Food Day

Jacob and I were going to go to Dragon Hill again, the jjimjilbang (spa), but were both running late and when we met close to noon at Yongsan decided we’d have lunch and make plans from there. We went to School Food again and ordered mandu, donkasu (pork cutlet) and bulgogi kimbap. It was delicious. After lunch it was a bit too late to make it to the spa and then go for my Korean class so we decided we’d walk around the mall for a little. Then we headed to Myeongdong and got Coldstone ice cream and chatted. We were just going to have another snack at Noodlebox but both realized we were hungry enough to eat so we had dinner before I went to class. Jacob went to the café and waited for me while I was in class. Class went alright, but again, I have to admit my current teacher is quite confusing when she explains most grammar points.

I met up with Jacob and we traveled back to our side of town. He took off for a bus to his guesthouse and I continued home to relax before heading to bed.

Yum, have to get my ice cream in before Lent starts!

Ji and Game Day

Jacob and I went to go meet Ji in Jamsil. It is close to his home and I knew he was doing errands to prepare for his wedding. He was running quite late, so Jacob and I got Auntie Anne’s pretzels for a snack. Ji arrived and we were trying to figure out how to meet; we were talking on the phone and Jacob and I jumped on an escalator—who did we see going up as we were going down? Ji. It was kind of funny. We met up and went to get a very late lunch. Unfortunately, School Food was quite busy and there was a very long wait so we didn’t eat there. We picked an Italian place next to School food and ordered a salad, pizza and pasta. We got fries as service because it took our food a long time to arrive. As we were talking with Ji, he started mentioning things he was giving away or if I needed things. Then, he said they were giving his cat to one of Yeojin’s friends. I said, “wait, why are you giving Changun away?!” and he said, “cause we’re going to New Zealand.” Now I knew they were planning on moving to New Zealand, but this was soon! They get married on April 5 and 10 days later, April 15, they move to New Zealand. I think my jaw must have hit the table. I am so sad that they are leaving. Of course I’m excited and happy for them to follow their dreams and have the courage to move there, but I’m so sad to see them go. We gave Ji his late birthday present—I thought a cookbook would be a nice gift since he had started going to a Japanese cooking class and doubly as a newly married couple. He was so happy with the gift!

After we met Ji, we went to soccer. Again we were a bit early, so we got a few groceries and sat in the CGV lobby before heading out to soccer. This week the team we played against only had 4 members and only one girl. We lent 2 players to their team and accepted an automatic win. We still ended up beating the other team. 

Ji and me

My favorite boys--Jacob and Ji

Soccer Game, Bora doing the kick off with Jacob

Last Day of Desk Warming

Today was the last day of desk warming! I looked for different activities to do with my new classes, but as I mentioned before, it is difficult to plan too much without being able to collaborate with my future COTs. For lunch we went to the restaurant I had lunch at on graduation day. I ordered dolsot bibimbap. It was pretty good. Again, I had to practice my Korean. One of them asked me how much I understood of their conversation/what is spoke and I said maybe 10% or so. Then one said I had a small face and I nodded and said thanks and then they all said that I didn't understand 10%, I understood 100%.

When we returned to school, my life COT told me to meet with her, so I went to go talk to her. She told me what I had figured about my desk/office space. So, the room is split into two rooms, the smaller one is entered through the main room. It is quite cold because there is no heater and one wall is next to the stairwell. At first, she told me that the main room would be shared with my COT and me and the smaller room would be left for the Guidance Counselor to use when she comes in the afternoons. Also, she said that because the room was small, the Principal figured my new COT and I could just share a computer. I asked if there was wifi because I could just bring my laptop to school, inconvenient as that is, it would be more convenient than having to share a computer. So, we came back to the main office to ask the VP about wifi. After some discussion my COT told me that it seemed like I could pick a room, the main one or the adjoining one and we would each get a computer. She asked me which one I would like and I said I wasn't sure. I know that the adjoining one will be colder, but it will also be quieter. The after school English teacher often has the volume up quite high, so that would be quite a distraction. I can always buy a small 10-15,000W heater to put in the room if need be or buy another small blanket.

After work, I went to Sangsu Station and met Jacob. We went to Gusto Tacos for dinner. Delicious as always. We ordered chicken nachos and pulled pork quesadillas. We went to Schneeballen for dessert and got a cronut (I mentioned this pastry last week). It was so good! Crispy, crunchy yet doughy/chewy on the inside. We had powdered sugar and strawberry filling on it.

Yummy nachos

Cronut

Cronut cut up

Info about Schneeballen

Time with MK

Work went alright. Only one more day of having to desk warm! For lunch, we went to a restaurant near school. I went with the other vice principal and 2 other women. We ran into other teachers at the restaurant; I don't know if it was planned or a surprise. I ordered 만두국 /mandu guk/ dumpling soup. The others got noodle soup made from sesame seed leaves, so I was so thankful there was another option (I don't like the taste/flavor of the leaves). I was worried there would be 깻잎 /kkae nip/ sesame seed leaf inside my dumplings, but I was lucky and there was not any. Again I had to practice my Korean a little bit with them, but mostly they talked quickly amongst themselves so I just ate and didn't converse with them.

I was supposed to meet my 언니 /unni/ older sister today, but she sent me a message and told me that she caught a cold and wouldn't be able to meet. Over the weekend she and Jaebin (her son) went skiing. He had hurt his arm back in January, but she said it was all better now. I decided I'd see what MK (Min Kyung) was up to for the evening. She didn't have any plans so we were set to meet. She works until 6:30 so we decided we would meet around 7:15 in the Itaewon/Noksapyeong area near her home. After work, I took a rest at home and did some cleaning (trying to stay on top of a current mold problem).

We met up and walked to a Korean fusion restaurant she had looked up, but they were really busy and there was a long wait so we kept walking in search of another place. We finally found a Korean restaurant and MK said she'd buy dinner if I bought coffee after. I ordered bulgogi in a hotpot and she ordered the same thing Jacob and I had eaten at the restaurant we went to on Friday (the dwenjang jjigae-soybean paste stew with bibimbap). We also ordered a green onion 'pancake', 천 /cheon/; everything was delicious. It was great catching up with her. After meeting with MK, I always feel so lucky to have her as a friend. When we finished dinner, we looked for a cafe and chatted in there for a bit before I headed home for the night.

Dinner with MK

Mundane Monday

Another 3 day work week. One of the Vice Principals came over and started talking to me today. She asked if I was bored, and I said no. I showed her my Korean textbook and she flipped through it and asked me to translate when she read some of the stuff I had written. I went to lunch with 3 other women from the office, one being one of the Vice Principals. It was a little awkward for me and I had to practice my Korean because they didn't know any English. We walked to the Eunpyeong-gu District Office near the school (where I went to get my family registry a few weeks ago) and ate at the cafeteria there. It was 3,500W for lunch (around $3.50), but one of the other women paid for lunch which was nice. There was rice, soup and kimchi (as always) plus a salad as the side dishes. The 2 more main dishes were beef in soy sauce with some veggies and squid and crab meat with cucumber.

After lunch we got tea/coffee from a shop within the District Office and walked back to school. I continued doing work and looking busy for the rest of the afternoon.

When it was time to leave, I went to Emart to get groceries. Jacob lucked out again as I was in the mood to cook and wanted to make beef stroganoff. I got the groceries and came home to prepare dinner. The only disappointing thing was that I could not find sour cream at my store. I thought I would try using plain yogurt, but it was quite sweet so the taste wasn't as I had hoped. I also made a broccoli and carrot "casserole" with cheesy cracker crumbs on top. After dinner we watched some tv and Jacob headed home.

Veggie Casserole

Veggies and stroganoff

Good Soccer Day

I had another relaxing morning. Jacob came over and we made brunch. Well, he made cheesy eggs and we put them on some cheesy bread I had bought. I was kind of bummed because Emart was closed-I was going to buy some other veggies and bacon to make more filling sandwiches, but they still were delicious with just the eggs and cheese.

We went to Yongsan and on the way, we ran into Sammy on the subway. I got a message from Bora saying she was sick and couldn't come to soccer. I was a little bummed because I wanted to see her. This week the high schoolers didn't come, but we had enough people; there were 13 of us, so one team had a sub and we played 6v6. Our Korean friend YoungMin brought 2 other friends with him. The one was a pretty good offensive player, but after awhile, his moves became a bit predictable and I stole the ball from him several times. I had a pretty good day; I made 2 goals and assisted a few goals as well. The weather is still a bit chilly, but it was a bit warmer than it has been in the past which was nice.

After soccer, Jacob and I took the bus to Sinchon. We got a snack and then went to church. After church we went to get 닭갈비 /dak kalbi/ the spicy stir fried chicken. Since we were both hungry, we added noodles to our stir fry and also had 볶음밥 /bokkum bab/ (fried rice) at the end. Delicious. Jacob walked me to the subway and when I got home I took a long hot shower.

InKAS Mentoring Event to Lotte World

I had to get up a little bit early to make it out to Lotte World as it is completely on the other side of Seoul from me (I'm northwest and it is southeast). I met Jacob in the subway and we rode to Lotte World together. We arrived a little bit before our meeting time with the group so we grabbed a muffin for a snack. Everyone arrived and Eric handed out our tickets and money. Jacob and my mentees' family weren't arriving until 2pm so we had some time to spend on our own. My translator also wasn't going to be arriving until the same time. Jacob's translator was Grace; his normal translator wasn't available today. Anyway, Grace went with another group for a bit because most rides were for pairs or groups of 4 so she wanted to balance out another group. Jacob and I walked around and looked at rides we thought our kids would like. We were a little worried because Yoon Gyeom is kind of small and we didn't know if he could ride on many of the rides or not.

Around 1:30 Grace met up with us and we looked for somewhere to eat. We picked a restaurant called Doni Burgers (which is a small chain) and ordered our lunch. We found out our family wouldn't arrive until 3. Eunha, my translator contacted me and I went to go get her and give her ticket to enter the park. We met up with Jacob and Grace and we had lunch. The four of us walked around a little and looked at different souvenirs; the hot thing are headbands with ears or bows on top. We all modeled and took pictures with different headbands on. We went to the entrance to wait for our family and they came a little late. The kids looked a bit crabby and I guess it was because they had orchestra practice before meeting us. First we started walking around and looking for a ride to go on, and then realized everyone wanted to do something a bit different. So Jacob took Yoon Gyeom to the arcade and Grace, Eunha and I took Yoon Joo and Yoon Gyung (the oldest sister) to the Sinhbad ride per Yoon Joo's request. As we were waiting in line, we remembered that we had to meet for the group photo at 4:15 and it was 3:45! We kept an eye on the time and watched as we inched forward. We made it on the ride and finished just in time. The ride was a boat on water with two small dips; the rest was kind of boring and told a story with moving mannequins and other decorations. When the ride was over, we went to meet the group and did the picture. Then we had the boys join us and we went to get ice cream. After ice cream we went to another ride, designed after the movie "How to Train your Dragon" where the car moved through the area and you shot at animated dragons on the walls.

The kids were getting hungry, so we went to get a snack. Yoon Joo and Yoon Gyeom got col-pop (remember this from my winter camp? The cola and popcorn chicken combo). After our snack we went to look at the bumper car ride, but the wait was over an hour for 2-3 minutes. We decided we'd have our group meet up with Katelyn and her mentee; her mentee and ours' moms were hanging out together and traveling home together, so we wanted them to be together. They went to go on a ride and Jacob and I decided we'd head home. We had dinner at Emart, watched some tv and then he left. What a long day!

Eunha, Yoon Joo, me and Yoon Gyung waiting in line for our first ride

Grumpy Monsters

Yoon Joo and me--two months later and she's almost as tall as me!

Jacob and me with our mentees waiting in line

Yoon Joo and Yoon Gyung on the Dragon ride

Lazy Day

I didn't get moving on my day til almost noon. It was nice to just relax and hang out at home and not rush off anywhere. I called my friend Ji, to see what was happening with his wedding plans. Sounds like it will be in a central southern city in Korea called Suncheon. It will also most likely be held on the first weekend in April.

I met Jacob in Hongdae and we went to a restaurant I went to one of my last nights in Korea in 2012. I went with my friend Brian and some Holt staff members; we grilled meat and ate for 3 hours. It was amazing. Anyway, I'd pass the restaurant and saw some pictures of other dishes they had and it looked delicious; plus they were quite cheap. We finally got to go and try it out. It was as delicious as the pictures looked. We ordered dwenjang jjigae (a soybean paste stew with meat and vegetables) that was to be mixed with rice and other vegetables to make a kind of bibimbap and also ordered a bulgogi. There were many side dishes served as well that were quite good.

After lunch we went to the Daiso nearby so I could look for muffin/cupcake pans or liners. I ended up buying liners since I couldn't find any pans. Then we went to Myeongdong area to look for a birthday present for Ji. We were hoping to find some World Cup gear for him or something along those lines, but were not successful. He is currently studying Japanese cooking to get a license so I thought maybe a cookbook would be a good gift. We stopped in a bookstore and I picked one that had Korean and Western dishes in it; it was also a kind of healthy cookbook as well.

We headed to my Korean class building and Jacob parked in the cafe. We went to get a snack and hung out before I went to class. Class went fine. After class Jacob and I came back to my place and grabbed dinner. We watched some tv before he headed home.

The stew on the left and side dishes on the right; I didn't get a picture of the bulgogi!

Jacob and me at lunch

Game Day

I started out my morning with a skype session with my Mom and Grandpa. While we were talking Martin called and I was able to "talk" with him too.

After skyping, I headed out to the downtown area. I went to two museums; one was a museum about rice and the other was an agriculture museum. Both were free, which is good because they didn't take much time to go through and weren't too terribly exciting. After I finished going through the museums, I met up with Jacob and we walked towards City Hall just to walk and find a cafe. We sat and talked for a bit before going to Hongdae to get a snack before soccer. I introduced Jacob to Issac's Toast and then we went to Daiso so I could buy some cupcake papers. I'm hoping to make miniature cheesecakes soon. My usual recipe has vanilla wafers on the bottom as a crust, but I don't think I can find them here, so I'm going to try and use Oreos as the crust.

We headed to the World Cup stadium and ducked into the Homeplus to grab a few groceries and hung out in the lobby of the CGV (movie theater) before we went to soccer. This week we got our team t-shirts. They're pretty nice looking; our team color is dark blue. We ended up winning 7-3! So we are now 1-1. I played in goal for the whole second half which was a little bit of a bummer because I would have liked playing out, but we were doing well enough that I could actually come out of the goal a bit and play on the field some. I had 2 really good saves and John told me that I should become the official goalie to which I replied, "NO WAY!" After the game, everyone went their separate ways. I was happy when Bora told me she'd see me on Sunday, meaning she'll be coming to play/practice with us on Sunday! After soccer Jacob came back with me so we could make a late dinner. We used the leftover spaghetti meat sauce and made sandwiches. Jacob made cheesy broccoli.

Korean agriculture tool, ho-mi; showing the different variations from different parts of Korea

Yummy sandwiches

Last Day of the Work Week

Work was the usual. I looked up activities for starting classes to try and get the students speaking and engaged. The office ordered lunch, I did a little bit more work in the afternoon and it was time to leave.

I went to Hongdae and met up with Jacob. We went to Grill5 for dinner. We ordered a double cheese quesadilla, a bacon potato quesadilla and fries with bulgogi and kimchi. It was pretty delicious! After dinner, we looked in some stores and found a cute little cafe to split a delicious piece of chocolate cake.

I came home and watched some tv before going to bed.

Quesadillas and fries from Grill5

Delicious chocolate cake

Almost done with the Work Week

Another long day in the office...I saw someone else post that a school administrator asked her what she was doing at work and she was dismissed for the rest of the spring break period. Lucky girl! Anyway, I did some work preparing for the first lesson with my 4th graders, but I know it will be tweaked and edited some because my new COT and I will be sharing and discussing plans and ideas.

After work, I went to Emart to grab a few groceries. I had found a can of tomato sauce a few weeks ago and decided it was time to make spaghetti and meat sauce! So, I got my groceries and had Jacob come over for dinner. Dinner was a success! I didn't have a full pound of beef (it's so expensive!) and I had a little bit of pork left over from the stuffed meatballs (I froze it) so I mixed the two for the meat sauce. It was almost like the spaghetti I make back home. I also made garlic cheese bread. We steamed some broccoli too. Yum!

Spaghetti, broccoli and cheesy garlic bread--yum!

Long Day

Work was easy, but also kind of difficult. Being a "contract teacher" I need to come to work during the Spring Break (this week and next week; waiting for the new school year to start). However, I am not allowed to work at my desk in my office. I think this is just my own school's policy, not Seoul wide. Anyway, I'm in the main office; the office with the Vice Principals, head teacher and other office administration I suppose. It's a bit awkward doing my work in here and it's a lot more busy/noisy than my regular office space. The computer is just as slow as my other one. For lunch they ordered delivery and I got kimchi jjigae.

After work, I went to Hongdae. Last week I saw a restaurant that had hummus and falafel so I wanted to check it out. Unfortunately...the restaurant is closed on Mondays. Whoops. Oh well. Instead I walked all over Hongdae looking for the right place to satisfy my taste. I found a place that had "bap burgers" (rice burgers--inside mine was tuna and kimchi). I ate that and walked around some more, trying to figure out what else I wanted to eat. I went to Beetlejuice and got a strawberry banana smoothie. Later, I met Jacob and we went to Schneeballen, a pastry shop that has "schneeballen" which is like a hard cookie/donut and "cronuts" which are all the rage now (a mix between a croissant and donut). We tried the schneeballen and it was delicious. In order to eat this odd dessert, you need to smack it with a wooden mallet and there are "stations" around the shop to do so. Kind of fun. Next time I want to try the cronut!

Original Schneeballen

Cracking Zone instructions

Jacob breaking it up

Smashed in the bag

Dessert is served!

Lovely Sunday + 1 month

I had a nice relaxing morning. I caught up on my blog and just rested. It feels good to be lazy and not rush off to anything. I made a late lunch before meeting Jacob and traveling on together to Yongsan for soccer.

On Thursday I invited Bora to join us for soccer on Sundays so she can get a little bit more practice in. I'm so thrilled she wanted to join our team, but I want to help her get some more confidence to play. She hasn't played since she was in middle school I guess. I felt bad because she was just kind of thrown in on Thursday, so we're going to get her skills up! :) Anyway, everyone arrived a little bit late. Bora and I passed the ball and she did a pretty good job. The high schoolers Eirik knows showed up and we played against them with one sub. However, a few more guys trickled in and we ended up splitting into 3 teams with one person kind of rotating to help fill in one spot.

After soccer, Jacob and I took a bus to church. We stopped at UPLEX (a shopping center) to use the bathroom and I changed into my church clothes. We went on to church and I realized that I lost my pair of socks. I was pretty bummed because I bought them on my birthday in Busan and they reminded me of my Dad. Anyway, church was okay. The priest had a really long homily and his English and accent are a bit difficult to understand at times.

When church finished, Jacob and I went for samgypsal (bbq pork). It hit the spot; I haven't grilled in awhile, so it was good to have that again. After dinner, I headed home. I got a message from my friend Sung Min (Ji). What exciting news. He and Yeojin are finally getting married!!!! They've been "engaged" for over a year now, but he said they are planning on getting married in March. I couldn't be happier and more excited! This will be the second wedding I've attended in Korea, but the first where I actually know the person (people) getting married.

Valentine's Part 2

It is still Valentine's Day back home, so I got to have a nice Valentine's Day chat with my Mom and then with my Grandpa. It was great to talk with both of them. I had been missing both of them this week.

After catching up with my family, I met Jacob and we went to Kyunghee University to go to our favorite fried rice place, Woori Doori. We ordered a chicken fried rice with noodles and two orders of cheese. Yummm. It was so filling though! We were both stuffed so after we ate lunch, we went to campus to walk around. As we were walking, we heard a lot of noise so went to go check it out; it happened to be taking place in front of the 'church-like' building at the top of the giant hill on campus. We trekked up there to see and it was kind of like a food festival. Some big brands had booths and people were lining up to get samples or something. There was also a TV drama concert scheduled for a little bit later. Mr. Pizza, a pizza chain also had some guys doing a performance with twirling and tossing dough. We watched that and then went back down the hill and sat outside the main office building on the steps enjoying the sun.

We headed back to my place and picked up some strawberries. We watched a movie and had some snacks before Jacob left for the night.

Strawberries and ice cream--yum!

Yummy lunch!

At Woori Doori

On Campus

The big church-like building on campus

Tossing pizza dough!

SPRING IS COMING!!!

Valentine's Day

As I mentioned before, Valentine's Day is celebrated a bit differently in Korea. Typically the girl gives the guy chocolates. I did get a small bag of homemade chocolates from one student. At 10:30 we were "dismissed" so we could go to graduation. It was held at the Eunpyeong-gu Cultural Center right across the street. Our school does not have an auditorium or any real big space that could hold a large number of people.

A little before graduation started they played a slideshow with some pictures of the 6th graders when they were younger and then recent pictures/memories from the year. It was interesting the way the ceremony was done, but I'm not sure what exactly happened since it was all in Korean. I think at one point, the top student from each class came on stage to get a certificate as the representative from their class. Like I said, I'm not really sure. After graduation I tried to find the teachers from my office because we were having lunch together. I waited out in the lobby and said bye to students as they walked by with their parents and families. Of the 200 6th graders I had, only one asked to get a picture with me. She was one of the more memorable students and very sweet. My COT found me and we walked to the restaurant. We had kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) for lunch and then returned to school.

I met one of my new COT; she was a 4th grade homeroom teacher. Her English is pretty good and she seems nice and interested in working together and sharing the daily task. How very, very nice for a change. A few minutes before I was going to leave, some new teachers came into our office and everyone started talking about desks and moving around and stuff. I was getting really concerned and they kept circling my space. The head teacher across from me tried to explain what was happening but I was really confused. Then, one of the new teachers took a sticky note and wrote her name and put it on my computer. I was getting a little upset and didn't understand why I was losing my desk. So, I asked the head teacher in Korean, "where is my new desk?" and then she explained I was getting a new OFFICE and I'll be an office that's next to my classroom (currently the social workers office) and will share with one COT. Ooooh, okay!

I took off and went to Myeongdong to meet Jacob. He greeted me with a small bouquet of pink roses. We went to a coffee shop and sat and talked for a bit. Then we went to the California Pizza Kitchen where Jacob had made reservations for us for Valentine's Day dinner. We ordered a salad and pizza. After dinner, we walked to my building for class and Jacob waited in the cafe downstairs for me.

The first night of level 2B! Class was okay. We covered food and flavors. I liked the teacher from my previous level a little bit better; she was a better teacher and much more organized. This teacher is nice, but she seems a bit scattered and she jumped around a bit in presenting materials so it was more confusing.

After class, Jacob and I returned to my place to do gifts. In addition to the roses, he gave me a giant bar of Hershey's chocolate and a picture from and picture from our trip to Malaysia. I ironically also had pictures to give him and a bandana he had wanted for awhile. He headed out after we exchanged gifts.

Chocolates from my student

At graduation, a little blurry

Roses

Goodbye Thursday

Today was kind of bittersweet. I had my last day with my 5th grade COT. I mentioned earlier she was quitting after 3 years here. So, we had our 4 classes today; we watched "The Lion King". I'm pretty sure after seeing the middle/end 40 minutes 4 times today reassured me this is my favorite Disney movie. I gave my COT a gift I had gotten her and I could tell she was touched and trying not to get too emotional. She said even though she was leaving it isn't the end of our relationship. I'm definitely going to miss her. She was so kind and always giving me information that my other COT's didn't pass along to me.

After school I had some down time. I watched some tv before heading over to the World Cup Stadium for our first game! This week we played in the second time slot from 9-10. I saw the schedule yesterday and was glad to see that most of our games happen to be the 8-9 and I'm very thankful for that. We all warmed up a little bit, but it was hard because we were the second time slot and we couldn't use the field at all. The other team was quite good. Both of their girls were skilled and we ended up losing 9-1. It was pretty rough. It reminded me of my MMC days, getting beat up like that. Everyone seemed a little off and sluggish. We were also quite unlucky; some of the guys had good shots but they hit the post or went wide or just over. I played in goal for a good chunk and let in a few, but had a few saves too.

Wonderful Wednesday

The easiest day of the week yet! All of my classes were "cancelled" or rather, they were just all finished. We are required to teach 51 hours of English to them and they had all reached their 51, so we were finished with everyone. I spent the morning working on an interview questionnaire for my friend SooBok who is creating an adoption newsletter/newspaper/magazine in Italy.

Originally I was told we were having a staff lunch and we would go around 1 or 1:40. A little after 12, when some other teachers were finishing their classes, they started talking and I noticed people putting their coats on. My favorite COT told me "let's go" and then explained that they complained to the Head Teacher that they were all hungry and we got permission to leave for our lunch early. We went to shabu shaub (the soup you cook yourself with thinly shaved beef) for lunch, but it was kind of expensive. More expensive than what I remember. Oh well. After lunch, we were done for the day! I headed to Hongdae and met Jacob. We wandered and shopped a bit before finding a cafe and hanging out there. I was meeting my friend Jenna at 6:30, but she sent me a message saying she'd be delayed quite a bit, so Jacob and I stayed at the cafe until she was closer to Hongdae.

I met up with Jenna and we went to Oodle Noodle. I wanted to go to Grill5 (the taco place) but it was on the far side of Hongdae and it had cooled off quite a bit. We decided since the noodle place was closer we'd go there instead. It was great catching up with her. It's only been 2 months since I've seen her, but a lot has happened! She got engaged while she was home. Her fiance is Korean, Korean, so, her engagement wasn't really like a typical American one. After we had dinner she suggested coffee, but I told her I had one errand I needed to run before. I had gone to this chocolate shop/cafe once before and wanted to get some chocolate for Jacob. Valentine's Day in Korea is celebrated a little bit differently. Valentine's Day the girls are supposed to give the guys chocolates. March 14 is called "White Day" and this is the day guys give girls gifts (typically white chocolate or other white gifts). There's actually a whole year of holidays on the 14th of each month... April 14 is called "Black Day" and the singles all eat jjajangmyeon (noodles with a black sauce). There's also Yellow Day on May 14...and on and on... Anyway, I wanted to pick up some chocolate for Jacob so we wandered around a bit while I looked for the shop. The chocolate is really good, but extremely expensive!

We then walked a little more to find a cafe. We picked one called Cafe Etonne and it was really cute.  It was kind of funny, we watched a blind date unfold while we were there. (Another side note, blind dates are EXTREMELY common in Korea. I think almost the #1 answer I get when I ask a couple how they met is "소개팅" /sogetting/ aka blind date). When we arrived Jenna spotted it immediately and said "look how nervous the guy is!" As time wore on I would catch the new couple out of the corner of my eye and they were holding hands. After we finished our teas we headed back to the subway station. Jenna wanted to stop at a stationery store, but I had to duck out because it was getting late and I was pretty tired.

Still Sick Tuesday

I woke up still not feeling great. I had a nice surprise coming to school. My COT told me that she would go to the first class alone so I had a little rest. The next two classes played "Life" and really enjoyed it. The final class watched a movie.

After classes I was able to get out of work a little bit early for "paid leave"--and go to the immigration office. I met Jacob in Jongro and we went to the immigration office together. I walked into the room and almost gasped out loud. It was so crowded! Luckily when I grabbed my number for the F4 category, there were only 10 people in front of me. I feel so bad for the people who were just doing the 'regular' category there; the wait number was so big! I noticed a clump of "Westerners" and realized that many English teachers are probably arriving now in preparation for the new school year starting in 2 weeks. I guess I picked a busy time to remember to renew my visa.

There was only a little bit of a hang up; just having the application form filled out and buying the stamp for my visa prepared. I think in total we spent about an hour there. I had asked my friend what I needed to go renew and he said just my housing contract, family registry and the new 60,000W fee. But, instinct told me maybe I should bring my passport AND a bill/piece of mail with my address on it. Boy, am I ever glad I have an instinct! The housing contract wasn't good enough and the officer asked me for something else. I also needed my passport too. So, finally I get my visa returned and all they did to my ID card was update the dates on the back. Wow, 60,000W to add "good through 2017". Hmph.

When we finished at the immigration office, we walked to Myeongdong and went to go see "Frozen". We ordered a popcorn combo set and found our theater and seats. (In Korea, when you buy your ticket, you get to pick your seat, if seats are available, or are assigned a seat.) I guess we lucked out because we were both expecting the movie to be dubbed in Korean and were just hoping for subtitles, but it was actually in English! After the movie we walked around and tried to decide what we wanted for dinner. We went back to a Korean restaurant we had eaten at a while ago. I ordered vegetable juk (죽, a rice porridge) to help my throat. After dinner, we headed home.

Miserable Sick Monday

Today was kind of rough because of being sick. But, I had a pretty easy day. We only had 3 classes. However, I struggled to talk with my COT when I entered our English classroom because of my sore and hurting throat. The students played the game "Life" and I walked around and helped the groups of students, using the little Korean I could to communicate with them.

After I was done teaching, I went with my Life COT to the provincial office (just around the corner from our school) to get my family registry. I need to renew my F4 Visa (Wow, I can't believe it's already 3 years old!) and one of the things I need to do the renewal is a current copy of my family registry. She was nice enough to go with me and it didn't take long. It also only cost 1,000W!

When we returned to school, she took me to the nurses office and got some medicine for me. They gave me some "vitamin" pill and some kind of gross Chinese medicine drink. She warned me that I might get sleepy, but I didn't really.

When school was over, I trudged home and did my laundry. I went to Emart real quick to get some veggies and returned to make a rice casserole with the messed up rice I made from Saturday. Jacob came over and we had dinner. I had the chills really bad and I cranked up my floors and layed on the floor with my blankets to warm up. He ran to Emart to buy me some orange juice and when he came back we watched some TV before he took off.

Sick Sunday

I woke up with a sore throat and a cough. I had felt it coming on a bit last night but hoped it would go away with some rest. That was not the case. I drank some hot tea and took it easy for most of the day. I watched some tv and then went out to do some shopping. I met Jacob in Sinchon for church and dinner. There was a new Korean priest who had mass and he did it solo. Usually there are at least 2-3 other priests so that was kind of unusual.

I'm really glad I skipped soccer. I was so sad and disappointed not to go, but it was for the best.

Dinner Party

I skyped with my friend Erin this morning. We discussed travel plans for her trip to Korea! She will arrive in Early May and stay for about 2 weeks. After we finished talking I cleaned my room and made my pretzel m&m cookies for my party. The worst part about making cookies in my little toaster oven is that it takes forever! I can only put 5-6 cookies on a pan. I think it took me about 1 1/2 hours to bake all the batches of cookies! Outrageous!

Around 4 Jacob came over, Taco Bell Party Pack in tow. He helped me move furniture a bit and then we watched The Office until people arrived. Everyone came late... First to arrive was Sung Min (Ji), his girlfriend Yeojin and their friend Mr. Cabbage. I had to run out and pick them up because they didn't know how to get to my place. We caught up with them and had about 30 minutes with them until Min Kyung and Bora arrived. After the girls arrived, we decided we'd start eating because everyone else was coming quite late.

Two other friends from Inje University, Byung Wook (Sadboy) and his girlfriend Yiseul called me and I went out again to bring them to my place. Krystle came and Tim arrived later. Tim ordered fried chicken for everyone; he was going to make chicken, but was running late and if he had cooked we wouldn't have eaten until really late. Since everyone came in waves and brought food with them, we had like 4 or 5 different "courses". Unfortunately because Yiseul lives kind of far out, she and Byung Wook had to leave after being there a short time. We played a few games and people started ducking out slowly.

It was great to see so many people I love all having a good time together. I felt truly blessed by the people I have met and friends that I have made.

Sadboy and Ji talking

Jacob and Mr. Cabbage

Tim, Krystle, Bora, MK, Yeojin, Ji, Yiseul and Sadboy enjoying ice cream

Inje Friends: Ji, me, Sadboy and Yiseul

Finally Friday

Phew. This felt like an exceptionally long week. I met with the last of my 5th graders and realized that was the final time I will meet them this year. (Next Friday is Graduation for the 6th graders, so the schedule for the day is a bit different). The highlight of the workday was probably strawberries at lunch. The 6th graders were alright for my lesson, but when it was time for the 6th period class i stood up and waited by the door for a few seconds for my COT. I noticed she was not making any attempts to leave any time soon, so I went to her desk and asked if we were going to class. Surprise, we don't have class. Thanks, that would have been nice to know. Oh well.

After school I headed to the downtown area early. I got dinner with Jacob before going to class. We had jjim dak (찜닭-the chicken stew). We walked to the building where my class is held and he waited in a cafe for me. I was a bit nervous because my "final" class of the 6 weeks was a test. I had missed the previous class because of my vacation to Malaysia. And last week there wasn't class because of the holiday. That means there was a lot of material I had to teach myself.

Class went fine. I kept expecting a test all class period. Finally after our break I asked the aide if there would be a test and he looked puzzled and said no. Then, the teacher made an announcement saying that we would all be able to advance to level 2B if we so wished. Success! On to the next level!

After class, I met up with Jacob again and we got Red Velvet Cake again at the Swedish bakery. It is so delicious! We headed back and went our separate ways for the night.

Pick-Up Game Day

Classes went alright. I haven't seen my 5th graders in a long time (since middle/end of December)! The lesson was easy; just review, a song and pictionary or charades (I let each class choose).

After I was done teaching, I used the extra planning time to study Korean since my plans are all done for the rest of the year. When school was done, I went to the post office and mailed some letters. I'm proud to say I talked to the clerk in Korean. I noticed a sign that looked like it was showing the post office is moving and asked about it. I returned home and reheated the bulgogi from the other night, watched tv and then got ready for soccer.

I left home and got to the elevator before realizing I didn't have my jacket. Crazy. I went back and got it and went to the subway. I arrived and was going to wait for Sammy and Jacob, but John arrived and it was getting close to the time to show up so I walked with him to the fields. My friend Bora wasn't able to make it to this pick-up game and we were worried about not having the 2nd girl, but it wasn't a problem because the team we were scrimmaging against also only had one girl. The rest of our team trickled in slowly and then we started. We started out quite well; at the end of the first 25 minute half we were up 6-2. But we fell apart a bit in the 2nd half. They almost caught up to us and the game ended 6-5. I actually had a few good saves in goal, so that was nice. Guess I'm lucky that we play on Sundays and I have a turn in there for practice.

Dinner Date with Mina

School went alright. I had some classes do a great job with the preposition lesson and some that were so quiet and unresponsive we didn't even get to finish everything. I was just standing there asking the question over and over while crickets chirped in the background... The last class was my favorite class, and apparently it was their last class with us, so my COT told me 10 minutes before class that we wouldn't be doing my lesson, but rather they'd watch the ending to a movie. Oh, okay.

After school I did a few errands and then I met up with my friend Mina for dinner near City Hall. She and I met quite randomly. Back in August during the IKAA Gathering, my adoptee friend Ginger came to Seoul on her way to the US for her vacation. She did the Inje program a year after me and had gotten in touch with me through her Uncle who I met in 2009 on the GOA'L Homecoming Trip. One of her fellow participants, Tommy, was also at the Gathering so the 3 of us were meeting up for dinner. Ginger knew that her friend Mina from Inje now lived in Seoul and invited her because she knew Ginger and Tommy. So, this is how I met Mina. While we were chatting that night, I found out that her (at the time) boyfriend was a good friend of mine from Inje! (They broke up a few months ago though.) Anyway, she and I had tried to meet up over the past few months, but things fell through. She and I met and we went to a restaurant very close to where I was waiting for her. We had spicy pork, steamed pork and dwenjang jjigae (a soybean paste stew). It was pretty good. We had a good time catching up and I hope we will be able to connect again.

COLD Tuesday

I know I shouldn't complain about the weather; we're still hovering around the upper 20's and low 30's, but it's still quite cold-especially with that wind!

Anyway, at school, I guess some of the 6th graders were complaining that the review lesson was too easy and it was boring. The last class of the day was for the next period so I prepared a lesson on prepositions. They liked it and did well.

After school I met Jacob near Sangsu station and we walked to the GOA'L office to talk to John to get information about taxes. He gave us Girl Scout Cookies (YES!) and a booklet about information on living in Korea. We talked about our upcoming soccer league. Oh yea, we joined a Thursday night league! So in addition to our Sundays for fun, we're officially a team now. Except we needed a second girl for our team. I posted something asking if any friends in Seoul wanted to join and on Sunday, my friend Bora replied saying she was interested! I was so surprised because she is Korean, Korean. And, most Korean girls don't do sports. Anyway, I was super excited because we had our second girl for our team! I'm really looking forward to this. It's been awhile since I've played competitively on a team for a "season".

Jacob and I went to Burger B for dinner and then went to a cafe called Coco Bruni. It looks super fancy (it is a chain) but it actually wasn't that much more expensive than Starbucks or any other coffee shop really. We ordered a blueberry cheesecake and it was really good. We started talking about cheesecake and I figured I could probably bake a cheesecake at some point. We were both tired, so we split pretty early.

I came home and tidied my room a bit. I worked out a little bit too.

Not such a Miserable Monday

Today wasn't too bad. I did a review on past tense and made BINGO cards for them to play BINGO. But...my 6th graders didn't like BINGO as much as my Winter Camp kids did unfortunately.

After school I met Jacob at Emart and we got more veggies (mushroom and cabbage) to add to the bulgogi I was making for dinner. As a surprise, he brought over Auntie Anne's Pretzels for me! (I had told him school lunch wasn't very good; one thing had crab meat in it and the main dish was octopus/squid...) We had the snack and then watched The Office until we got hungry. I felt bad because I figured it would only take me about 30 minutes to make dinner, but it ended up being about 45-1 hour because I was chopping so many veggies and cooking those before I could cook the meat. At least we were eating healthy. I'm the daughter of a nutritionist for sure! :)

Dinner is served!

Soccer and Church

I had a relaxing morning. I was going to make cookies, but again, since soccer has been moved up to 4-6 for the time being, it cuts into my baking time a little (if I don't get up and get moving right away, that is). I reheated a meatball for lunch and watched a little bit of TV on my computer before heading to Hapjeong to meet Jacob. We traveled from Hapjeong to Yongsan station together.

We waited for our friends to arrive and warmed up a bit. Eirik, one of the other adoptees coaches a high school team, so he has been inviting them to come and play against us. A lot of the guys have stopped coming in the colder weather and it's been getting a bit dull playing 3 v. 3 and against same people. They were okay, not stellar, but it was still something nice for a change. They had 6 and we had 7, so we had one sub.

Because soccer was changed from 4-6, I was able to stay and play the whole 2 hours. That made me pretty happy. Jacob and I went to church together. After church we went to Noodle Box for dinner.

We're wearing the pennies

Looks like Jacob just let a goal in

Johan about to score on the far top corner