PIZZA!

My four classes seemed to go by very quickly today. At the end of each lesson, I did about 5-10 minutes of information about Halloween. I also promised my students if they came to my office after lunch and said "trick or treat" they could get candy. (But, I was in trouble because I neglected to GET the candy yesterday and this morning...oops) So I confessed to my COTs that I needed to go out and buy candy after we ate lunch. My 4th grade COT, Chloe suggested we go together to buy some, which was nice of her. While walking from the lunch room to my office to get my wallet, we were accosted by students yelling "TRICK OR TREAT! TRICK OR TREAT!" and Chloe teacher told them to wait til I was in my office. We ran out to the convenience store and...oh horrors it was closed for lunch! Luckily there is a small "mart" across the street and we went there. We asked for Chupa Chups (lollipops) and said we needed 100. The guy looked at us so strangely, but luckily in the container there were a bunch of them. We counted them and it was exactly 100! Chloe and I split the cost of the suckers and headed back to school.

There was a long line outside my office of 5th graders ready to say "trick or treat!" The first wave of students came-about 20 of them. The second wave showed up a little bit later, also about 20. Some girls were really creative-they made pumpkin shaped masks and put them over their faces when they said trick or treat. Another few girls brushed their hair in front of their faces to look scary. It was cute. English teacher success.

After work, I met Jacob at Hapjeong Station and we went to HBC again (the area we went to last Friday). This time we went to Bonny's Pizza Pub for...pizza. We ordered two 9 inch pizzas; one was a meat lovers and the other had beef and vegetables on it. All in all, it was pretty good, but not as good as our beloved Pizza Peel, though these could be ordered in different sizes and came with a smaller price tag. The crust was a little bit soggy and the cheese wasn't as good either, but it was still much better than the average Korean pizza you would find.

We left Bonny's Pizza and headed to the far end of Noksapyeong, just where it meets Itaewon to go to a dessert place I saw last Sunday after church, Sugar Daddy. We couldn't resist temptation and ended up sharing TWO pieces of cheesecake-one was an oreo cheesecake and the other pumpkin (feeling festive and Halloween-y). They were both so delicious. Died and gone to heaven.

Feeling full with happy tummies, we returned to my place and watched a movie together.

Two creative 5th graders with pumpkin masks

Delicious pizza

Amazing cheesecakes!

Jay!

I had one 5th grade girl walk into class and start to say hello.....and then I heard her ask another girl what my name is. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about it because I don't know her name either. It was kind of funny to me though.

After work, I headed to Gangnam to meet my friend Jay. I met Jay in 2011; he was my seatmate on the plane to Korea (for Inje program). We started talking on the plane and ended up meeting once in Seoul before I went to Gimhae. Over the years, we've kept in touch here and there, though he's been living abroad (Australia). He's recently moved back to Korea now and we decided we should meet up.

For dinner we went to a Thai restaurant. I should also mention, he was working as a chef abroad. I feel a bit intimidated around chefs like that, not the home-style cooking but ones that work in fancy hotels or restaurants--high end chefs. Dinner was really tasty and it was fun chatting and eating. After dinner we went to get tea. He suggested Bubble Tea, but I couldn't have any of it because there is milk in it. I got a regular kind of tea instead. We chatted some more in the cafe. His English is quite good-he has been living in Australia for the last 2 years. He had some interesting stories. Jay said as a chef he worked long hours, maybe 16 in the kitchen and of course on weekends; so that he envies my teaching schedule.

When we parted ways, I decided to do a little shopping in the undergrounds...and I found 2 nice dress shirts and bought them. Then, it was a long ride home-about an hour or so.

Jay and me after dinner

Hiking Day

Nothing too special at work today...except we had curry for lunch. I tried a little bit of it so I could pick out the vegetables. Then, at 2pm, we were dismissed for a hiking outing for bonding time. Not a lot of teachers went hiking though.

My group was the principal, 3 other male teachers/staff, one female office worker and my life COT and 6th grade COT. We took a slightly different course than last year when we went hiking, though by the middle we had found the same course and the "descent"/rest of the hike was the same. I think the colors started turning earlier this year because we went in mid-November last year and I think that it looked about the same color-wise. It was coolish (not too warm and not too cold) and sunny, perfect for hiking. We stopped for refreshments every 20 minutes or so, having makgoli (rice wine) and some other kind of alcohol the principal packed along. One teacher also brought some melon.

After the hike, we walked to a traditional Korean restaurant. It too, was the same one we ate at last year. The first course was tofu (homemade or specialty made), followed by bossam (boiled/steamed pork) and the last was a soup that had vegetables and shrimp in it. All in all, it wasn't too bad. I ate a lot of the vegetable sides, but stayed away from the pork and shrimp. When dinner was finished, I walked to a bus stop and headed to downtown for my Korean class.

Class went alright. Next week is already the level test! I'm not sure I'm ready for it. There is another American in the class and after 5 weeks of class (I did miss one though) I finally had the courage to talk to him. He's from around Chicago which is pretty ironic, but he's going back to the US next month to start Grad School. I got home rather quickly, making all of the transfers on time.

Hiking 

On the mountain

Panorama of Buhkan Mountain

Saw these cute faces last year too

Joy of Running

Terrible Tuesday passed and wasn't so terrible.

After work, I went for a run to Hapjeong/Hongdae to meet Jacob for dinner. I was excited to finally go for a run with my new phone. It meant several things.

1. I could listen to music on my run
2. My headphones fit my ears and didn't fall out 
3. I could track my run with an app that measured distance and time

So, I found out that from Eungam Station to Hapjeong Station is 4 miles and it took me 37 minutes to run. I also found out that my 4th and final mile was faster than my first three, which was interesting to me. Maybe I'm a good distance runner and should have kept going. Or not. Definitely not.

Anyway, I really had a great time running. The sun starts to set around 5:30ish or so already. So by the time I was on my run, the sky was turning beautiful colors. The paths along the stream have tall grasses and the light hit some of them that are going to seed. It was just really nice-nice to be out in the cool weather, nice to enjoy a glimpse of nature in a big city, and nice to be able to have the health to run. I also noticed at one point where they had cut some of the grass it smelled like the grass being cut when I would be out horseback riding. I love that smell and it took me back to the time when I could ride. (I really miss riding a lot)

I arrived to Hongdae (walking from Hapjeong to Hongdae was my cool-down) a little bit early--before Jacob was finished at his gym. I did a little bit of window shopping before we met. For dinner, we went to our favorite BBQ place, 본가 (bonga) for the stews instead of grilling. It's great because each dish is only 6,000W, two of them is the cost of one order of meat to grill! I got the bulgogi and Jacob got the bibimbap and dwenjang stew. 

After dinner, we went to Schneeballen. Except...it was closed again. I'm very worried one of my favorite dessert places is closed! We decided we'd try the pretzel ice cream dish from Auntie Annes. So we went to the YZ Plaza; when we ordered, I'm not sure the woman understood and we watched her get the "soft serve" we were more concerned it wasn't right. She handed us a container of just the ice cream and no pretzel. We pointed to the picture and said we wanted that, but she said that we had already paid and wouldn't really do anything about it. We were really frustrated and annoyed. As it turns out, the soft serve was really gross and not good at all. We each had only a few disappointing bites of it. :(

SAYUL Concert

Work went okay. I was feeling extra tired from soccer yesterday. I slept til my alarm woke me, which was a first with my new phone (about 2 weeks now).

After work, I headed south of the river. One of my Inje friends started an NGO; the goal is to teach and share Korean culture with others. He started out doing a project trying to get "East Sea" added to world maps in 2012. He and 4 other of my good Inje friends traveled across the US and Europe then getting signatures and informing people. Anyway, I went to support him at their first "Thank You Concert". The concert displayed a few traditional and newer cultural pieces for Korea; there was drumming, dancing, instrument playing, taekwondo and singing. My friend, Seok Hyun, came to the lobby to tell people the concert was a little delayed and apologizing to people waiting. When he saw me, he did a double take and got a big smile and came to give me a hug. He said he was surprised I came.

I should say before the concert, I got kimbap for dinner and enjoyed walking around the area. The concert was at a university, so it was nice to see another college area. It took me almost an hour to get there and an hour home.

One groups performance

My friend Seok Hyun thanking everyone for coming

Cool picture in the subway-I was riding in the first car and could see through to the tracks

I'd date me

This morning I skyped with my Grandpa for a bit. It's always good to see him and catch up with him. At times, it feels like we're not even apart because I can see him and talk on skype with him. But other times, I wish I could reach out and get a hug or eat his chili with him.

When we finished talking, I was off to church. On the way, my Mom messaged me and we talked about Dad, which brought tears to my eyes. When I got off the subway, I passed a young father wearing an Illinois sweatshirt. Mass was pretty good. The homily was about loving others like yourself.

I wanted to go back to Casablanca for another sandwich for lunch, so I walked to Noksapyeong and HBC area. I got there and it looked like the sign said it didn't open until 5pm on weekends an 1pm during weekdays. I was bummed and went to a different restaurant for a sandwich to go. I forget the name, but it had "dog" in the name. I got a chicken caesar wrap. When I took it to go, I passed Casablanca and saw the door was open; I looked at the sign again and I had mixed up the time/days so if I had waited 5 more minutes...it would have been open! Oops. Anyway, I took my sandwich and my goal was to get to Namsan (mountain) to eat it. I had to walk through a bit of a hilly neighborhood first, but finally got to part of the base. I then climbed up many steps, thinking it would lead me to a path of sorts. I ended up on the road part (buses can go up the mountain) with a sidewalk alongside it. Not as "nature-y" as I was expecting, but I still got to see some colors. It was also nice because it reminded me of all the walks we took as a family at Love Creek after church. I thought of Dad as I walked.

I ate my lunch and enjoyed the cool, crisp air. Then I headed down and found a bus to take me to a subway station to return home. At home, I relaxed a bit before walking to World Cup. I had found there was a festival at the "Heaven Park" (하늘공원) behind the World Cup stadium. There are these tall grasses, kind of like wheat I guess, and they light them up. Anyway, I walked to the stadium and followed the massive crowd to get to the park. It wasn't a super steep climb, but it was hilly. The view of the grasses lit up was magnificent. They shone changing colors lights on it and there were trees decorated with glass ornaments that sparkled and reflected the light. The only slight damper was the rain that kept starting and stopping. There were also lanterns strung up along the path up and down the walk.

After enjoying the view there, I headed back to the stadium to meet Jacob. We sat and watched other groups play soccer before our time slot. The high school boys returned this week, which was a bit unfortunate because we would have had just 2 teams of 6; instead, we had to rotate and sit out a match. Our friend Jes had his last time at soccer-he's going back to Denmark on Thursday. (He was injured last year and went to Denmark from Nov-Feb and is now returning for more serious surgery/rehabilitation) He brought his roommate, Edo. I met Edo in 2012 when I played. The last time I saw him was last year before Jes went to Denmark. I like Edo a lot-when he saw me he looked surprised and gave me a hug. He hasn't played in over a year so it was fun to have him back. Luckily for me, I had Jes and Edo on my team; both got tired quickly and wanted to play in goal a lot, so I didn't have to play except at the end.

When soccer was over, Jacob rode the subway my direction one stop and transferred to a bus to go home. It was nice that he traveled with me a little bit.

On my walk in the park

Fall colors at Namsan

All the lanterns made it so beautiful

Nice view of the stadium behind me

So pretty with the different colored lights

Enjoying the festival by myself

Jes, my first friend at soccer

Busy Day

Today was a pretty packed day. Jacob and I went back to the *Kanival Pizza (I misread the name the last time and there is no "r" in the name--I think that is a mistake because the theme of the restaurant is very carnival-esque with little jester masks to give the bill and dangling lights that look like circus lights plus other decorations and color schemes...) We ordered the same thing-as it's the special. It was really good.

After lunch, we went to his place and he realized there was an internet problem so he worked on fixing that. Then it was time to head to the GOA'L meeting. The meeting was an "Extraordinary General Meeting" to try and change some of the articles etc of the organization to meet certain NGO requirements. (Or something like that) It was very official feeling and proper. In the end, not all of the points were able to be addressed because of some other discussions and back and forths between attendees.

When the meeting was over, Jacob and I headed over to the meeting place for Kasey's birthday dinner. We were supposed to meet outside of Dunkin Donuts and walk to the restaurant together. We were a little early, but it was still kind of nice outside. Kasey and J (her boyfriend) arrived early as well and we chatted with them and then moved into Dunkin. Our friend Todd arrived and we waved him inside. He also was part of the InKAS mentoring program the 3 of us did last year. He moved back to Australia earlier this year and is on vacation until December here in Korea. The other members were all arriving a bit late. Finally we had most of the group and moved to the restaurant.

Kasey made reservations at a meat buffet place. It was so bizarre. There was no one else in the restaurant and the workers there seemed to be so bothered by our group coming in. I've never seen a place look so annoyed to have customers! It was so strange. The food was pretty good and it was fun talking to some new people. I sat with Jacob, J and Thomas. Thomas played soccer with us once, and Jacob knows him from doing a teaching job together. We also talked a little bit with the table behind us; a guy Jon from soccer, Todd and Kasper. Most of the people there I knew at least a little bit.

After dinner, we moved to Thursday Party to have cake and play some games. The people working at Thursday were all dressed up in Halloween costumes. Many of the guys were happy because they had on an EPL soccer game. Someone bought Kasey a Hello Kitty shaped ice cream cake. It was strawberry and pretty good.

Finally!

Friday at last! All of yesterday I kept thinking it was Friday. What a disappointment. We asked one class, "what day is it today?" and a student happy shouted, "it's Tuesday!" I thought to myself, "noooooooo!!!!!" Luckily, he was wrong and its Friday!

After work, I met Jacob at Hapjeong and we took the subway on to Noksapyeong. I had done a little bit of research trying to find a new place to try or go. I wasn't very creative (the cooler weather puts a bit of a damper on my adventuresome attitude) and suggested a few places in Haebangchon/Noksapyeong area. We went to a Moroccan sandwich place called Casablanca. It was delicious! The bread was almost like real French bread-so crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I got a veggie sandwich and Jacob got a spicy chicken sandwich. We also shared a salad and lentil soup. The salad was almost like a salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic and a little bit of lettuce. The lentil soup was pretty good too. When we finished dinner, we walked around HBC for a little bit and then headed back to my place to watch a movie.

Soup and "salad"

Delicious Moroccan Sandwich

Sumi

Again a nice short day with the 4th period class being cancelled. Even though I had to come to work every day this week, it still wasn't a full weeks worth of work. So, one more easy week added-that means the next few might seem harder.

When work finished, I headed to Hongdae to meet Sumi for dinner. After last week's "disaster" at Guiga, I decided we would go to my tried and true, Bonga. We ordered the standard meat and grilled and ate to our stomachs' content. I tried to treat her to dinner since she paid last time, but was not successful in getting the bill. We decided we would get dessert at a cafe. First we went to Schneeballen--a student mentioned Schneeballen in class today because we were talking about food and the country it came from--so it was in my head and I wanted one!! We walked there and unfortunately for some reason it was closed. But. Sumi had mentioned a kind of chocolate souffle place during dinner-that was our backup plan. So off we went to the souffle place. Then I realized it was the dessert place I went to with Jenna about a year ago. We got there and placed our order.

She got a "hot chocolate" which, literally was hot, chocolate. We also ordered a cake, but it wasn't the souffle, so we ordered the souffle as well. I saved the cake and brought it home. Anyway, it is one of our last meetings before she leaves and I'm sad because we were only starting to become closer friends (guess the same thing happened with Katie too). We stopped in a few stores on our way to the station and I met Jacob briefly before hopping the bus home.

At the cafe with desserts

Sumi and me

Staff Dinner and Class

The last half of the teachers had their open class, so after work we had a dinner to celebrate open classes being finished. We went to a Shabu Shabu restaurant (soup). I like this particular chain because they make juk (kind of like a rice porridge) at the end with the left over broth, remaining vegetables and rice of course.

When the dinner was over, I headed to class. I was about 15 minutes late, but I had notified them of that ahead of time. Class continues to be a bit overwhelming for me, which is strange to me because I've already learned this stuff. I think I need to go with more of an open mind and not be so down and hard on myself before arriving.

After class finished, I stopped in Hongdae to meet Jacob for some ice cream. It was nice to just say hi for a little and of course enjoy a sweet treat. He walked me to my bus and I arrived home in record time-maybe just 5 minutes shorter than normal.

Rainy Tuesday

When I went into the ER, the computer didn't start properly and when my COT finally arrived we had to improvise a bit. Luckily we didn't need the computer too much to teach the class. However, I knew class 6-8 would not be able to handle the lack of structure the computer lent for the review lesson so we went to their homeroom instead. The computer teacher came in and worked on it a little so I thought it would be okay for the afternoon. As it turned out today through Thursday, our 4th period classes are cancelled because of a school event. That's a nice little surprise. Anyway, we had the last 2 classes in the ER and, speaking of surprises...surprise, surprise, the computer didn't really work-I couldn't open any programs. So, we improvised again.

After work, I came home and had another relaxing time at home. I was going to walk to World Cup to go to the Homeplus there to get groceries. I started my walk, but then it was drizzling too much I thought I'd just turn around and go home. At home, I finished my leftovers and watched more TV. I also did a few exercises too.

Rainy Monday

I woke up some time in the early morning and could hear the rain coming down and some thunder as well. A miserable rainy Monday.

The rain had let up a little bit by the time I left for work. When I asked students how they felt today, a lot of them answered "bad" and the reason being because of the rain or because it was Monday. I agreed with them. I had a pretty easy day-we just did review and played a speaking Heads up 7 up Game.

After work I came home and had a quiet evening to myself. I had some leftovers for dinner (easy on the wallet--but only a few more days til payday!!) and watched a TV show on my computer. It was nice to be home with it cold and rainy outside, though the rain had mostly ended by evening.

Soccer Sunday

In the morning I went to church in Hannam. I was a little touched because they played Amazing Grace for one of the songs during mass. After church, instead of just the normal muffins, there was also chicken, rice and some other kind of food. The people in "line" for food were quite rowdy and rude. I got pushed around and one man even said "excuse me" and then proceeded to just stand in front of me waiting. All I wanted was a part of a muffin and it took me at least 5 minutes to get it, maybe only a foot or so on the table in front of me. I stood near the door to eat my muffin and a woman came up to me and asked where the nearest subway stop was. I gave directions, but they must have been a bit confusing to her, because she asked if I was going there now. I agreed that I would walk her there. We walked and talked-she is studying in an short-term education program here; she's from Indonesia. I showed her the way to the subway and then I kept walking.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat something in Itaewon or Noksapyeong maybe so I decided to just walk and see if something looked good. I did find a cute dessert place with muffins, cake and other goodies-it's a bit pricey, as most desserts and Itaewon is, but I hope to return with a friend and share one! Anyway, nothing sounded that good to me, but the sun was so nice. I found a bench and sat outside enjoying the sun for a little bit.

I took the subway home and got a few things and went back outside to sit by my stream. I read a little from the book that my mom sent me and just enjoyed the warm fall weather. Although it had clouded up a little bit from earlier, it was still nice. I returned home and relaxed a bit before heading out to soccer. I was going to wait a little bit closer to soccer time, but decided I would go to Homeplus since I was early.

It was a great plan, except that I forgot to bring a cooler and ice pack, so when I wanted to buy some refrigerated goods, like yogurt, I realized it probably wouldn't be wise for those items to sit outside for 2+ hours. The other big thing happening at the World Cup Stadium area was the League of Legends (LOL) World Championship--it's a computer game that's quite popular here. So the area around the stadium and park were really crowded. I headed over to the fields and saw Fredrik; he'd been back home in Norway for about 2 months. Another old face returning was Andy-he got married a few weeks ago and had earlier moved out near Inchon so he wasn't coming to soccer. I was pretty happy with the teams-I enjoy playing with Johan. He always is very encouraging and gives compliments freely. He's probably the most talkative guy on the field. I still also enjoy watching Eirik play. He's so calm when he plays and he moves so gracefully on the field. This week I had a few shots on goal. At the end of playing, Johan said I was the "man of the game", though I'm not sure why. Eirik told him that was sexist and said that I was "the woman of the game".

This week, and next week as well, is the later time slot, 8-10. It's a little tough playing that late and getting home around 10:30. I still showered in the evening and tidied up a bit to prepare for the new work week.

Happy Gotcha Day to Jacob

In the morning I got to skype with my Mom and Martin for a little bit. It was good to chat with them, with their upcoming trip. I then took a bus to meet Jacob in his area. In the morning he had to do a tutoring session. We met briefly at his guesthouse; I gave him his Gotcha Day present, the Pokemon stickers, and then we headed to Myeongdong.

A Panda Express opened in the Lotte Department Store a few months ago and we had never gotten there. Jacob told me for his Gotcha Day, he would either have Chinese or Korean food. Since we eat Korean food almost every day, I figured Panda Express would be a nice treat-especially since it's "American Chinese" food too. It was so nice to see something familiar like Panda Express in a Korean food court. We ordered and took our food to go. Then we walked to Cheonggyecheon so we could have a picnic by the stream. We walked a little, trying to find the best spot, but ended up picking a spot under a large bridge because there was a lot of space. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to sit outside and eat.

After we had lunch, we went to the "Multibang" to play FIFA. I also know Jacob loves playing that video game so we went there. It was kind of fun because some of his college friends are on MLS teams and were players in the game. I lost badly to him (I still can't do it very well!) but it was fun all the same. Even though my thumbs usually hurt after we play too.

We headed back to his place so he could look at his other toys that had arrived. We were both a little full from lunch still so we debated what to do. In the end, we decided to go back to my place and split a donkasu (pork cutlet) at a restaurant Jacob noticed a few months ago. We ordered a cheese donkasu and it was really good. I thought it was ironic that a week ago we also were eating donkasu, except in Japan and that the one in Japan was more expensive, but not as delicious! After dinner, we watched The Hobbit, a movie I'd been wanting to see for almost a year I think. It was great to finally be able to see it. It was a long movie, but I was disappointed when it ended-I wanted to see more! I just have to wait for the third and final movie to come out now.

TGIF

Work passed rather uneventfully but I was antsy to leave. The first of many full weeks of work now. It's hard to believe there won't be any vacation or time off until Christmas Eve. So sad. Christmas better hurry itself up!

Before leaving, I had been messaging Jacob and I had a feeling he was near my school. When I walked past the park I saw him sitting and he came to join Sophie and me on our walk. Jacob and I went on to the Post Office so I could mail a few things. Then we headed back to my place so I could make dinner. It was the start of Jacob's Gotcha Day weekend and I let him pick any menu item he wanted. He picked BBQ chicken again. At least it's delicious and pretty easy to make. I also popped a few cookies in the oven as well.

After dinner, we made a water bottle run to Emart. Jacob also wanted to buy a Pokemon character. While we were looking, we saw a kitchen bowl and Jacob said he would buy it for me to help with side dishes etc. We filled up the water bottles and came down to pay for the toy and bowl. After we payed for the items, our clerk asked us what was in the other bag-there were some Emart water bottles in the bag and she thought that we had taken some individual bottles of water. We tried explaining that we went up to the cafeteria to fill up water bottles, but she didn't understand us. Luckily the other clerk spoke English and she understood us and relayed the message to our clerk. Then, if that wasn't enough, the store alarm went off when we went through the sensors...

We returned to my place and watched Finding Nemo. It was fun to watch a Disney movie together.

Sumi

My first period class was switched to 6th period, so it was nice to have the first part off, but tough to have to go back to teach in the afternoon.

After work, I headed to Hongdae to meet Sumi. I haven't seen her in about a month so it was good to see her again. She applied to an internship program with a company, KOICA (the same one that Jung Yoon, Jenny, also works for, now living in Sri Lanka) So she will be going to Pakistan for at least 6 months, possibly a year in November! For dinner we went to 구이가, Guiga-the same chain Jacob and I had gone to; I had suggested BBQ and she agreed saying she was craving it for awhile. Dinner was ok. The service was about the same as the other location, though not as obnoxious-just not very attentive. We ordered too much food and the one had a lot of fat on it. We had wanted to try this dish to add at the end of the meal with kimchi, rice and vegetables, but we were getting too full to try. When we left the place, I saw a sign and it said "service" with the poster of the dish. That means that the dish should have come free with the meal. We said something to one of the workers and she said that we had to ASK for it, they wouldn't give it to us without asking.   Definitely lost all hope with Guiga...I will only go to the location that is close to me, because older people work there. After dinner we walked around Hongdae a little. She had plans to meet someone else and I was planning to meet Jacob to get dessert for 9 months.

Sumi and I said goodbye and made plans to catch up again next week-trying to fit in hanging out before she goes! I went to meet Jacob for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. I got the green tea ice cream flavor again-so good! After dessert, we walked around a little before I took the bus home.

I stopped in Emart when I got back to do a little bit of shopping. I found some Pokemon stickers for Jacob as his Gotcha Day present (on Saturday). When I got home, I had a package from Mom! Great ending to my day.

Yummy ice cream! 

Package from Mom

Cute mice chocolates from Doreen in Boston. Almost too cute to eat!

Open Class and Korean Class

Today I was lucky because two of my 4th grade classes got cancelled! It was a nice surprise. In the afternoon, we had our open class. My COT wanted to tape the class so she had a video camera set up in the back of the room. The homeroom teacher also wanted pictures and video of her students, so she stayed in the classroom the whole time and walked around and took pictures and also helped here and there. I don't know if it was because I was focused on the class/lesson/students, but I only saw one other teacher come see our open class, and that was my 4th grade COT. The principal and two VP's didn't make an appearance to my knowledge.

After work, I headed downtown to class. I stopped in a Daiso to buy a light bulb for my bathroom. Class was a bit challenging, though I'm not sure why. I've already learned it, but I wasn't very focused. After class, I took the subway back home and I do think that is faster than the bus, though the bus is a little more convenient to ride, and I can usually get a seat easily (I had to stand the whole way).

Bora!

I'd been trying and trying to meet with Bora and hadn't been able to for almost a month and a half now. Finally we were able to meet today. I took the subway to Gangnam to meet her near her work. I arrived a bit before her, so I took advantage of the underground shopping while I waited. I saw a pair of black ankle boots and tried them on, but decided I would think about them a little (cash flow). I met up with Bora and we walked around looking for a place to eat.

She told me she wasn't hungry and I could pick anything, but most of the places I tried to suggest she turned down. We passed a 감자탕 (kamjatang) a kind of soup place and she suggested that so I agreed. In the end she didn't even eat anything because she said her stomach was upset from lunch. I felt a little funny eating while she sat there, but it was nice catching up with her.

We walked around a little after dinner and she suggested dessert. We passed a Baskin Robbins and went in. They have a delicious flavor--green tea and cookies and cream! We ordered that and shared it, though she didn't eat much. We chatted some more and then parted ways. I went back to the underground and the shop keeper recognized me! I ended up buying the shoes because I have been looking for black shoes to wear that should be mostly comfortable, but also a little dressy.

I took the subway home and it was a long ride. At home I played around with my phone a bit.

New Boots!

New Phone!

Originally, I had gotten a free used phone (S3) from one of Jacob's coworkers. The only problem was it was just the phone, no battery. I had plans to meet Bohye after work to get a SIM card for the phone. During the day, my friend John asked me if I was still interested in buying his S4. I said sure and asked how much and when I could get it. Turns out he had brought it to work with him and he gave a good price. I asked if I could pay him with my next paycheck (remember the transferring fiasco?) and he said it wasn't a problem.

So, after work I headed to the GOA'L office to get the phone from Jacob. Then I went to meet Bohye. John had charged the phone up and everything, everything was included and brand new (minus the phone of course)!! Wow~! It didn't take long for the phone to be activated. Bohye said she wasn't very hungry so we looked for a place to get a light dinner. I remembered my friend Mark talking about a restaurant called Crazy Ddeok (rice cake) and suggested that. She said that sounded good. We ordered and it was pretty good. We actually got the "minus 1" which was not spicy and it was still pretty spicy! After dinner, we walked around the shops in Hongdae. As a dessert we got hoddeok, the fried pancake. It was so delicious. Bohye and I parted ways because she had to head home.

Jacob told me to come visit him so he could help me with the phone a little bit. I stopped over briefly and he helped me get some apps that would be useful in switching over from Apple to Samsung. I took the bus home and at home just played around with the phone trying to figure it all out.

Back in Seoul

We woke up early and got ready. The night before Jacob had talked to a worker at the guesthouse about trains to the airport. She informed him there was a train earlier than the 6:45 one we were considering and said it would give us a little more time at the airport. We departed and walked to the station and found the track. We waited about 20 minutes for the train and were able to get a seat in the non-reserved car for the 75 minute train ride.

Again, with no baggage, we were able to check-in quickly. Then we saw the line through security and were extra glad we took the earlier train to the airport. The line was quite long, but again things moved fairly quickly. We found a small shop that had other flavors of kitkats (Japan has many different flavors of kitkats, but we only saw green tea and another kind of tea flavor during our stay) and bought a strawberry pack and I got a cheesecake flavor. There weren't any places to get breakfast, but we figured there would be an in-flight meal again. We boarded the plane and were on our way back to Korea. Breakfast was served, and we got yogurt, breads and fruit. The flight back was shorter (which confused me because we were going against the wind) but we arrived quickly. Going through customs didn't take long and we exchanged our extra Japanese Yen back to Won. We hopped on the AREX and headed back into Seoul. Before getting home, I bought some broccoli so I could get vegetables. At home, I just cleaned, cooked, unpacked and tidied up. Then for soccer I walked there-even though I had done a lot of walking the past few days, I just figured it would be a nice walk-the weather was so nice.

Soccer wasn't that great this week. I don't know if it was because I was so tired or what, but I didn't play well and I got pretty frustrated for the last half of it. After soccer Jacob took the "long way" home to ride the subway with me for part of the way. Earlier in the afternoon, my lightbulb in the bathroom popped and I asked the doorman about it. I figured since I pay a building fee of 50,000W a month it would be covered, but the doorman told me I need to buy a lightbulb; he gave me one but the other I needed to buy.

Day 3: Nijo-jo Castle, Market area and Kyoto Tower

Our last full day in Kyoto already! We didn't leave quite as early today. We were going to try and get a reservation for the Imperial Park, but they were all full as it was a Saturday and the tour books up quickly.

Instead, we went to Nijo-jo castle. It was a good choice. It was where the shogun lived during the time while there was also an emperor. The building has squeaky wood floors so if someone tried to sneak in, the floors would give them away. It was pretty cool, but if I lived there, listening to those squeaky floors all day would drive me nuts. No pictures were allowed inside the castle and no drawing/sketching was permitted either which I thought was kind of interesting. After walking around inside the castle part, we could walk on the grounds. It was really beautiful there. We even saw a Japanese wedding on the grounds!

After the castle, we decided to head to the downtown area to find lunch, picking a choice from our guidebook. We found a ramen restaurant and funny enough, we had passed it on our first day! There was a short wait before we were seated in the restaurant. We ordered two different kinds of ramen, dumplings and a side dish of mixed vegetables. Everything was quite delicious. We were enjoying everything immensely...until I kept working through my bowl and went for that one last bite...and scooped out a piece of hair! We called over a waitress and she apologized and offered to bring a new one. As I had already eaten almost all of it, we said no, I didn't want a new one so instead she took my ramen off the bill, which was nice and I wasn't expecting. I did feel bad because it was at the end of the meal and I didn't want it to seem like I had placed the hair to get a free meal or anything.

We walked through the market again and I found some magnets that I was looking for. We also did a little bit of gift shopping and snack buying. Evening was approaching, but we stopped back at our guesthouse to drop stuff off. Then we went to Kyoto Tower. We planned it so that we could be up in the tower around the time the sun set. It was a pretty nice view and it was cool to see the city spread beneath us and look for the places that we had been to on our trip.

Our mission for dinner was donkasu, fried pork cutlet. We went to the station to look for a restaurant. There was only one place that had donkasu; there was already a bit of a line, but we decided to stay and wait. All of a sudden there was a long line behind us. I wasn't sure if it was because the restaurant was famous/good, people saw the line and figured it was good/famous or because it was the only donkasu restaurant in the station! After waiting about 20 minutes we were seated and made our order. Unfortunately, the donkasu I wanted (stuffed with vegetables too) wasn't available anymore. When our food came out we enjoyed, but it wasn't as great as we were expecting. After dinner, we walked around the station because it was so big and had many shops. We exited and looked at another shopping mall place closer to the guesthouse (though the guesthouse is only about a 5 minute walk from the station). There, I found a nice blouse and a purse! After shopping, we realized we had a lot of change leftover and were still a little hungry. We went to MCD and I got a seasonal Halloween McFlurry-it was so good!

When we returned to the guesthouse, we just packed everything because we have to leave quite early in the morning for our 9:15AM flight.

Entrance to Nijo-jo Castle

More around the Castle

Nijo-jo Castle

Pretty grounds

Outside of the castle

More around the castle

Looking down at the castle

Around the castle

Ramen, veggies and dumplings for lunch!

Ramen!

In the elevator to go up the tower

Looking down at Kyoto Station

View from Kyoto Tower

Day 2: Bamboo Grove, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Gion again

We woke early-ish to head out to the Bamboo Grove. It was one of my favorite places. As soon as you walked into the area, it felt so much cooler and very refreshing. The bamboo was so high! I've never seen such big bamboo in my life. After walking around, we got a snack. First we tried the potato croquettes which were delicious. Then we shared a green tea/vanilla ice cream cone. That was also very delicious. We took the JR train back to Kyoto Station and went to MCD's for lunch so Jacob could try MCD in China, Japan and Korea. The french fries were delicious and it was also a lot cheaper than most of the other Japanese food. Again, we took a short rest at the guesthouse to decide where to move on for the rest of the afternoon.

We decided on Kinkaku-ji Temple, the Golden Temple. Walking back to Kyoto Station, we bought a day pass for the bus and had about a 40 minute bus ride to the temple. The temple was pretty impressive-it had gold lief all over the sides and was quite beautiful to look at. You couldn't go in it or get too close, but there were gardens to walk around on the temple grounds. We hopped on a bus and decided we'd check out the Imperial Palace Park/Gardens. We got there and started walking around a little bit and tried to figure out how to get into the palace. Our guidebook told us in the fall reservations weren't required, but after asking around and finding the information center, reservations were required and the final English tour was over for the day. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much in that area.

We took the bus to Gion area and decided we'd explore more there. We hit the jackpot and realized there was a lot more to Gion than when we visited last night. The weather was also much nicer and it was an enjoyable time. The streets and buildings there were pretty and there were many shops to look at. We started getting hungry and walked down to the main street to find somewhere to eat. We got udon (thick noodles) and a different kind of rice bowl for dinner. Then we did a little bit of shopping before returning to the guesthouse. We had new roommates; this time two Korean young women. We chatted with them and they were very nice.

In the bamboo forest

Felt so refreshing here!

Croquette snack

Followed by green tea ice cream :)

Artsy bike shot

Artsy train station window shot

Cool entrance ticket for the golden temple

Kinkaku-ji Temple

Temple

Around the temple

Imperial Palace grounds

Back wandering Gion

Wandering Gion

Loved this alley in Gion

Gion