mommy left Saturday morning so we wanted to say goodbye.
Saturday I went to Korean class...my poor brain! After class we decided to go to the park to enjoy the sunshine. We picked up a couple pizzas and some snacks for a picnic. It was so nice:) We were sitting by this little stream and we saw all theses kids (and adults) down it the water catching things in water bottles. Kristina and I went to investigate. They were catching snails with their bare hands! One little snail-catching kid gave us some of her cookies. We gave them to Peanut. I tried teaching Peanut and Honey some new tricks, but I failed and nearly lost a finger to Honey.

mmmm pizza:)

The things people do to torture their dogs...

Anyway, that night we moved the party to Katie's apt and had an OC marathon.

Sunday I went to church then attempted to find a place to get pedicures with Abby and Katie. I was also gonna get a haircut. Neither happened. We ended up back at Katie's for a relaxing, but later than I had planned night of watching movies.

Guess I have a little to catch you guys up on. I wish I was better at posting more often cause trying to remember stuff is no fun.
Last week was Natalia's last week:( We had a goodbye dinner for her/welcoming dinner for Michael K teacher wednesday night. We went to this place that was really out in the middle of nowhere. They grew a lot of their own vegetables right there. The restaurant was really cute and the food was amazing.

I don't even remember how many different courses they brought out. A lot of the food had flowers in it, which was cool. They told us the kimchi was 3 years old. It was really good...the best kimchi I've had here.

I'm trying to be more open about trying new foods, and I would say I've done pretty good, but there was no way I was eating this fish.

Friday we had children's day activities at school. We had an obstacle course, twister, and other games for the kids. I helped with the obstacle course all day. It was fun, but the day seemed really long.
Friday night a few of us went out again for another goodbye Natalia dinner. We went to TGI Fridays, then I had my first noraebang (norae=song, bang=room) experience. Karaoke, but you pay to use a private room with just your friends. No, I didn't sing, but it was fun.
Saturday I was supposed to go on a culture trip with my Korean class, but it was rainy so I stayed home and didn't do much. Sunday I went to church then Costco trip with Kristina and her mom. They really need to put a Costco in Bucheon!
Monday the teachers performed Sleeping Beauty for the kids for children's day. Don't ask me why it wasn't the kids who had to do the play. I was the good fairy, not too many lines and I got to have a wand. After the play we went outside to play with bubbles, etc.

Tuesday actually was children's day, which is pretty big here. Banks and a lot of other places were closed...and no school! Yay! Abby's mom is here and they were staying at the Marriott in Seoul so Kristina, Katie, and I went to stay with them. It was really nice. We enjoyed using the hot tub and pool plus free western style breakfast! We went to On The Border for lunch to celebrate Cinco de Mayo/Children's day/Katie's birthday (yes, a real birthday). The food was really good:)

We walked around Coex mall a little before making the long journey home.
The weather is soooo nice now by the way. I'm loving it! It was sad to have to go back to school today, but its almost thursday already even though it feels like a monday! yay:)

This weekend one of the Korean teachers at my school, Joanna, got married so I got to go to my first Korean wedding. It wasn't really all that different from a wedding in the US. Actually there were two ceremonies. The one I saw was the western style one. The traditional ceremony was just for the family. The wedding was at a big wedding hall. We got there early so we could take pictures with Joanna. She just sits in this room and people go in to get their picture taken. She looked really pretty.

The wedding was nice, but there were some things I didn't like. The doors were open so there was a lot of noise from the lobby area where people were waiting for other weddings. The photographers were everywhere too. I mean like 2 of them were right up there with the bride and groom in their faces. After the wedding was over they were taking pictures. They did a picture with all the single people and then the photographer asks who wants to catch the bouquet. So instead of tossing the bouquet to see who would catch it, they have Joanna throw it to this girl who is standing out to the side so the photographer could get a good picture. Anyway, after the wedding there was a big buffet. The food wasn't bad. They had their traditional ceremony while we were eating and after they finished, they came around dressed in their hanbok.

It was fun. I'm glad I went.
Sunday I went to church and then Abby, Katie (one of Kristina's coworkers), and I met some other people to go to a lantern festival for buddha's birthday, which isn't actually til next week i think. There was a big parade with lots of lanterns. It was good, but really long. We left before it was over and went to Itaewon for dinner at this really cute place called the Flying Pan (i think). They had really good soups and sandwiches. It was fun, but I didn't get home til close to 11:00. I was soooo tired.
Today we got our new teacher at school. I didn't really talk to him much, but he seems nice. All I know is his name is Michael too and he's half korean. We're supposed to be getting a guy from England soon too so that should be interesting.
K, that's all for now!

Happy Birthday Mamaw!

Today is my Mamaw Faye's birthday! I wish I could be there to tell you happy birthday myself and give you a big hug! I love you very much and I hope you had a really great day! Miss you lots!!!
Love,
Jenny

k, i've got a few minutes before my next class so time for a quick blog.
Haven't been feeling great these past few days. I've had a cold, but I'm about over it now. I'm just really tired cause not being able to breathe through my nose makes it hard to sleep:(
Anyway, nothing too exciting this weekend. I was exhausted Friday so I pretty much just went home, studied my Korean a little and tried to get some rest. Saturday I felt a lot better even though I still didn't sleep very well. I went to Korean class then lunch with Kristina and Abby. We found this really good pizza place. The pizza was really cheap too. It was only 6,000 won ($6ish) for a pizza that was big enough for 2 people to share. Later that night we went out for Sam Gyup Sal then Rhythm and Booze, so that was fun. Sunday I went to church, then to the park with church people for a while. The weather was really nice and there were lots of people there with their little dogs. That reminds me, we saw this HUGE fluffy white dog saturday. I wanted to take it home with me soooo bad! Big dogs are very rare here. I got a picture of it, but its on Abby's camera. Anyway, after the park we went to a really cheap, but good Korean place for dinner. I had mandu guk (soup with dumplings) plus all the free side dishes for only 3,000 won. After that, it was time to go home and go to bed. I actually slept pretty well last night. Today's been a pretty good day, but it's been raining all day. Its supposed to be a lot cooler this week too:( K, time for class. Be proud of me for posting again so soon!

Today one of my classes was writing journals and one girl wrote about her birthday. She wrote that she had cake and octopus. I asked her if she liked octopus and she told me yeah it was yummy. What kid in the US would eat octopus and want it for their birthday dinner? Anyway, we started talking about the foods they eat so I asked about eating dog. They both (only 2 in this class) seemed pretty appalled by the idea of eating dog. I know they eat dog here, but I don't know how common it is especially with people who have money.

Random observation of the day:
I don't know why, but a lot of the boy students I teach have been coming to school with painted fingernails lately. I asked one boy with blue fingernails about it, but he wouldn't answer me...

I love the spring! This weather makes me happy:) It was so nice walking around outside this weekend.
So I had my first Korean bowling experience friday. Wasn't all that different really. I went with Michael and Natalia. The bowling alley was 2 floors. There were only a few lanes on each floor. The first floor was full so they took us up to the 2nd floor, so we had the whole thing to ourselves for several games. It was really cheap to bowl. It was like 30,000 won ($30ish) for the 3 of us to play 4 games. We were all pretty bad...no one broke 100, but it was fun.
Saturday was the start of Korean class again. We have a new teacher. She seems like she's gonna be a little tougher, but she's nice and seems like a good teacher. After class we went to a cherry blossom festival thing. I kind of expected there to be more to it than there was, but it was pretty and we got some good pictures out of it.

That night we went to Itaewon to do some shopping. We decided to attempt to find our ice cream fondue again. Third times the charm! We were sooooo excited!
Doesn't it look yummy? That's probably because it was! It came with fruit, pieces of cake, little balls of ice cream, and of course the chocolate.
Sunday was obviously Easter. I went to church, then there was a dinner after the service. Everything was good:)
School wasn't bad today, at least for a monday. Seems like half the kids have chicken pox...well like 3 or 4 of them do anyway.
hmmm ok well i think that's all i've got...
hope you all had a very Happy Easter!

I can't believe its almost Easter! It seems like it was Christmas just a few weeks ago. I've been in Korea a little over 6 months now, which seems really crazy. Anyway, even though its been a little while, I dont think I've let you guys miss much. Weather's been slightly on the warmer side lately so thats good:) Natalia is coming to the end of her contract in just a few weeks so the 3 of us went out for dinner and then met up with some Korean friends Friday, so that was fun. Saturday I was supposed to go with Abby, Kristina, and a few other people to see the cherry blossoms, but after changing our minds a few times and going to the wrong subway stop we ended up in Namdaemun. First we got to see the changing of the guard ceremony at a palace. We saw this really big drum (pictures later) so of course we wanted to hit it. We were very disappointed when we saw the Please Do Not Touch Drum Please sign:( Then all these people start gathering around and we can tell something's about to happen so we stayed to watch. This person comes up to Abby and asks her if she wants to hit the drum for the ceremony and being the good friend she is, she asked if me and Kristina could hit the drum too. They said that we could each hit the drum one time. They told us to use most powerful force. It was a little scary with all the people watching, but it was fun:) So then there was a big parade and a little ceremony thing. They also had a little table set up where they were letting people try on hanbok for free, so of course we did that too. Then we went shopping. In Namdaemun a lot of the shopping is just digging through piles of clothes. You can get stuff for really cheap. We also went to Forever 21:) then Bennigans for dinner. It was a fun day:) Sunday, I went to church then sam gyup sal for dinner. We made a second attempt at getting the ice cream fondue for dessert, but they said they didn't have it again:( ...and then the weekend was over. They go by too fast. ok, time for class! Miss you guys! Wish I could be home for Easter!

So one of my students today said to me, "Teacher! Your voice is much louder this year than it was last year!" haha I dunno if it's true or not, but it made me laugh a little bit:)
Another student story (not a funny one):
Some of my classes have to write in diaries that they turn into me every day. One girl, who I think is actually one of my prettiest students, wrote about how ugly she thinks she is because her skin is dark and her nose is round. She said she was going to get plastic surgery on her nose when she gets older. I thought it was really sad:(
I don't know if you guys have noticed but I added a Korean word of the day thing to my blog. I'm not too crazy about the words it picks, but I though you guys could learn some Korean with me! So maybe I'll try to throw in some Korean every time I post on here. Korean of the day: 코피 pronounced Ko Pee. It means bloody nose (Ko=nose, Pee=blood). I've had a couple of kids with bloody noses since I have learned this, one this week actually. The kids were impressed that I new how to say this:)
By the way, its my mommy's birthday tomorrow. I know somebody wants to buy her a plane ticket to Korea so she can visit me! Miss u mommyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

It seems like every time I write a blog I end up having to write it twice. grrr Sorry guys, I've been really busy. At school there is like no time to breathe, and when I'm not at school and I have free time, writing a blog isn't usually at the top of my to-do list.
Anyway, like I said, school has been really crazy. We have almost no free time now. Monday's and Tuesday's are my best days. The week is just downhill after that. The kids aren't bad. There are just so many of them now and a lot of them don't know much english. The little bit of Korean I've learned has helped some. You have to be careful using it though cause they freak out when you speak Korean and they start trying to talk to you. Oh, kinda funny side note story... One of the new upper level kids got to class early one day. I was at my desk doing something and he was reading. He had a question so he said in the most serious, polite voice, "Excuse me sir, what is this word?" I thought it was pretty funny. I didn't laugh though, and I probably should have corrected him, but I couldn't. haha:) Ok, well that's enough about school.
Last Saturday I went to Lotte World with Michael, Kristina, and Shawn.

Lotte World is an amusement park that is half inside and half outside. We were excited about not having to freeze to death, but it wasn't too, too cold. The lines were really long though, much longer than at Everland. Everland was much better overall actually, but we still had fun. We didn't ride many rides, only one that was kinda scary. They had balloons that went around the whole indoor area. That was pretty cool. After we got tired of waiting in long lines to ride rides, we went to the arcade to play games and then we took pictures at the photo booth. Korean photo booths are so much better. They're also pretty stressful. You get to decorate your pictures, but it gives you a time limit, so if you don't know what you're doing you're in trouble!
Sunday after church we went shopping around Bucheon Station and then met our friend Janice for Shabu Shabu. Very yummy:)

After dinner, I went to meet Abby's new dog, Honey. He's very cute:) Makes me want a pet. I'm thinking maybe a hermit crab? Honey also got to meet Peanut. They got along pretty well. Then we went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. We wanted to get the ice cream fondue thing, but they didn't have it so we had to settle for normal ice cream:( Oh, well. So that was pretty much my weekend.
This week, not too much exciting. I did get to make St. Patricks day hats with the kids. When I say I got to make them with the kids, what I mean is, they got to color them, and I got to do everything else. They were much more complicated to make than you might think.
And that brings us to this weekend. Last night I went to see a movie with Abby and today I slept in and other than a trip to Homeplus, a little cleaning, and some laundry, I haven't done much. The weather is sooo nice here now. It's finally getting in the upper 50s to 60. Spring! Yay!! I love it!

This week hasn't been as bad as I thought... The morning schedule is kind of temporary. I think they're trying to get the kids used to coming here before we go into having normal classes with them. So I don't have much to do then. I have a few new classes in the afternoon, but a couple of them dont start until next week so I've had a break there too. Next week is not going to be as fun. Oh, but guess what! Pre-k kids are gone! Well, they aren't gone, but I dont have to teach them anymore! Yay! In other news, it snowed some yesterday. Not nearly as much as you guys got back home. I'm so jealous! So, I went to Outback last night with Abby and Kristina. The food was really good, but just couldnt eat it all, so we asked for to-go boxes. They took our food, brought it back in boxes along with 2 of the small loaves of bread for each of us! I was pretty excited:-) Oh, I forgot to tell you guys, I have a Korean name now...sorta. 돌벽 (Dolbyeok??) It means Stonewall. Don't ask. Ok, thats all for now.

I know, I know its been forever

My mother brought it to my attention that I have not posted in quite a while. I didn't realize how long it had been! Just haven't had a whole lot to write about and not much motivation to do it i guess.
Anyway, last saturday was the kindergarten graduation. Can't tell you how thrilled I was to get to go to school on saturday. I got to lead the kids in a song in sign language. I didn't really teach them the song. I think they got most of the signs from the internet. Then when they found out my minor was ASL they asked me to make sure it was right and to lead the song for graduation. This was like 2 days before they were supposed to perform it so I didn't change much. Its not like anybody would know if it was wrong. It went pretty well I think. I wish I had gotten some pictures from graduation, but I didn't. So the rest of the weekend I was pretty lazy. Went to Rhythm and Booze with Kristina, Abby, and Michael saturday night, but not much else.

This week has been really long and kinda boring. We had 3 age groups of morning kids. I don't teach the youngest group (amber) at all. I have a few classes with the middle group (jade). The oldest group (ruby) graduated so they come in the afternoon now instead. Some days I didn't even have class until 2:00 even though I had to be at school at 9:30. Not having anything to do made me feel really tired. Thursday and Friday we didn't have morning classes at all. It was parent orientation for the new semester. Thursday was orientation for the new kids and parents. Friday was for parents and kids that are returning. We have a lot of new kids coming in next week. Its gonna be scary. We don't even know our schedule for the morning kids. We know our schedule for afternoon, but they haven't told us what we're teaching or anything yet. So its gonna be fun. I'm going to have like no free time either. Ok, I'm starting to get stressed so lets move on to the weekend.
Friday we had Monopoly night at Kristina's. I think I mentioned before that Abby bought us Monopoly for Christmas, but it was all in Korean. We used Kristina's mom as a translator. It was credit card Monopoly too so that made things interesting. It was fun. Long, a bit heated at times, but fun:) Michael ended up winning the game. Pretty sure he cheated though...
Today I went to Korean class. We're starting to get more into conversational stuff. I now have 40+ stickers! Yay! After class, Michael and I went on a search for a Papa Johns cause I was pretty sure I had seen one and I thought I could find it...and guess what! I did! I'm getting much better at the whole directions thing. The pizza was delicious too:)

The weather was really nice today. It was sunny and not cold at all. We walked all the way back to the subway station, which is not a short walk, stopping to play on the swings at a playground on the way. I could get used to this weather, but it looks like its gonna be getting cold again tomorrow. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!