Kristin's Birthday and Playing Tourist

What a jam-packed day! I woke up early and met Phil and Kristin at Hongdae station. We started our morning at Gyeongbok Palace, arriving almost as soon as it opened. They both really enjoyed the palace and palace grounds. It was pretty quiet as most of the other tourists hadn't arrived. Then we stopped at the National Folk Museum on the palace grounds as well.

After Gyeongbok Palace, we walked on to Insadong, the artsy/souvenir area. We browsed in there and watched the "performance" of making a royal snack of honey and corn flour. After watching Phil decided he'd buy a package. I suggested a snack towards the end of Insadong--we got hoddeok (the fried pancakes) and got one filled with a spicy bulgogi (beef), one filled with noodles and one sweet one filled with sugar. They were all delicious. We took the snacks to a park and sat and rested a bit there.

Next was on to Cheonggyecheon, to see the stream that I love. We walked there and walked along the stream a bit. Finally we walked to a subway station to take a line to the Han River. We joined the GOA'L potluck picnic--a joining of 4 adoptee organizations-and had an American BBQ lunch that was way delicious! After lunch, Phil and Kristin took a walk along the river and I visited with some of the people. Then it was off to Namdaemun. We walked through the market and then went to the gate. After that, we were going to also see City Hall, but it was already 4:30 and I figured they would want a rest and time to clean up before dinner.

We headed to Hongdae and split for a few hours. Later Phil, Kristin, Jacob and I met up and went to dinner for Korean BBQ. We ordered thinly shaved beef, a steak cut and shrimp to grill. As we were looking at the menu, Kristin asked "where are the sides?". I said there were some stews and soups as sides and she seemed a bit puzzled. We ordered and all the little Korean side dishes came out. Kristin was surprised and joked "where are all the sides?!" when she saw how much other stuff came with our order. Dinner was delicious. While we were eating, Felix, one of our adoptee friends from soccer came in with a family (he runs a tour program for adoptees from France) and sat next to us at dinner.

After dinner, we walked around Hongdae a little and went to the playground. Then we went to Schneeballen and ordered a schneeballen for dessert. Kristin had the honor of breaking up the dessert. We made plans for the next day and parted ways.

Phil and Kristin at Gyeongbok Palace

Phil and me at the palace

Phil and Kristin at Cheonggyecheon

Jacob and me at the GOAL picnic

Phil and me at Namdaemun

Kristin, Phil, Jacob and me at dinner :)

Jacob making sure our dessert doesn't escape!

Phil taking a turn at the hammer!

Finally Phil arrives!

I got another email from Phil in the morning saying they were delayed again and best case scenario would be that they arrived around 8:45pm; worst case was looking at arriving on Saturday. Luckily, they got off without any more hiccups and I checked United's website and watched their plane progress throughout the day.

Work was hard to get through because I was anxious for Phil to arrive. I was lucky because I needed to go in and pick up the results from my medical check up, so I had official leave at 2pm. Again, I took a bus to Yonsei; this time it took a little bit longer (different bus) but I still arrived in plenty of time. I picked up the results and talked to the doctor-I have a clean bill of health. After "consulting" the doctor, I looked for a Daiso to buy some kind of wrapping for Kristin's birthday present. I came across a bag that was a cooler/heater (insulated bag) and it folded flat so I thought it would work perfectly for them. I headed to Hongdae and wandered around there until Jacob got off of work. We went to a restaurant right next to the GOAL office. I ordered a bibimbap-it was really good. After dinner, we walked back to his guesthouse to take a rest before meeting Phil in Hongdae around 10:15. At the guesthouse, he had a present for me-it was a package from Jenny, my Korean roommate. He had tried to get her to come up to Seoul for my birthday, but since she is leaving for Sri Lanka on the 2nd, she wasn't able to spend her last weekend in Korea with me. Instead, she mailed a watch to him to give to me for my birthday. It was such a nice, sweet surprise.

We headed into Hongdae and went to Subway to get a sandwich for Phil and Kristin. I figured they'd be hungry and probably wanting some familiar food after traveling so long. Jacob and I waited near the subway exit for them about 30 minutes past the original set time, but only because we figured they wouldn't have made it in by 10:15 anyway. Finally, I see them appearing up from the subway, looking at a map to figure out which way to go. I walked up to the exit and surprised them. It was great to see them and get hugs from both of them. We walked to their guesthouse to drop off their bags. There was a few issues at their place-first the guy gave them a room key, but the room already had an inhabitant! So we had to get a different key, to a different room. Next, the room didn't have the remote for the aircon! So they had to hunt that down.

After everything was all settled in the guesthouse, we went back out because they wanted to get a drink. We had passed a WaBar, so we went there. Phil and Kristin ordered 2 different Korean beers to try. We also had to order a side, so we got a fruit dish with ice and juice in the bottom. It was pretty good. Jacob and I taught/wrote some helpful Korean words and phrases out for them and we talked through the plan for tomorrow.

A little after midnight, Jacob and I took off because we were both so exhausted! We were able to wish Kristin a happy birthday right away!

Phil is Delayed and Last Day with the VD's

This morning I checked my email and was so disappointed to get a message from Phil saying their flight had been cancelled and they would not be arriving in the evening as planned, but they would come in Friday afternoon instead.

I went to work and had an okay day. After work, I decided I would take a different route to Hongdae as an experiment. I walked to a subway station that is kind of near my school and waited for a bus. I had just missed the previous bus so I ended up waiting a bit for the next one to come. Then, the bus was a bit crowded and lots of people wanting to get off at each and every stop. When I got close to Hongdae, I started looking out the window at the big intersection for Jacob and his parents. I saw them and waved to them as the bus went by. It ended up dropping me off at exactly 5:30, the time we planned to meet, but it wasn't as perfect as I had hoped, but definitely less walking!

For their final dinner in Korea, Jacob's parents picked his Imo's restaurant again. This time Jacob, his mom and I all ordered the special of the day--a bibimbap. It was really good. After dinner, we went to Cafe Bene for a honey butter toast. We sat and chatted for awhile before heading back to their place. I was sad to see them go, as I have gotten used to sharing dinner with them and getting to know them.

Yummy bibimbap!

Jacobs parents at dinner!

Outside Imo's restaurant

Honey Butter Toast!!

Saying goodbye at Eastern

BBQ and Shaved Ice

Today was another hot day! I taught the 4th graders today. It's fun with them because they raise their hands and participate in class.

After work, I headed to Sangsu to meet Jacob when he finished work. We walked to Hongdae to meet his parents. For dinner, we had BBQ and got a mix of pork and beef to grill. It was really good and I think his parents enjoyed it. After dinner, they needed to look for a few things so we did a little bit of shopping. I thought bingsu (shaved ice dessert; usually with fruit or sweet dessert) would be a nice refreshing dessert, and not too heavy. We went to a bingsu place and ordered an oreo bingsu and a mixed fruit bingsu to share. It was delicious and both of his parents enjoyed it.

I also brought along some more cookies to share, since Jacob's mom hadn't gotten many from the first round. When we finished dinner, we all walked back to their guesthouse, chatted briefly before heading home.

Jacob and his parents at dinner

Jacob's parents enjoying the fruit shaved ice!

Long tired Tuesday

This morning I woke up around 4am and could not fall back asleep. I figured I might as well shower, make some breakfast and get started on my day if I couldn't sleep. I headed to work a little bit early so I could prepare for the classes for the day and for tomorrow since I had to leave right after I finished teaching today.

The two classes teaching "solo" (with the homeroom teachers in it) went okay. The first teacher did not participate and was not involved at all, which was fine with me. We did end a little bit early which I felt awkward and bad about. The second teacher I had to go to their classroom. This teacher wanted to help and she did her best to translate some things as I went along. The other classes also went okay. After lunch I had a short meeting with my COT to go over the lesson for tomorrow. As soon as I finished teaching, I got my stuff and jetted out. I was really concerned about making it to the appointment on time. I looked up some buses that would get me to Sinchon the fastest, but I had to walk to the bus stop for about 10 minutes. I found the bus stop and was lucky the bus I needed pulled up almost immediately.

The campus of Yonsei is quite large, but the hospital sticks out. I went to the International Health Clinic (IHC) where I made an appointment so I could have an English speaking doctor. And then the frustrations began. The IHC told me that I could not do a basic medical check there and needed to go to the Visa renewal part for the check up. The Visa people sent me the Family Medicine (told me the wrong floor so I had to search for it). Family Medicine couldn't speak English so they talked on the phone with IHC trying to figure out everything. Then I got a translator and signed into the hospital. I was updating Jacob with my situation and he said it didn't sound right that the IHC couldn't/wouldn't do it. So he called them and asked as if he were needing a check if he could do it there. They said yes. So I went back to the IHC to see if they would do it. Again they said no and sent me up to Family Medicine again. I got a new translator because my other one needed to leave. This took about 45 minutes. The new translator and I then went on a "scavenger hunt" around the giant medical complex to get each different area checked by different clinic areas and doctors (eyes, ears/nose/throat, xray, blood draw, skin etc). That took us about an hour to complete. I was so frustrated and crabby after that. I walked to Hongdae to meet Jacob. We went to Oodle Noodle to pick up dinner to take back to his parents.

We had dinner in their kitchen at the guesthouse and it was nice to chat with them about their past few days. After dinner, I headed home, quite exhausted after such a long day.

A long Monday

Work kept me busy for most of the afternoon. My COT went home sick so it was extra quiet in our office. I had to schedule a medical check for tomorrow, so I had my other COT come help me sign out to request off time. Tomorrow one of my COT's won't be at school so I will have to teach the class relatively solo, but the homeroom teachers will be present (it is not allowed for me to teach without a Korean teacher in the classroom). That is a little bit nerve-wracking, but hopefully it will be okay. We had a staff meeting a little later than normal-I think because last week we had one at the normal time and finished really early so they didn't want us to leave as early today.

After work, I headed to downtown for class. On the way, Yonsei (where I'm going for the medical check) called me and asked to change my appointment time. It was a bit frustrating because I technically can't change the time off I requested, so I will just have to leave earlier. I also need to bring 2 photos along with me-which I didn't have at the time. I did some shopping and found a birthday present for Kristin. I sat by Cheonggyecheon for a bit and then off to class. It went alright today, I was just feeling a bit tired and not tuned in. After class, I walked to City Hall station to find a photo booth to take some pictures. I was going to try and do it tomorrow, but there wouldn't be enough time since the appointment changed.

Slow Sunday

I guess not sleeping well has finally caught up with me and I was able to sleep a little bit past my normal 6:30-7am wake up time. In the morning I just relaxed. I was thinking about making mini oreo cheesecakes, but unfortunately Emart was closed so I couldn't buy any cream cheese. The other little mini grocery stores in the area don't carry Western items like that, so I was out of luck. Instead, I made up some of my favorite pudding cookies. I baked a few that were frozen and then froze the rest of the dough. It's nice to know there is cookie dough in the freezer ready to be turned into delicious cookies!

I just relaxed and bummed around home. Jacob came over later in the afternoon which was a nice surprise because I figured he'd be busy with his parents until soccer. He brought over some insect repellant for me which was sweet. We grabbed an early dinner at the bibimbap place in front of my building and then it was off to soccer. It was raining, but not too bad and it wasn't too cold.

We had a pretty good turnout today. There were 15 of us, so we made 3 teams of 5. I played pretty well and even had a goal. It's been awhile since I've scored. Jacob was back on the field and played basically the whole time. I'm glad he's able to be playing again. And as usual, he was scoring goals. It was fun to see him in his element again after almost 2 months of being out.