Nine Years

I can't believe it's been 9 years without Dad...

Work went alright. I was busy working on lesson plans for the substitute teacher who asked me to submit my plans a week in advance to her.

After work I came home and just had some quiet alone time. I just needed some down time to think about Dad. Around dinner time, Jacob came over and he brought Panda Express. I thought about what kind of food Dad would have loved to have. He and I would sometimes go to a Chinese buffet on the weekends so I thought Chinese food would be a good choice. It was very sweet of Jacob to go pick up the food from downtown area and bring it to me. The Panda Express is in a food court and I didn't feel like eating in a cafeteria. When we finished dinner, I wanted to do something else Dad would have liked to do, so we took a walk along my stream. Dad always loved walking and being outside. I would have rather done a bit of hiking because I know Dad would have loved to do that, but on a Friday evening when it's already dark...

When we returned from our walk we had the cake I bought yesterday. It was okay. Not as good as the one from Sugar Daddy's in Itaewon. Then we were going to watch the DVD Phil and I made for the visitation, but I didn't have the file anymore. I was kind of sad we couldn't watch it; Jacob had suggested we see it again. I also called Mom and got to talk to her for a little bit.

Ok cheesecake

North Korean Hunger Banquet

I had 3 classes of speaking tests with the 4th graders and one class of writing with 5th graders. Not to hard. I guess for the month of November there are a lot of school clubs/activities for 5th and 6th periods (after lunch). All of my COTs mentioned how they have to do them. I could hear drums banging somewhere in school, so I feel sorry for the teacher who is teaching traditional drumming.

After school I headed to Hongdae and stopped at Billy Angel. I wanted to buy a piece of cake to have for tomorrow for Dad's anniversary. Actually, I really wanted to get a piece of the oreo cheesecake that I had last week, but Itaewon is too far out of the way. Nothing stood out to me there, nothing that seemed like Dad would say, "let's try a piece of that!". So I walked around a little bit more. I found a new cafe and they had an oreo cheesecake on display! So I got a piece-I hope it's as good as the one in Itaewon! Then I went to get jap chae hoddeok (a fried pancake filled with noodles and vegetables) for Jacob and me. We figured a snack would be a good thing before the banquet. We met up after I bought the snacks and walked to the subway.

We traveled to Jongro area and found the North Korean restaurant it was being held at. I would be interested to go there again and order a meal off their menu. Anyway, we saw one of our mentee friends, Randy, at the event as well. When we arrived, we drew a story card. Both Jacob and I picked "hostile". There were three classes: Elite, Wavering and Hostile--to show their relationship with the regime. It also denoted what meal we would get. After drawing our story cards, we went to go sit down. There were about 10-12 tables, with 6 people at each table. There was one from elite, two people from wavering and 3 from hostile. We shared our story cards with each other. The event started and they introduced the program, Citizen's Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. They also talked about their hope for the evening. We were then served our meals. The hostile group got 2 potato mandu (dumplings), the wavering got a bowl of bibimbap (North Koreans eat it with soy sauce and not gochujang, the spicy red pepper paste), and the top class got a bowl of soup with vegetables and meat and a bowl of rice. After we ate, they had a young woman speak. She defected with her Mom when she was 15 years old and is currently studying at a university in Seoul. It was an interesting event.

I headed home afterwards. Jacob went with his roommate Troy to go visit their new living situation. One of Jacob's Korean friends offered to rent a room in their family apartment so he and Troy will stay in a big room and split the rent.

From the banquet

Level Test

Work was pretty easy. Since my 4th grade COT is taking her leave on Friday, she wanted to wrap up stuff and they had a speaking test. After everyone was tested, they watched a movie.

Before I headed downtown, I stopped at the post office. I mailed a package to my friend in Mexico. Last year I had bought a shirt and some Korean snacks for him and never got to the post office to mail it. Well, obviously I've been to the post office in the last year, but I was scared about how much it would cost. It was only around $7 and the package weighed about 450g. I didn't think that was too bad.

Next, it was on to downtown for class. Class was alright, except looming overhead was the level test, dun dun dunnn. I don't know how I did-they don't really seem to ever tell you your score or let you see your mistakes-only that you passed or didn't. So the teacher said a few names and something that I didn't really understand. Then the rest she said we would continue on and do chapter 5-8. So, that's me. Going on to finish the textbook. It's perfect because the next 6 weeks session will then end December 17th (the week before my vacation) and I will have completed a years worth of Korean classes. Done!

The best part about taking the test was that we finished early. I was home a little after 9:30 which was a nice change. When I got home, I called my mom via kakao talk and it was cool to feel like we were just calling and talking as if I were in the US making a phone call.

One of my students gave this to me; she made it in an after school class

Happy Birthday Aunt Ruth!

A very happy birthday to my amazing Great Aunt Ruth! I won't spill the beans on her age since she doesn't like that!

Nothing too special at school, a regular ole Tuesday.

After work, I changed quickly and headed out for a run. Last week when I met Jacob, it was a little bit later in the evening so I had a cushion of time. This week he's feeling a little under the weather and didn't go to the gym so we were meeting when he finished work. It was not too cold on my run. However, it might be one of my last runs for the year if the weather keeps getting colder and colder. It's a little disappointing for me because I'm really starting to enjoy my runs more and more now. I've considered joining a gym, but I don't know if I'd like it or not. I've never been one for running inside, on treadmills, though I do do it.

I met up with Jacob and we went to his Imo's for dinner. I got kimchi stew and he got a pork cutlet. I wasn't feeling too hungry after my run and didn't eat much. The sides were pretty good-potatoes and bean sprouts. After dinner, we went to his place and discussed our Christmas plans. It looks like we decided on Cambodia- we will fly out together on the 24th to Siem Reap and spend a few days there; then we will move to Phnom Phen and I will fly out alone to return because I have to work that week after Christmas (Winter Camp preparations). He will be joined by his roommate and they will stay in Cambodia over New Years and a few more days.

I took the bus home and didn't get bus sick. Before I hopped on the bus, I bought an ice cream cone to eat. I ended up waiting until I got home to eat it and it was a little bit melty, but not too bad.

Last Date with Sumi

I'm sure I mentioned it already, but I actually don't mind Monday's all that much. The first period is off so if there's anything that needs to be finished I can do it then. I only have 5 classes and they're all pretty good. Though the first class is always so quiet and unresponsive. Anyway, we did a writing lesson and for some reason we only were able to do the writing exercises in the textbook and didn't even get to the other activity I planned. I was really surprised because normally using the textbook takes about 5 minutes, 10 at the very most so I'm not sure how the time passed so quickly.

After work, I headed to Hongdae to meet Sumi. It was our last time together; she'll be going back to her hometown tomorrow and staying there until she leaves for Pakistan. The date right now is tentatively set for the 17th, but it depends on her Visa. Anyway, I realized when I woke up I should have prepared a gift for her! I wracked my brain trying to think of a good gift and came up with "scarf"-it will keep her warm and she should also have her head covered while she is there too, so I figured it would be the perfect gift. The only problem was...time. We planned to meet at 5:30 so I didn't have much time to find a scarf for her before our meeting time. Luckily, as I came up from the subway tracks, in the station there was an accessory store, Redeye and I saw a big display of scarves. Thank you, Redeye! I picked one out and went to go meet her.

We went to a chain restaurant I ate at with Bohye. The menu is pretty basic and simple 3-4 dishes only: for Sumi, nyengmyeon (a cold noodle soup) and me, bibimbap. With the dishes, we also get a small side order of grilled meat. It was pretty good-though even within the chain, there are some differences. My bibimbap was a lot different than the other one I had, and much smaller. Any, it was good and I know I'll be back again. We finished dinner and went to go look for dessert to chat a little bit more. I had two ideas. The first was a place I spotted on Saturday, that had Dutch baby pancakes. The other was Billy Angel Cake company. I'd passed the cake store before, and seen a store in downtown area. The cakes look delicious. I let Sumi see both places (they were right across the street from each other by good luck) and had her pick. She liked the way the cakes looked so we stayed there as it was our second stop. This location had a lot less cakes than the downtown location did, but they all looked good. Sumi said she wanted to try Red Velvet. Well, actually this happened when Jung Yoon (Jenny) came to visit. We went into Billy Angel and she said "red velvet!" and I mentioned the really good red velvet place Jacob and I love. But when I told Sumi it was near Sangsu station, she said it was a bit too far to go. So we decided to try Billy Angel's red velvet! It didn't disappoint. It was really good. She and I got to chat for an hour or so. I also gave her a card and the scarf. She loved the scarf, but felt bad because she didn't get anything for me! Then, we left so she could meet her boyfriend.

I was sad to say goodbye. In the last month we became better friends and I will definitely miss her. Her internship term is for 6 months but can be renewed for an additional 6, so there is a possibility I won't get to see her again in Korea.

I took the bus home and for some reason I got really bus sick. After I got off the bus, I thought I was going to be sick. I didn't, but the rest of the evening I didn't feel well and I went to bed early!

My bibimbap, yum!

Red velvet and teas

Sunday routine

Sundays have begun to have a new pattern to them. I woke up early (I'm not sure why) and couldn't fall back asleep. I got ready for church and then skyped with Mom, Grandpa and Martin before I had to go. It was great seeing all of them. Mom also held up my 4 leggie, so I got to see my Toby baby for a little bit too.

Church was pretty good. I was touched because they sang Prayer of Saint Francis. It always makes me think of Dad and my friend Molly.

After church, I walked to HBC and went to Casablanca for a sandwich. I ordered the lamb chili this time and also got a sandwich for Jacob. I took my sandwich and went to Namsan again. This time though, I went a different route-it required a little bit more walking at first, but I was in a better area, and when I left, I realized I had stumbled upon the edge of Namsan Park. While I was walking, an older Korean man stopped me and started talking to me. I couldn't understand much of what he said (sometimes it's harder for me to understand older people's Korean) and told him I couldn't speak Korean. He switched to broken English, asking me to take a photo with his phone. I asked if he wanted to be in the picture, but he said he just wanted a picture of the walkway (with the golden ginkgo trees). After I took the picture, he said things like "thank you", "nice to meet you", and "happy new year" while bowing at me.

I headed home for a short break and to layer up for soccer. It was sunny, but windy which made it seem much cooler. It wasn't as warm as yesterday was. I headed to soccer early so I could go get some groceries at HomePlus. Koreans are crazy about the free samples in the grocery store and it makes me a little irritated sometimes. Some of them will stand in front of the little cart just taking their toothpick and loading it up taking two, three, or even four servings all at once. Or stand there and continue eating. They also shove and push so they can get a sample. It's ridiculous.

I finished getting my groceries and met up with Jacob and we walked to the field together. The high school boys showed up, which was good in a way I suppose because we only had about 6 of us show up (Eirik brought 2 friends, but they didn't really want to play). I was surprised how warm I got running around playing and ended up taking off a layer. It only felt cold when I would go in goal and only stand instead of getting to run around. After soccer Jacob was sweet and rode the subway part of the way with me again.

Beautiful Day

The weather today was beautiful-it was warm and sunny. A nice change because the past few days had been getting colder and colder. Jacob and I went to a kimbap shop for lunch. Then he had to go to a GOA'L event. I took a walk along my stream and met him where the event took place. I arrived early and sat in a Starbucks, where, already only November 1st and I was serenaded by Christmas music. Can't believe they're already playing it. The only good thing about it was they picked the right singers-it was a mix of Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and other guys and gals from that era. Loved it.

Jacob and I then went on to Dongdaemun. I had come up with a few ideas of places to go for the afternoon. They all included being outdoors because the weather was so nice I wanted to enjoy it while it's still here. So, off we went to Dongdaemun Culture and History Park. There is a big design plaza and some interesting architectural works there. We walked around a little bit and also found some fun kinds of chairs scattered throughout the place. Finally, we did a little bit of soccer window shopping.

Next it was on to Hapjeong. We went for jjimdak, the chicken and noodle dish. It was really good. After dinner we walked to Hongdae and sat on a bench to talk for a little bit. Jacob set up one of his Korean co-workers up with his Korean roommate on a blind date. Their date was earlier in the evening and Jacob went to meet his friend to talk about how it went. I came home and relaxed the rest of the night.

Cool "flowers" at Dongdaemun