LAST DAY OF FRIDAY NIGHT KOREAN CLASSES!!

Work went alright. It was pretty easy because 2 classes had a test and just did a review game with me. We played pictionary and they really enjoyed it. I got quite a bit of work done in the afternoon.

When work was over, I went to downtown for my last Friday night class! I'm so thrilled. I took the bus to meet Erin at Jongak station. I arrived and...she wasn't there. I was a bit worried because she doesn't have a phone that I can contact. I decided I would walk to Insadong, where I had planned for her to go, to see if she was maybe around there. When I got to Insadong, I received a phone call--it was from her. She was with a Korean friend she met in the US and was driving in his car. I told her to go to our original meeting spot and wait for me since I had to walk back. I got there and again she wasn't there, but then I saw her across the street at a different subway exit. I had to motion for her to come to my side.

For dinner, we went to a kimbap shop. There wasn't a lot of time left since I had class and she wasn't really sure what she wanted to eat. I ordered kimbap and she got nengymyeon (a cold noodle soup). I gave her directions and some ideas of places to see while I was at class and then we split. Class went well--I did like this teacher so it will be a bit sad to get a new one. At the end of class we took a group picture. Then I went to go meet Erin at the subway. She was waiting for me in the station and we took the subway home.

We stopped at Emart again to get some snacks for our trip to Daegu, packed and chatted before going to bed.

My Korean Class

Erin Arrives!

After teaching today, my COT and I both agreed we were tired, which we thought was kind of funny because it was only day 2 of this week, with 2 days of holidays. We wondered how we normally make it through a 5 day week, haha.

When work was finished, I made the trip out to Inchon Airport to pick up Erin. I felt a little bad because her plane actually got in early so she had to wait quite a bit for me. I found her and we took the AREX back to my area. We dropped off her bags and went to dinner. We decided just a kimbap shop would be nice for a light meal. I got kimchi fried rice and she got kimbap. While she was debating the menu, an older gentleman butted in and asked in English if we needed help with the menu at all. He started a conversation with us and introduced us to his wife. It was very nice of him. When we left to pay, the ajumas also decided they wanted to talk to us as well (this never happens to me!). We had a short conversation with them before leaving.

Next, I figured it would be a good idea to get some groceries so we stopped at Emart. We wandered around and Erin got a few things. We returned to my place and she unpacked and settled in. It was nice to receive the items my Mom gave to her to bring to me. :)

Ease into Work

Well, I've found that instead of waking up at 7am, my new favorite time to wake up is 6:30 (yes, that happened even on this wonderful 4 day weekend). I'm up before the construction so I can't even blame it on the construction anymore...

I was almost to school when I realized that I forgot my water at home. I stopped in a 7-11 to get some kind of beverage. Inside, there was a sparrow flying around and two workers trying to get it out. The bird got out safely.

Once I got to school, I got a message from my COT telling me that our first class was cancelled because the students were preparing something for Parent's Day (tomorrow) and would reschedule tomorrow afternoon. The 3 classes we had today did a speaking test. It was very easy for me-just asking them how they feel and why, and for them to create a dialog from some pictures.The girl students came to me and my COT had the boy students. While we were testing one on one, the rest of the class was watching a movie. After everyone finished the speaking test, there was about 15 minutes left that I got to see part of the movie as well.

I was again fooled by the lunch. Again it was fried rice and again there was seafood in it; this time tiny little shrimp. Ugh. The afternoon passed quickly (as I had some things I needed to work on and preparation for Erin's stay).

After work, I came home, cleaned and moved some things around to make room for Erin. Then I went to go meet Jacob at the GOAL office. He was still finishing up stuff so he told me to come up to the office. Jes was there, my friend from Denmark. He used to work there, but has recently resigned; he still helps out there and was visiting the office. It was good to see him since I haven't gotten a chance to meet up with him since his return from Denmark in February. I talked with John too. I asked him about the phone that Jacob got and he said he could do some stuff to get the phone to work and if I brought it to him he'd do it.

Jacob and I left to go get dinner at a Mexican place near Eastern. Unfortunately, because of the long weekend, they also took today off so it was closed. We were both pretty bummed. Instead we went to get pho at a Vietnamese restaurant a little closer to his guesthouse. It was really delicious. We also ordered some fried rice that was really good too. After dinner, we stopped at his guesthouse to pick up the phone and took a taxi to Hapjeong; John was having dinner at Wild Fire with Jes and two of Jacob's housemates. John tried to get the phone to work, but it will need a new SIM card. He thinks if I get a SIM card, it should be fine. I felt bad because he tried for about an hour to get it to work. When he was done, Jacob walked me to the subway.

Buddha's Birthday

Happy Birthday Buddha~~

Yet another "red day" and more construction in the morning...

I went over to Jacob's guesthouse because they were having a BBQ. The Eastern (adoption agency) President's son wanted to have a cookout for the guests of the guesthouse. He brought his 10 year old daughter and a bunch of meat with him. The guys grilled on some grills outside. It was a big meal of meat, kimchi and rice.

After lunch, Jacob and I went to get our haircuts. I was kind of nervous because I don't normally cut my hair often. It's something I think about for awhile and plan before doing. Jacob went first while I continued to look for pictures as an example to show the guy. When Jacob finished with his cut, I still hadn't found anything I really liked. I talked with the guy and he pulled out a tablet and showed sample pictures; after about 5 of them, I found a style I liked. He did a really good job. I had been left unsatisfied with the haircut in December because the bottom was quite "heavy" and thick; plus my perm was still hanging around at the last 2-3 inches which made it curl a bit funny. Anyway, I had about 2 inches cut off, so the perm is finally gone and it thinned out the ends. I really like it.

When our haircuts were finished, we went back to the guesthouse and talked a little bit with Troy, Jacob's roommate and business partner. For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Jenny's Cafe. We shared an eggplant pasta dish and a cesar salad. It was really good. After dinner we hung out more at the guesthouse before I headed home.

I cleaned my place up a bit in preparation for Erin's arrival (Thursday already!). I can't believe she'll be here so soon. I already feel like May is flying! Before I know it, I'll be turning 27! Which makes me 28 in Korean age. Yikes, I'm getting old!

Jacob playing with the granddaughter of Eastern

Some of the steak leftover

New hair cut!

Children's Day

Today is Children's Day--a holiday to celebrate children. Unfortunately, with the Sewol Ferry accident, Children's Day was a bit more reserved this year. The poor families having to deal with their loss and Children's Day occurring so soon afterwards...

I thought I would get a break from the construction as it is a "red day" (read: holiday) but no such luck. No rest for the weary, and I'm getting pretty weary!

Jacob and I met at Sangsu and went in search of Wild Fire, a new American BBQ restaurant (my adoptee friend, Christian -he made Thanksgiving dinner--is a cook there and I met the owner, Jeff, at the GOAL Thanksgiving...Jeff (and his brother Ki) also owns the amazing Left Coast place I went to on Thursday) I had heard about. We got a little lost because we both thought it was in a different location. Anyway, we finally found it and ordered. I got the pork and salad set; Jacob got the chicken rice bowl. Both were really, really good. They have real, real smokers and the meat is so tender and flavorful! We looked at the dinner menu and agreed we'd be coming back soon for dinner. We also ordered jalpeno bread--it was pretty good.

After lunch we went to Yeoido. Jacob's Korean friend Dongwoo told him not to go there because it would be so crowded, but we figured we'd take the risk and see--if it was too bad we could always just leave. Well, we arrived at the shopping mall (and it actually looks like an American style shopping mall!) and it wasn't that crowded. After walking around in the mall, we went outside to walk around the island and towards the Han River...except it was really windy and cold so we didn't get too far before turning around and heading to Hongdae. We had made plans to have dinner with our friend, Maree. She is going to be returning to the US at the end of the month and since May is going to be so busy, we thought we'd sneak in a dinner with her. Well once we got to Hongdae, we went to Auntie Anne's for a snack. Hongdae was pretty crowded-much more crowded than the mall at Yeoido was. We finally settled on a restaurant in Yeonhuidong, the neighborhood that Jacob and Maree live in (she is at the InKAS guesthouse) and so we headed over there to meet her. She told us Kasey would also join (Kasey is the other mentor of the 3rd child in our family). We went to a kimbap shop and had a good time catching up.

Jacob and his chicken rice bowl

Me and the pork salad--yum!

Jalapeno Cornbread

Around Yeoido

Another Good Day

This morning I was supposed to skype with Phil to talk plans for his upcoming visit. Unfortunately he couldn't make it, but it worked out because I was able to talk with my Mom for around an hour or so instead. I'm glad I could catch up with her.

Jacob came over and we went to the bibimbap restaurant in front of my building. After lunch, we went to Emart. He bought a jacket and we used my Emart points card (I'm not really sure how exactly it works) and somehow ended up getting a discount of about $5 off his jacket!

We relaxed a little bit at my place before heading out to soccer. Unfortunately Jacob still is on the road to recovery and can't play. He gloomily watched us from the bleachers. Again we had a pretty big turnout--3 teams of 6. However, the field at Yongsan is a little bit smaller than at World Cup, so 6 was a bit crowded and chaotic. As time went on, it started getting darker and darker and windier. Finally when there was about 30 minutes left, it started raining. We finished out and Jacob and I took the subway to church. We arrived early and went to Tom n Toms for a snack.

Father Bernard had mass this week. There weren't many people there and we assumed it was because of the long weekend many people traveled and were away.

After mass, Jacob came back with me and I made ramen and mandu for dinner. It was nice to have another relaxing evening with him before he headed home.

Bohye and Starry Night at the Palace

Jacob and I met Bohye in Hongdae. The only problem was that at 11:15 on a Saturday morning, hardly anything is open in Hongdae. Also, Bohye had just gone to the orthodontist and could only eat soft food. Jacob remembered a Japanese noodle soup place so we finally picked that as our lunch. We walked around Hongdae a little and then went to a coffee shop and ordered something to drink and a dessert to share. We chatted and sat in the cafe for a long time. Then we figured we should take a little walk and we went to Hapjeong. Unfortunately it was a little bit chilly and windy even though the sun was out. When we got to Hapjeong Bohye had to leave. It was good catching up with her, and afterwards she apologized for her low English skills. I told her my Korean is no better than her English so she shouldn't feel bad. We both agreed to talk with each other in the opposite language to help each other.

Jacob got a used phone from one of his students and we're trying to see if I can possibly use it and switch phones. We asked Bohye and she said she didn't think it was possible at all. I'm a little bummed, but we're going to keep researching to see if maybe it will work. Fingers crossed!

Once we parted ways from Bohye, Jacob and I headed to Myeongdong and Jongno area to do a little shopping. We also stopped at Pita Pit to get some pita sandwiches to take along with us. We walked through Insadong (it was so crowded!! AND for the first time, I think there were more Koreans than foreigners there too!) We were going to keep walking through the "couply" area, but looked down towards the palace and noticed a lot of people so we figured we should try and get our tickets for the palace event asap.

At first we were a bit confused about where to go/how to get the tickets, but eventually we found the "foreigners" line to stand in and saw that there were 55 tickets for us available--we were maybe 10th in line or so, so we were good. In front of us stood a Korean mom and her daughter. After waiting for a bit, the mom turned to us and started talking to us in Korean. Then she called her daughter over to try and talk to us in English. Basically, they were asking us to buy a foreigner ticket for them because they got 2 tickets and needed one more (for the dad). It was really awkward and uncomfortable. Jacob and I were both a little torn--not sure where the line between being nice and following the rules so that foreigners got tickets too. In the end we decided we didn't want to get in trouble and figured they could work something out. (We later saw the family as 3 in the palace, so they did get it worked out) We had to wait in line for a little over an hour til the palace opened at 7-then they started selling tickets. It was worth the wait though. Once it started getting a bit darker around 7:30 it was quite beautiful. We didn't wait until it was completely dark because we were both getting cold (and tired from walking all day). We took the subway home and had the pita sandwiches we bought earlier.

The exclusive ticket!

Jacob and me

These lanterns were around the paths

Maybe my 10th time here now