Relaxing Day and Another Dinner with a Friend

Camp went alright. I had the same 4 kiddos again. Yesterday the power went out suddenly and when the computer shut off because of the power outage, it crashed and needed to be restarted with the disc. The computer teacher never responded to my COT's message to her, so that computer wasn't fixed when I went to start it for camp. Instead, I had the class in the English room instead. One topic we covered was "When is your birthday" so we had a "birthday party" and I made a "pinata" out of an old paper bag and put candy in it. They hit it with a fly swatter and really enjoyed it!

After camp, I headed out to meet Jacob in the downtown area. There was a bit of traffic for an afternoon, and it took awhile to get there. We met up and walked around looking for a good place for lunch. We're on an eating healthier initiative and were looking for a cafe. Nothing piqued our interest, but we finally found an office building with restaurants inside it and had a go. We picked a Thai restaurant and shared a fried rice dish and spring rolls. Maybe not the healthiest of healthy choices, but it wasn't very expensive and was good.

It was so hot today, we didn't really want to walk around much outside. We went to the Kyobo Bookstore and went to go look at travel guides to do some research for our trips. Korean bookstores are quite different from American ones in that they do not encourage you to sit and mull over books all day. There are very few benches and no tables at all. We sat on the ground for maybe 20-30 minutes before deciding it would be worth it to buy the books and checked out.

We headed to Hongdae a little early for our dinner meeting with Eunha. She was my volunteer during the mentor program. When Jacob's friend Sam was here, he needed an interpreter for a meeting with his birthmother. I remembered Eunha and suggested her. She helped out and Jacob owed her dinner. Anyway, we went to a cafe in Hongdae and took a look at our new books until it was time to meet up with Eunha. We went for Mexican at a restaurant we had stumbled upon on the way to find a cafe. It looked pretty good so we thought we'd try it. The food was really good and decently priced as well. We had a good time chatting and catching up with Eunha.

After dinner, I walked back to Jacob's with him because I needed to get a movie from his roommate, Troy. He was out to dinner with 2 friends and I had to wait a bit. Once they came back from dinner, we all chatted for a bit before I headed home.

My "pinata" for the camp

Ades and research

Happy guy with a burrito

Eunha and me at dinner

1 Year Anniversary in Korea!!

Today marks 1 year of being in Korea! I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I've been outside of the US for one year, 365 days. It just blows my mind. I can't even fathom how I haven't held and cuddled with my Toby-baby, seen my mom, slept in my bed, drove my car, hugged my grandpa, eaten veggies out of our garden, picked fruit or gone to Silver Beach in a whole year. I've missed weddings, snow storms and my favorite spring season.

But I also know that I've had quite the experience here too. It's been an incredible journey and time of growth, challenges, changes, love and new experiences. I've met new friends, reconnected and deepened old friendships, learned to teach EFL, gotten back into soccer, started studying Korean again, traveled to Taiwan, Bali, Malaysia and Thailand, seen the marriage of one of my best friends, met another friend's baby, had visitors, met my boyfriend's parents and made a new boyfriend who's always by my side and helps support me when I'm feeling homesick or down. It's been a roller coaster for sure and I feel blessed by the people who helped shape me at home to be able to come here and do this for a year, and the people who helped me here be able to stick around for one more.

Camp went well. I had one more girl show up, so now the poor boy is out numbered 3-1. They had fun today and we taste tested some foods to practice textures and flavor descriptions. The snack for today was ice cream which I loved. :)

I stuck around til 2 today and then it was off to Myeongdong. First on the list was the bank. I wanted to go to a really international area so that I had a higher chance of the bank teller speaking English to help me. I wanted to do an international transfer and send some money home. I also wanted to exchange some Korean Won to USD for my trip home in TWO WEEKS!! I was successful only in the international transferring. They had to set up an account for me to do this and it took almost an hour. Luckily, the worker spoke really good English and was very nice, so I did right by heading to Myeongdong. It was getting close to 4 at this point and I didn't want to stand in line and transfer money in the other bank part so I headed out so I could finally get "lunch". I walked to Pita Pit and had a sandwich there. I sat and hung out there before doing some window shopping.

Then on to class. Class was okay . I left early because I wanted to celebrate the 1 year of being here with Jacob. We met up in Hongdae a little after 8 and went to the Beastro for dinner. We wanted to try it and it was closed the last time so I thought it would be a nice place to go to celebrate. We tried a french fry dish, chicken macaroni and cheese, and the fried chicken. It was really good. I loved the mac 'n cheese. The fries were a little crunchy and salty for my liking. We were so full from dinner we didn't get any dessert to celebrate and it was already a bit late.

The cloud/sky looked so cool!

French Fries

Ready to dig in~

Chicken--the biscuit was amazing!

Yummy Mac n cheese!

One year celebration in Korea

Summer Camp Day 2 and Friends

Day 2 of summer camp was pretty much the same. The same 3 kids showed up. It was still nice just having the 3 of them.

After camp I headed to Myeongdong to meet up with Jacob, Kasey and Thomas. Kasey is heading back to the US for 3 weeks of vacation. When she comes back, she'll be studying out in Chuncheon and not living in Seoul. So while it's not really goodbye, it's see you a lot less frequently than before! We went to School Food for lunch and ordered 2 kinds of kimbap and one dish of ddeokboki (spicy rice cake dish). We chatted and then everyone split. Jacob and I were going to try and find a Dr. Fish cafe so we could have the fish eat our dead skin off our feet but the cafe must have closed. We spent about an hour searching with no luck. In the end we decided we'd check out the Foot Shop in Hapjeong. The price there was 30,000W which is high, but it also included a massage. We decided though, it wasn't worth it. We still had 2-3 hours before Bora was meeting us for dinner, so we sat outside for a bit, then wandered HomePlus and went in a cafe to charge our phones. Bora messaged us almost an hour before we were expecting so that was really nice.

We headed to the station to meet up with her. For dinner, Jacob and I had seen this restaurant that had BBQ with lots of vegetables and grilled egg maybe and wanted to try it. But, when we got there Bora said, "no, no, no". It turns out while it always smelled good, it was actually intestine. Bora refused to eat there, but we weren't going to argue with her either! So we had no back up plan and wandered around Hapjeong looking for a new place to eat. I suggested a BBQ place Jacob had pointed out before and we went there. We got "Oh Gypsal" which is "5 line" of pork meat, when the regular is "sam gypsal" (3 line); famous from the pigs in Jeju. It was pretty good, but I think it's a bit too fatty for me, those extra 2 lines are probably lines of fat. We also got another order of kalmaegi-sal. Another cut of pork, but I'm not sure what. It was good to have BBQ again.

After dinner we walked around to walk off dinner a bit and stumbled upon a cafe. Well I've seen the cafe before but paid no attention. What got our attention tonight was the little sign outside the shop displaying "Chocochip Pie and Ice cream". We went in and ordered the original--chocolate chip cookie "cake" (baked in a small pie tin) served with ice cream and a small chocolate. Holy moly yumminess! It was so delicious! I think that cookie was the best cookie (outside of mine of course) I've had in Korea and in a long time. It was really great seeing Bora again and we got to catch up with her. It was a fun evening.

Kiddos at Camp

Grilling Meat

Bora and me at dinner

Travel Cafe

Looking up books for our trip to Japan!

DELICIOUS DESSERT!

First Day of Summer Camp

Summer Camp is here! I got to school and...couldn't find my USB which led me into a panic. Luckily I was able to find the powerpoints I needed on the teachers' website so only a mild crisis. Only 3 of the 6 signed up 5th graders came. On one hand it was nice because it's so small and easy to manage, but at the same time it's really difficult to do any of the activities I planned with 3. We couldn't even play pair games (except when I joined which made it difficult when they couldn't understand something on their own) really. There were 2 girls (one was in my camp last year and I really like her) and one boy, who's definitely a special guy. He was swinging a cushion around and broke one of the tassels off so I had him write an apology to the homeroom teacher we are borrowing's classroom.

When camp finished I stuck around til 2 with my COT, even though she said off the records it's okay if I leave before 2. She had to stay and work and I figured it would be better if I stayed, especially on the first day. She's a bit worried because the 3rd graders level is quite low. I hope it will go okay when I get them next week.

I left at 2 and went home to get some things done there. I was going to walk to Hongdae but decided since I had a later start I'd just take the subway. I met up with Jacob and we went to Oodle Noodle for dinner. I ordered the chicken terriyaki and Jacob got the Pad Thai, but spicy. He said it was good, but the spice killed the Pad Thai taste. After dinner, we walked back to his guesthouse. Once we got close to his guesthouse, we stopped on the sidewalk and started having a serious discussion just about being frustrated in Korea etc. We were right in front of a small cafe and there was a girl, an employee, that went up to the window and was staring at us, pointing and laughing. Jacob got really angry and was going to go in and yell at her, but I said there wouldn't be any point and convinced him to let it go. We got to his guesthouse and did some travel research. Jacob walked me to the bus and when I was almost home he called me and asked me to guess where he had just gone. Well, he went back to that cafe and went to talk to the girl. He confronted her about why she was laughing (she denied it, but was also apologizing). She was so nervous she was shaking and almost started crying. He wasn't really mean or anything, he just said he wanted to know what was so funny and why was she staring and laughing. The thing we've noticed is that Koreans tend to do the staring and watching the scene unfold, but if anything happens or their confronted about the situation, they can't handle it. So at least he handled it in a better manner than if he had gone right after it happened and was really angry. She couldn't answer him beyond "man, woman talking". So that made for an interesting evening.

Soccer Sunday

I had an uneventful morning, but I headed over to Jacobs to have an early-ish lunch at the kimbap shop. I ordered jap chae (the noodles and vegetables) but the dish came out really greasy. We also shared a line of beef kimbap. After lunch we took a short break at his place before heading out to soccer. We were at a new location, so we wanted to go with plenty of time to find the field.

We were playing at a high school in Itaewon and apparently, the team from that high school is the best in Korea. They had a really nice full field with new turf, but we weren't playing on the big field but the small futsal field in the back. I'm getting ahead of myself. So Jacob and I arrived in Itaewon and decided we'd walk to the school because it was only 3 bus stops away and it would be a good warm up. It took a little bit longer/seemed a little further than we expected but it wasn't bad. When we arrived at the school grounds, there was a gatekeeper and we had to sign in. There was a steep hill we hiked up and saw the beautiful full field. Stefano was already there running around so we chatted with him and waited for the others. We were thinking that we weren't at the right spot, so we started walking to look for the other place. We saw Felix across the field and at the bottom of the hill waving to us, so it was nice to be directed a bit.

The futsal field was older and not as nice, but still a good size. At first we only had 8 people, but more trickled in so we had around 11. Then the high school boys came back-John wanted them there so we didn't get heat exhaustion running around so much, though some of us were a little disgruntled because we would have less playing time. I had one of them kick me and it managed to go from my ankle 3/4 of the way up to almost my knee. It was red, but by the end of the day it was already looking much better. At 6, when soccer was over, no one else came to claim the field so we stayed another 30-45 minutes longer playing.

After soccer, Jacob and I were going to take the bus to Itaewon Station and find dinner. As we were walking back Young Min, in his car, stopped to say bye and invited us for a drive-it was nice he took us to the station. We walked down one of the back streets to look at places to eat. A lot looked good, but I always forget how expensive Itaewon is. I think they can get away with their prices sometimes because people go to Itaewon knowing its the international district and believe (sometimes its true though) it's the only place they'll be able to have these dishes (and have them done well) or foods. But it's quite ridiculous. Anyway, we ended up going back to Chili King. I wanted something healthy so I thought I'd try the spinach dip served with veggies. When it came out I was really disappointed. There was hardly any dip and there were only 3 kinds of veggies (though the menu boasted of 5-6) and some of the veggies were slimy and no good. I had already eaten some of it before I noticed the slimy ones so I didn't know if I could send it back or complain. We were going to get dessert at this pie shop, but a tiny little pie was 8, almost 9,000W!!! I could get something like that from Sandra Kay's for HALF the price! We decided while it looked good and probably tasted pretty good it just wasn't worth it. We headed home and it was nice to get in at an earlier hour. I showered which felt amazing after playing soccer for 2 hours in 80 degree heat.

Day trip to Gimhae

I couldn't sleep well-maybe I was too excited about my day trip down to Gimhae. I can't believe that I hadn't been there since January. Time seems to slip by and yet can drag on at the same time.

I took a taxi to Seoul Train Station. I was surprised it took me about 5 minutes to get one, but it was around 7:10 am which definitely played a part. The taxi driver took his time driving and I was getting nervous about making the train on time again. We got to the station and there was a long line of taxis waiting to let their riders out. I asked him if I could get out because I didn't have a lot of time. At first he said no, but a minute later he said it was ok. I took off running to get my paper receipt changed to a ticket and made it with enough time to the tracks that the train still hadn't pulled up yet. I was relieved to see that my seat was a forward facing one (I don't like when I have to ride backwards) and settled in before dozing off for an hour or so. Unfortunately, there was a toddler boy who decided he'd scream his head off the whole ride and the parents did nothing to stop him or get him out of the main car area (at the ends of each car are sliding doors that hold a bathroom and disembarking room).

I made to to Gupo Station and went to the bus stop. I had a feeling the bus was coming and started jogging a bit; I got to the stop as the bus was pulling in and was able to grab it right away which was nice. About 25 minutes later I arrived at the Inje University stop and got off. I made it a little bit ahead of Jihye and Jimin but I only had to wait a few minutes. She and I walked to my favorite restaurant in all of Korea, Mongshili, which has the best bibimbap (mixed rice and vegetables) and kalguksu (hand cut noodles and soup). We were afraid it might not be open-it's this small hole-in-the-wall/mom and pop place that usually follows the university schedule. When there are no classes and students, Mongshili is not open. Friday was the end of the semester so we had our fingers crossed as we walked down the street. Luck was in my favor and Mongsili was open! I was so happy! We had lunch and chatted. Jimin was quite active-at 7 months now she is crawling and pulling herself up, so Jihye was a little worried she'd get into the hot soup. Jihye fed her some milk and then the next thing we knew she was tossing it back up and out her nose. Jihye was a bit concerned. She said it was only the 2nd time she had ever really thrown up. So we packed up and headed out with Jihye holding Jimin and me pushing her stroller. Jihye suggested we get bingsu (shaved ice) or ice cream to take back. I wavered only slightly, but ice cream won out. We headed to Baskin Robbins and then Jihye decided Jimin's condition looked a lot better and she seemed okay so we ended up staying. We ordered a pint so we could get 3 flavors.

After ice cream, we headed back to Jihye's home to chat and catch up more. Unfortunately, Jihye's husband had wanted to go to Busan to see some old friends and let Jihye visit with her Mom. So, around 2:45 they took off for Busan. It worked out alright, I went to the campus and visited my only student remaining at the Radiology lab, Kyung Min. It was nice catching up with him. I then hopped a bus to the train station so that I had plenty of time. I almost got on the wrong train though! There was a "slow" train that came into the station and I wasn't looking, but thought it was strange the train was SO early. Then I saw that the destination of the train was not "Seoul" and THEN I realized it wasn't a KTX (Speed train). The train ride back was uneventful; a long 3 hour ride, which made me nervous thinking about the 13+ hour plane ride I have stuck in a middle seat in a few weeks.

Jacob was sweet and picked me up at the train station. Earlier he had picked up sandwiches from Quizno's too, and we took the sandwiches back to my place for dinner. We swapped stories from our day and relaxed. Per Jacob's request, we made a small batch of cookies too.

My favorite meal in Korea

Jihye and her sweet baby

Jimin and me hanging out

Saying goodbye to Jihye and Jimin

My student Kyung Min

Last Day of the Semester! I finished a year of English Teaching!!

Wow--I can't believe the semester is over. I can't believe I've finished a year of teaching English here in Korea. It doesn't seem quite "over" to me, since I'll be staying on one more year.

At work, we only had a half day and teachers were dismissed at 12:30. I had an easy morning and did a little work preparing for next semester. I also made sure everything was ready for my first day of summer camp. Unfortunately, I have to stay at school until 2pm, even though the kids leave camp at 12:20. During Winter Camp we were able to leave at 12:20 with the kids so I'm definitely bummed about that. The only good thing is that I will have time to prepare and finish anything I need during that time and not have to do it outside of work then.

I had tried to set up meetings with my old COT (but she was meeting her boyfriend and couldn't) and an old friend, Katie (she's on vacation in Thailand) for either a late lunch or coffee. Instead, I came home and had some leftovers. I then took a stroll to Hapjeong. Then I went to Starbucks to study Korean. I waited there until Jacob finished work. We went to this artsy store and I got a cellphone case. I love it a lot! It's green and has a leafy design on it. Then we came back to my place to use up the lettuce and chicken I had. I made a chicken fajita salad, with black beans, corn, onion, bell pepper and seasoned the chicken. As a dressing, I finished up the salsa, but there wasn't quite enough to make it really saucy.

After dinner, we watched some of The Office before Jacob headed home. I had an early morning rise so he didn't stay too late.

Gusto and Krystle

Another easy day-my one 4th grade class played vocabulary uno. Though it took them awhile to make the cards, they enjoyed playing the game. I had 2 periods off and my final class finished a movie they had been watching.

As Sophie and I were about to leave, one teacher came in and gave us a cup of homemade green tea bingsu. I guess an after school class or maybe she did, made it. So we sat and ate some of it for a little and then I told her I had to get going to make it to meet my friend.

Krystle and I met up and we looked at cakes since she wanted to get one for her teachers as a thank you on her last working day at her school. Then we went to Gustos for dinner. I got nachos-always yum. She and I had a looong talk. One of her friends here had a mental breakdown and his parents had to come and get him to take him back to the US. She and her other friends did a lot of him in taking care of him before his parents arrived and preparing for his return to the US as well. I felt bad for her because it was very emotionally draining and stressful for her.

After dinner, we walked around Hongdae a bit and did some window shopping. Finally, we went to the new Samsung store and walked around in there. We looked at phones and had fun looking at the refrigerators. It reminded me of a time when my Dad and I went to Best Buy and he showed me different things about the refrigerators.

Later, Krystle told me that she had a good time together and it was the first time in a month she was able to not dwell on the situation with her friend and have fun. I was glad that I was able to provide an outlet for her.

VACATION DAY

My "life COT" has been really great and she's been keeping track of my attendance for me well. It turns out I still had a day and 2 hours of vacation time I hadn't used yet. Unfortunately we can't keep it-don't use it, you lose it. So I needed to start using up those times. Luckily for me, 3 of my 4 classes on Wednesday had already finished the semester and the 4th class had been rescheduled to Thursday. It worked out perfectly and I was able to take today off.

My original plan was to meet my old Inje friend, Sumi. How it turned out was that I'm making a trip down to Gimhae on Saturday. I was asking some people if they were around and able to meet in Busan. She replied saying that she wasn't down there, but in Seoul. In Seoul?! So, we made plans to meet. Anyway, I woke up in the morning with a message from her saying she was a bit delayed and would have to give a raincheck.

I skyped with my Mom and we talked for over 2 hours. Time always goes by quickly when we're talking. I'm so looking forward to my visit home. Toby was also featured in the skype session and I watched him not only roll around the floor scratching his face, but tear into a plastic box and try to rip it to shreds.

After skyping I ended up meeting Jacob for lunch since my friend couldn't meet me. We went to Burger B, which is right next to GOAL. We shared their "ultimate Burger" which had a burger, fries and a small shot of milkshake (which was amazing!) and the bbq pulled pork nachos. Everything was delicious and it was a nice treat to see Jacob for lunch. I had been messaging Sumi and it turned out she was headed to Hongdae so I suggested we meet for tea.

Jacob's lunch hour was up so I went to go meet Sumi. She and I went to Cafe Mono; I went here with Kim (from Belgium) in the spring. We ordered a cheesecake that was surprisingly good and drinks. Later, her younger sister joined us. She is only 18 and I could tell! She was a typical freshly entered into college young woman. When she first started speaking English she would just laugh and hide her face and mumble. As time wore on though, her English improved a lot and she wasn't as shy and giddy. Around 5 they suggested we grab dinner and I recommended Oodle Noodle.

We walked to Oodle Noodle and since no one else was in the restaurant, the owner/chef guy gave some recommendations of dishes. Unfortunately, Sumi's dish came out quite spicy, even though she asked for it to not be spicy and I had had it last time and it wasn't spicy at all! After we finished eating, the restaurant started to get a little bit more busy. I noticed a young woman and I thought she looked a lot like my friend Suzie (Mark's girlfriend) so I turned to look at the guy ordering and realized it was Mark. So I called out his name-he was surprised to see me. This is the 3rd time I've run into him in Hongdae. We chatted a bit and I suggested some dishes. Sumi's sister forgot her umbrella at the cafe, so they had to go back and get it. I went on to Myeongdong to go to class.

Class was okay-it actually seemed to go by rather quickly this week. I was so tired even though I didn't do any work. I was glad to get home.

Give me Pizza

Another easy day at work. The first 2 classes watched Harry Potter. Then my next 3 classes were all finished. For the final class, my COT and I went to the ER and when class time came and went with no 5th graders, she called their homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher said they wouldn't be coming so our last class was cancelled too!

After work I went to Emart to get a pizza and stuff to make a salad. I had been wanting pizza for awhile. Now while Emart makes pretty good pizza, it definitely wasn't the one I was craving (Pizza Peel in Itaewon or naturally Silver Beach Pizza!) Jacob arrived and we had the pizza and salad for dinner. After dinner we hung out and watched the Office. It's getting bittersweet because we're almost finished with the series now. I baked a batch of cookies for dessert.

Rude Service and Dinner Date

Work was rather uneventful. We watched Harry Potter in all five 6th grade classes. They were SO disappointed when class time was up and they couldn't finish the movie.

After work, I headed to Hongdae to meet Jacob after work. We went to Cafe Leeman's, quite near the GOA'L Office. I had seen it a few times and always wanted to try it. He got a recommendation from one of his friends so we thought we'd check it out.

It was a fancier cafe, but you still had to order at the counter and pay first before sitting down. We looked at the menu and a poster displaying some menu items. We decided we'd get the chicken club sandwich and a salad. Jacob went to go order and the guy taking his order couldn't understand him. Jacob repeated himself maybe 3-4 times, when the guy rolled his eyes. Jacob started to get angry and the guy came around the counter to see the display so we could point at it. He got it and turned back to put it in the computer, but we called him back so we could order the second item. The guy rolled his eyes again to have to come back around the counter. That was the last straw for Jacob and we walked out. I can't imagine working at Silver Beach Pizza and rolling my eyes (TWICE!) at a customer asking for something. Your job is to provide service to the customers and rolling your eyes is just not something acceptable in the service industry. Even if you can't understand the customer, maybe especially if you can't understand the customer, extra care and consideration should be taken. Needless to say, we were disappointed and upset.

We walked around Hongdae a bit to cool down and figure out where to eat. We wanted to go back to the Beastro, but they were unfortunately closed on Mondays. We continued walking and wandering around before I suggested Seoga and Cook. So we went there and even if they didn't have especially excellent customer service, anything like a smile, bow and being basically pleasant seemed like a huge step-up from the treatment at Cafe Leeman's. We ordered a chicken salad, and as usual the portions were huge. The salad dressing on the salad was really good. We also shared a mango-ade that was delicious as well.

After dinner we walked back to his guesthouse to let dinner digest and talked for a bit before I headed home.

Seoga and Cook

Soccer Day

I had a relaxing day. I didn't do much in the morning and afternoon. Soccer was at World Cup at 6 today, so I decided I'd walk to the field since it's not that far. I also thought extra exercise would be helpful in being able to sleep more, since the past few nights have not brought a lot of sleep. While I was walking, I passed a stand along the stream. It was Pizza Hut and they were giving free samples of their new "Mexican Pizza". So, I got a free slice of pizza on my walk.

Soccer was okay-there were around 22 people there. So many! One young woman Jacob tutors had her boyfriend come and play soccer. She sat and watched us play. There were quite a few new faces and several guys who hadn't been there in awhile. It was quite hot even though it was 4pm.

After soccer, Jacob came up to my area and we had dinner at a restaurant we sometimes go to. He ordered chicken mayo with rice and I got a spicy pork and rice dish. It was really spicy! 

Skype and some Soccer

This morning Jacob stopped by so he could skype with my Grandpa with me. It was good talking with him. Jacob had to leave and tutor not too far from me. I continued talking with my Grandpa and when we finished I headed out to meet Jacob. We walked to Hongdae and went to Oodle Noodle for lunch. It's been awhile since I've been there and I finally branched out and tried something new there! I got some Japanese noodles and it was pretty good. I do love the Pad Thai there though.

After lunch Jacob wanted to go to Sinchon to look at soccer shoes, so we started walking there and I took a back-way. All of a sudden we ran into one of Jacob's family friends, Eun Mee. She is good friends with Jacob's mom--she and her family used to live in North Carolina and she helped at their Korean Culture camp. She was with her daughter and a young woman from Seattle. The young woman had just finished a Korean language program in Chuncheon, the same one Jacob did last summer. Eun Mee invited us to get some pat bingsoo (the shaved ice) and we chatted for a bit before going our separate ways. It was pretty wild to run into them though.

We continued on to Sinchon and Jacob found a pair of soccer shoes he was happy with. Then we stopped by his place to get his soccer clothes. And we came back to Yonsei University. We were meeting his good friend Min Jin and her 8 year old nephew. Her nephew, Ayden was visiting from Hong Kong and she wanted him to get some exercise and play soccer with Jacob. He was an interesting character! Very loud, opinionated and didn't listen to directions well. We ended up staying at the fields for 2 hours, though not playing the whole time. After playing, we walked (much to Ayden's chagrin) back to Yeonhuidong (Jacob's neighborhood) for some Koreanized Chinese food, which is what Ayden wanted. We ordered jajjangmyeong (black bean sauce and noodles), sweet and sour pork, and Ayden got jjambong (a spicy seafood noodle soup). Min Jin invited one of her friends to dinner as well and he joined us a little bit later. After dinner, we went to Peter Pan, the bakery and got some bread. It was delicious. We said goodbyes and headed our separate ways.

Didn't Rain and Dinner in

It was supposed to rain today; I wore my rain boots just for the occasion. However, it never came. Now, this is the 3rd time that rain was in the forecast, I wore my boots and it didn't rain. I'm beginning to wonder if my rain boots have some sort of special rain-defying powers.

After work, I came home and prepped some veggies. Jacob came over and we made "cheesy egg tacos"; basically a breakfast burrito with egg, bacon, chicken, peppers, mushroom and onions with broccoli on the side. We cleaned up after dinner and just hung out until he headed home.

Veggie prepping

Dinner in Again

My first period class was cancelled because that class had met all the times for the semester. I had forgotten about that, so it was a nice surprise when I realized it.

After work I came home and started on dinner. I wanted to use up the cabbage I bought so I found a stirfry recipe that used cabbage. Jacob said it looked good so I decided to try it. It was very simple to make and it was good. Jacob arrived earlier, like Tuesday because of the bus. When we finished dinner Jacob said he was in the mood for a cookie, so I thawed out a few dough balls and presto-cookies. :)

6 month

After work I stopped at home to have dinner before going to class. Class started late and then the teacher said that today was the 10 year anniversary the Korean Cultural Foundation had been offering the Korean classes, so we'd be having a party. We had to wait a little bit longer for a few more classmates to arrive before we started the party. There was a cake and some juice and we had to write a congrats to the program. Then we did an interview activity. I left halfway through class to meet Jacob for our anniversary.

I went to his place and we had red velvet cake. He got the last slice from the shop when he finished work. The cake was delicious as always. After that we did a little bit of planning and looking at stuff for our trip to Japan before I took the bus home.

Birthday Party at class

Jacob with the yummy red velvet!

BBQ Chicken and Trip Planning

Terrible Tuesday wasn't too bad. My first 6th grade class watched a movie and the second class was cancelled because they were taking graduation pictures. My challengers came next. I had them do some writing before watching part of "Blink" an episode from Doctor Who. They really enjoyed it and my COT said they were saying that it was very interesting. (Yay, English!) The remaining 3 classes today were 5th graders and they did the dice writing activity. The only problem is when they don't understand the directions, the activity is just work and not any fun-once they realize how to do the game part of it, it's a lot of fun. The first class didn't get it, but the last two did (I set aside more time to give instructions). The final class got SO into the game that all 23 students would SCREAM if they didn't get a 6 (they needed to roll a 6 in order to start writing their sentences). It got a bit noisy, but I stopped them and asked them to calm down even if it was very exciting.

After work I came home and started on dinner: Pulled BBQ Chicken sandwiches, mac n' cheese, baked beans and homemade coleslaw! Everything was almost ready when Jacob came over. This week (his 2nd to last week teaching English at his center) he realized that there is a bus near his center that comes right to my place (the subway is only 2 stops away too, but the station is about a 6-8 minute walk). He arrived about 10 minutes earlier than normal. Dinner was delicious! And it's now his new favorite meal I've made. (Chicken Mozzarella is now knocked down to 2nd) After dinner Jacob told me his plans have changed again and he won't be going home for his best friend's wedding in October. That means we will be going to Hong Kong in September for Chuseok and Japan in October! We were looking at tickets and lodging again when he noticed a $50 drop in a flight from earlier in the day. We decided it was too good to pass up and bought the flight to Japan! So we'll be spending 4 days in Kyoto!

What a spread!

Yummy!

Home cooked Meal

Well, today was the first time in awhile that I managed to get 8 hours of sleep. The only problem was...that I overslept my alarm and happened to wake up and check the time. Upon seeing 8:12 I went into panic mode. I somehow got ready in 10 minutes and was out the door on time.

Lucky for me, Monday mornings bring a 40 minute off period. And on top of that, this week and next week we're watching a movie. Thank the good Lord! Even with the 8 hours of sleep, I still felt a little tired during the day and was beyond grateful to have the movie in class so I could kind of zone out.

After work, I stopped at some grocery stores in my area to look for chicken and produce. Then I brought everything that I got to the GOAL office and met Jacob when he finished working. We went back to his place to make dinner. We had pasta with veggies and chicken. It turned out really good. After dinner we didn't do much; just chatted a bit and I headed home early. I chopped up cabbage to make coleslaw for tomorrow nights dinner and tidied up my place.

One Month til Home!!

In the morning, Jacob came over to hang out for a bit. Then we went for a late lunch to the bibimbap restaurant. After lunch we came back to my place and hung out before heading to Yonsei University. Our captain wasn't able to reserve any fields for us at Yongsan or at World Cup for most of this month. He thought we could try to see if there was space at the Yonsei fields. On the big field there was a game going on and on the sides (not actual field space but room enough to play small games) people were playing. We tried to get in on one side; two goals winner stays on, but then another team also wanted to jump in so there were so many teams wanting to play it wasn't really worth it to stick around. We were around 18 alone, plus 2 other teams--it was a mess. It's quite unfortunate that we can't play properly now.

Jacob didn't want to stand around and wait, so we headed over towards church. He was getting a little hungry so we went to Tom n Toms and ordered a pepperoni pretzel for a snack. The workers were really rude and they tried to tell him he couldn't order that-all because they didn't want to make the pretzel. And when he went to pick up the pretzel the girl handed it to him and rolled her eyes.

We headed to church and had the newer Korean priest for mass. He's had an interesting time as a priest. And today was the 20th anniversary of his ordination. He worked in Cambodia for many years and also in the US for a few.

After church, Jacob and I went to the kimbap shop for dinner. It's a nice little ritual/routine for the end of the week. When we finished dinner, I stopped at his guesthouse so I could fill up some of my water bottles.

GOAL Fundraiser Poker Tournament

This morning Jacob came over so we could skype with my Mom. It was good to chat with her for a little bit. After skyping we headed to Itaewon to get lunch. We went back to Chili King; after discovering a few other places in Itaewon we haven't been to Chili King in awhile. Jacob got a chicken sandwich and I got a Philly Cheesesteak. After lunch we went over to Bull and Barrel, where the GOAL event was being held to help set up. The owner wasn't there yet, so a few of us waited outside until he came to move the tables around.

Once more people got in and the poker players arrived, they realized they had more players than anticipated and needed to make another table and needed another dealer. Someone asked me, "can you shuffle cards?" I said, "yes I can shuffle cards." He said, "great, you can be our dealer." So, I became the 3rd table's dealer. At first I was nervous and I didn't really remember the poker rules and everything, but after a few rounds I settled in. Once more players got knocked out, they combined it down to two tables so I was relieved of my dealer duties. I then got to hang out with Jacob and Mark who arrived while I was dealing. We haven't seen Mark in awhile-I did bump into him two or three times in Hongdae but we didn't talk long. It was good to see him. Jacob told me he invited Mark to have dinner with us since Suzie was with her family and Mark didn't have other plans. The poker tournament finally ended and the winner was a guy from my table! As we were leaving, Jacob asked Devin (another GOAL mentor) and one of the volunteers to join us for dinner too.

First we were going to go to Taco Amigo, our new favorite Mexican place, but there was a bit of a wait. We decided we'd try Left Coast which is just a few doors down. They also had a wait, but everyone agreed since we were already there, we'd just stay. It was a fun evening. After dinner everyone went their separate ways.

Jacob with his chicken sandwich

Good Philly Cheesesteak

Finally Friday

Today at work I found out that I actually have a few more classes than I originally thought. It's not that big of a deal and I've already planned some review games for them. I tried a writing game using a dice for the 5th graders today and they loved it. It's funny how making some activity like writing into a competitive game and all of a sudden they love writing and it's so exciting.

After work I headed to Hongdae/Hapjeong area to meet Jacob. We had dinner at the little place right next to the GOAL office for rice bowls. Then we went to go see Transformers 4. I haven't seen any of the other Transformer movies, but Jacob filled me in on the details beforehand. The movie was pretty good. Jacob read some reviews and it didn't get great ones, so he went in with no expectations and came out saying it was better than he thought it would be. It was fun to have a bit of a date night with Jacob. I know we spend a lot of time together and have dinner almost every night, but there's something about making a specific plan ahead of time and having tickets to something that make it seem more "date-like".

Cooking Class

Work went alright today. Two more weeks and the semester is over--it's hard to believe.

After work I came home to unwind a bit and ended up taking a nap before meeting Jacob and heading to Hoya's for the cooking class. We stopped at Auntie Anne's for a pretzel which is a good idea; class starts at 7 and then we have a demonstration and THEN we get to cook so normally we don't eat until 9 or so. Having a snack is best before going to cooking class. This time we made a pork salad and bean sprout rice. The pork was pretty good, but it was part of the leg and there was a big chunk of fat. It was difficult to slice the meat thinly as it was a hunk of meat, but I managed to do alright. So one end of the meat was good and the other was a little fatty. The salad was onion, celery and pear with a Korean wasabi mustard sauce that was quite good. The rice had bean sprouts and ground beef in it and was pretty good too. There were 2 groups of 5 and we all finished at the same time, which meant everyone was able to sit down together and eat at the same time. I realized that one girl from my Korean class on Wednesday nights was at the cooking class and said hi to her.

When I got home after cooking class I thought I would be tired and get to bed early. As it turned out, I couldn't fall asleep (maybe the heat had something to do with it) and I couldn't sleep until maybe 2 am.

Our plate of pork. Note the thinly sliced pieces (top) are the ones I cut and the thickly cut ones (bottom) are the ones Jacob cut

Bean sprout rice

Korean Class and 5 weeks til Home!

I had my 4th graders today. They're always excited and energetic.

After work, I stopped at the post office to mail the forgotten letters. Then I headed to Myeongdong to do a little bit of window shopping before class. For dinner I went to a kimbap shop and got japchae for dinner. Then it was on to class. 

Class was okay. It's pretty challenging for me. There are some other Americans in the class which is nice for a change. It helps to have someone else to talk to or check for understanding. Class finished around 9 and I was so ready to come home and relax. 

Chili Day

Classes went okay. In the afternoon, I heard from my COTs about the upcoming classes. We are only required to teach 51 hours in a semester. I guess most classes have met the required time so that next week and the following week (which is the last week of the semester) I have a lot of cancelled classes. That was a relief to hear. So, I thought I had 2 more weeks of long Tuesdays and it turns out that it was my last one today and I didn't even know it! I also didn't realize that it was the last time I'd see some classes until September 1. Wow.

After work I went to the post office to mail a few more class projects to the US, forgetting that I had a few personal letters that I wanted to send. Bleh. I didn't realize until I had made it home--I really wish that the post office was still just around the corner from me! I started on dinner-chili. It was pretty easy to make, but I had to chop some veggies to add to it and grate some cheese. Jacob arrived around 6 and made some rice. We added some of my chili cheese Fritos to the chili and had some nice chili bowls for dinner. Yum! We talked a bit after dinner and cleaned up the dishes. We made plans for Chuseok (first weekend in September), a big Korean Holiday. We're thinking that maybe we'll go to Hong Kong for the 4 day weekend that we will get. Hopefully we can get the plans rolling because it's not that far away. It's always nice to have quiet downtime at home.

Bohye and Samgypsal

Classes went okay. My COT let the students pick their seats and it was a bit of a disaster. Each class was so chatty and loud. At the end of almost all of them, we had to tell them that they would be going back to their old seats because they couldn't concentrate on the lesson.

I had to go make copies so I went down to the main office. When I opened the door, I noticed a bunch of staff and some office workers sitting around the main table in the middle of the room eating fried chicken. When the door opened they turned and some of them looked a bit startled. I bowed/nodded to them and walked to the copier. One of them got up and told me to join them for the chicken. I tried to decline and said "I'm okay" but they kept insisting and in the Korean way, I finally had to join them. After eating the chicken and cleaning up, they said there was ice cream too and I got some ice cream. That was a nice surprise and unexpected Monday afternoon treat!

After work I went to Hongdae to meet Bohye for dinner. She and I did a little bit of shopping before Jacob joined us when he finished work. I gave Bohye a few suggestions of places we know in Hongdae and she picked Jacob's Imo's place for samgypsal (bbq pork). It was really delicious. It was served on a grill on an angle so when the pork cooked the juices flowed down through the kimchi and bean sprouts at the bottom of the pan. There were also mushrooms and garlic cooked on the pan as well. We finished dinner and walked back to the main part of Hongdae. Bohye said her best friend was also in Hongdae and she wanted to introduce us to her, so we met up and had bingsu together (shaved ice). We got fruit and yogurt bingsu. It was pretty good.

It was getting a little late and everyone had stuff to do in the morning, so we all went on our ways, but as we were leaving, Jacob noticed a famous Korean KPOP singer (one he happens to love) and just to double check he asked Bohye if that was in fact, Hyunah. She said it was her. Jacob wistfully watched her walk away and we said goodbye to Bohye. I then suggested to Jacob we go follow them and see if he could get a picture with her or something. He declined a few times, but we kept walking in the same direction so finally he agreed. We caught up to them and he snapped a picture before one of her crew members came over and said that we couldn't take pictures.

After that, Jacob walked me to a bus so I could take the bus home.

Samgypsal cooking

All finished now add egg, rice, lettuce and other veggies

Fried rice!

Jacob and Bohye

Fruit yogurt bingsu

Skype and Soccer

This morning I skyped with my Mom. We talked for over 3 hours! It was really good to just talk with her. I have a countdown until I come home for my vacation and it's only 38 days. I'm super excited.

After skyping with Mom, I mixed up my cookie dough to restock the frozen dough. I'm still amazed at myself that I never thought to do it before. It's really great--I love that I can just thaw a few and in 10 minutes I can have just 6 or 7 cookies out of the oven. It's perfect. Next I ran to get a few groceries and some food waste bags. While doing my errands Jacob messaged me that he was back in Seoul from his language summer camp teaching.

I took the subway and then bus to get to his place. We hung out in his guesthouse for a bit before going to get dinner at the kimbap shop. After dinner, we got ready for soccer and headed to the World Cup stadium. It's been awhile since we've played there; they are adding one more field so there will be 3 footsal fields. It's not completed yet, but it looks like it will be finished soon. We saw Felix and Stefano there and the guys talked about the World Cup. A few more arrived and we headed to our field. This week we had 11; maybe it had something to do with being from 8-10pm. I managed to have one goal. I also played opposite Jacob which is always tough for me because he's hard for me to defend against. Plus I'd rather be on the same team. :)

Seoul Racecourse Park

This morning I woke up not too early, but not as late as I would have liked either. I started doing dishes and noticed a lot of fruit flies. Last week I had a bit of an incident with quite a bit of them in my food waste bag. Well, I didn't learn my lesson from last week and within 5 short days the bag was yet again overflowing with fruit flies and other disgusting insects you don't want to see under your sink. I pulled everything out from under the counter and bleached it. I also managed to close the bag tightly before many fruit flies flew out and trapped them in there and took the bag outside to the container on the street.

I tidied up my room before heading out to meet Krystle. As usual, she was running late and I had to wait about 15 minutes for her at the station. We had decided we wanted to do something besides the typical lunch or dinner date and I suggested the horse race park. She looked it up and thought it sounded like fun too. We were both kind of scared to try and bet (I'm not sure I'd even know how to do it in the US, let alone in Korea with a Korean betting card!) so we didn't, though maybe if I return to the race park I will just for the heck of it.

When we first go there we were afraid maybe there weren't any races at the track and only on the screen because the track part looked pretty quiet. Then all of a sudden there was an influx of people; they appeared out of nowhere and stood along the fence. We went and joined them and it turns out there was a race! It was exciting even though we didn't bet on any horses and knew absolutely nothing. I had been to a horse race park in Busan in 2011 with my host family; that one and this one are part of the Korea Racing Authority (KRA) so both seemed slightly similar to each other. There was a tunnel that lead to a park/playground on the in field of the track. We walked around there a little and then went back to the track side to watch some more races. I think the last race of the day was around 5pm because when we left after that race a lot of other people were leaving as well.

Krystle and I parted ways on the subway and I came home. I got kimbap and made mandu for dinner. The rest of the evening I just relaxed at home.

Mural in the subway

Horse Racecourse Park

Weigh in

At the finish line!

Krsytle and me in free visors!

Found this little cutie

At the end of the last race

4th of July!

I had to explain what 4th of July was to my students. One class had no idea what we celebrated on this day, but I guess it makes sense because I don't know other country's independence days or their holidays either.

After work, I headed to Hongdae to meet up with Jacob. We went to a new restaurant called The Beastro; we heard that it was new American cuisine. I thought that would be a fitting choice on the 4th. As it turned out, they had a special menu for the 4th, which was fine, but we're curious to see what's on their regular menu and need to go back again! We ordered the fried chicken with grits and macaroni and cheese. Both were really good. For dessert we got the PB & J Bread pudding. That was really delicious too--served with a scoop of ice cream on top too. Yum! We finished dinner and decided we'd walk it off and walked to Jacob's guesthouse. He had to pack and get ready for his weekend of teaching a summer camp and I thought I'd hang out with him a little bit more before heading home.

Jacob and our yummy dinner!

PB & J bread pudding!

Me with our delicious dessert

Eric's Farewell BBQ

After work I stopped at home to grab some cookie dough. Then I met Jacob at the subway and we went to his guesthouse. Our friend Eric is leaving Korea in a few days. He was the program coordinator for the Mentor Program we did. Eric lives at the Inkas guesthouse with a few other people we know. He'll be heading back to the US to start grad school in New York. Anyway, he wanted to get a few people together for a BBQ on the roof of the Inkas house; Jacob's guesthouse is 2 doors down from the Inkas' house.

We tried using the oven at Jacob's house, but it was taking a long time to heat up so we ended up just taking the dough over to Woori Jip (the name of the Inkas house) and I popped them into the oven there. When we arrived, Eric and some other friends were finishing up preparation and taking stuff to the roof. We had samgypsal (a bacon type cut of meat), kimchi, tofu, rice and veggies. It was a nice night to eat on the roof. It had rained earlier in the day and was still a bit overcast, but it was cooler out. It was a fun night and sad to know Eric is leaving.

The spread!

L to R: Jacob, me, Patrik, Kasey and Eric

Intermediate Korean Class

Work went alright, nothing to special to report.

After work, I stopped home to change into my rain boots because rain was in the forecast. As it turned out it really only sprinkled a little and all while I was in class so I didn't need to get them. Before class I did a little bit of shopping--I had to buy my new level textbook-and then ate the dinner I packed.

Class went alright. There are a few new students and a few familiar faces from my previous class. At the end of the 4 chapters a test is required before passing on to the next level. I'm a little nervous for this section; looking ahead most everything looks new and my guess is that I'll be doing this level a few times at least. Which won't be a bad thing-there's nothing wrong with repeating until I get something!

Jacob's Friend and July!

Tuesdays continue to be one of the hardest days of the week. The first two 6th grade classes were the same as yesterday's lesson. The third 6th grade class was my bad class. They were surprisingly quiet, but not attentive. After them, one of the harder 5th grade classes-they were quite loud and rowdy. After lunch, two more 5th grade classes and they were okay.

When work was over, I stopped at home for a short break before meeting Jacob at my subway station to head to Hongdae. We met his friend, Sam. Sam is in Korea on an adoptee tour, Journey Tour. One of my friends from a long time ago at Korean Culture Camp also went on the same tour! What a small world. For dinner we went to Bonga, one of our favorite BBQ restaurants. After dinner we went to a cafe to chat a little bit more. It was fun meeting one of Jacob's good friends from home.