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!