Happy 1st day of Chuseok!

I started my day off by hopping on the subway and heading out to see my friend Sung Min (Ji) who had knee surgery 2 weeks ago. It took about an hour to get to his hospital. When I got there, he introduced me to his new friend. Turns out she is a professional golfer--her name is Jung Eun, so the 3 of us hung out while I was there. Ji and I had planned on leaving the hospital for lunch, but I was a little worried about his condition. He was doing much better than the day I saw him last (which was after the surgery). He could lift his leg up and down and was hopping around on his good leg all the time. I spotted a flier for jjim dalk (chicken in a sweet and spicy sauce with noodles and vegetables) and suggested we have that for lunch. Ji called them to get the address and found out it was really far away, but they delivered so we got delivery instead.

The food finally arrived and Ji was looking for his card, so I figured I would treat him and Jung Eun. There were two other guys in Ji's hospital room (6 beds total) and so he scooped out some food and gave some to them. That's very typical Korean, to share things, especially food. (When Jenny and I were visiting Bentley, Jenny's mom ran into another teacher from her school--her son was at the same base as Bentley! We had ordered fried chicken, so Jenny made Bentley go give some chicken to their family and then later they brought over grapes and some other fruit for us.) We ate and then went downstairs for smoothies at the coffee shop in the hospital. I exchanged numbers with Jung Eun and then I had to take off to meet Kwang Min. Ji had physical therapy and I felt a little sad I had made plans to leave so early because he asked me to stay and help him through his therapy. Ji was also able to leave the hospital for one night because he was doing well and it's the holiday. He wanted to take the subway home and I wanted to help him get home safely too. I was so worried about him trying to navigate on crutches through the subway and told him to just take a taxi. He did end up taking a taxi and made it home okay.

Anyway, before I was about to leave a nurse came in and took Ji's blood pressure and started talking with us. She asked me if I was his girlfriend and Ji tried to figure out how to explain how we knew each other...He calls me his "bro", haha. She started speaking more Korean to me and Ji told her I don't speak Korean, only English. Her response was "really?! She doesn't look like someone that can speak English well!". That made me laugh a lot. Because we chatted with the nurse, I left a little late to meet Kwang Min. We met up and hiked up Namsan. (It's the mountain with the big tower on the top near central Seoul.) It only took us about 1 1/2 hours I think. The average is 2- 2 1/2 hours. We saw a chipmonk and a toad while walking. It wasn't super nature-y because the path is paved and at a certain point, the path joins with the road that the buses go up so it's even less nature-esque. Along the way we also passed an archery range and watched the guys practicing there. It was hard to follow the arrows, but I don't think any of the ones we watched actually made it to the targets. I also tried to use my little digital camera and...it couldn't even open. I think some particles from the color run got inside the barrel and are causing problems. I might have to get a new camera. Kwang Min brought a camera along, but we didn't take many pictures. When we finally made it to the top, then suddenly there were a lot of people! Along the way we did not pass many people. We stopped for a quick view and then went to catch a bus because we were meeting some of his friends for dinner in Itaewon.

Normally I don't care much for Itaewon. There are a lot of foreigners (yea, I know, I'm a foreigner too...) and I just don't like the feel of the place. It was fine during the early evening and with a group of people. Kwang Min is in Toastmasters, so we met 2 of his other Toastmasters friends. I think 2 others were supposed to join but bailed. One was a Filipino named Jericho and the other was a Korean named Joanne. Anyway, we went to a Thai restaurant but I was still full from my big lunch--even though I had walked for almost 2 hours too. The others all understood and didn't mind that I didn't join in eating. Joanne even went so far as to say I looked like someone that didn't eat a lot. She was even more surprised to hear that I play soccer with Kwang Min and only other guys. She said I look too delicate.

After dinner, we went in search of a place to have a beer (I had a sprite). We sat and chatted for another hour or two and then headed to the subway together. It was not very crowded which felt a bit unusual (but given the holiday is typical) so Joanne and I both got seats but Kwang Min had to stand. We were talking and then suddenly the ajushi (older man) next to me started talking behind/through me to Joanne and to Kwang Min. It was clear he was drunk, but Kwang Min sat on his other side and was nice talking to him and nodding his head etc. I asked Joanne if she could understand him and she said no. Joanne had to transfer so she left and Kwang Min had me scoot over so he was next to the guy. He informed me that he was in charge of a business that did physical labor like painting things and was asking if any of us wanted jobs. When Kwang Min left, he told me to move my seat. I made it home safely and even talked to my doorman in Korean to let him know I was going to be away for a few days. Although I think he misunderstood me and thinks I'm going to a Korean city, Daegu, instead of the country Taiwan... But it's actually my fault because I said Daeguk, which is Thailand instead of Daeman, which is Taiwan. Anyway, he knows I'm going to be gone.

I'm not bringing my computer with me, so I will work on updates Monday when I have another day off! ^^ Have a good weekend and Happy Chuseok!

It's the Weekend!

The kids were a bit crazy today, especially my last class. I think they were all excited about the break we're getting. My school's founding day is Tuesday, so they decided Monday would be a floating holiday so if you calculate it, you would figure out I have a whole week off! I'm pretty excited about it too. Part of the reason I'm excited is because it's hard to do some things (going to the bank), I take that back, impossible to do some things because of my work schedule. I don't finish until 4:40 and some businesses close at 4. If I want to go to those places, I have to get permission, sign out and then lose hours (when the lost hours amount to 8, then I get docked a day).

Most of the other teachers in my office checked out starting around 2:30 or 3, once they were finished teaching. My co-teachers and one other teacher basically all stayed until 4:30-4:40. So,  I also stayed. I stopped at the post office (which thankfully stays open until 6pm and is just around the corner) to mail some letters.

I left to meet some other EPIK teachers for a girls dinner. I wore my gold sandals that are already on their last little legs and while I was walking to the subway the straps on the right foot just gave out. I might need to invest in some superglue and try to fix them (though the glue doesn't always hold-obviously since the strap came undone again...). I ended up tying the ends together and the sandal stayed on my foot. I thought because of this fiasco I would be late, but I actually still managed to arrive with about 2 minutes to spare. Kim and Kelly were already there and then we waited about 15 minutes from Gabby and Krystle to arrive. We had a little difficulty finding a place to eat; Krystle is vegetarian and Kim has celiac (gluten free). I ended up finding a bbq buffet that also had a lot of sides so that Krystle had enough to eat too.

After dinner, the girls wanted to go to the Puppy Cafe (a dog themed cafe with dogs hanging out in the cafe; this is quite common to have themed cafes such as these; there are numerous cat cafes, a few other dog cafes and even a sheep cafe!) which was at Hapjeong, the next station over. I was debating whether I was up to going or not and decided I would pass even though I could use some puppy loving. I wanted to do a little packing and cleaning before my trip. Turns out I made the right decision because I was able to skype with my mom for a bit.

Kelly, Krystle and Kim

It's going to be a short work week!

It was easy knowing that it's only a 2 day work week. Wednesday starts the 3 day holiday, Chuseok. It's the biggest holiday in Korea. It's kind of like a Korean Thanksgiving, but much more important to them (fall harvest, thankfulness, ancestors etc). There was another teachers meeting towards the end of the day. After school I walked home with the 5th grade co-teacher (In Sook/Kelly) since she and I live very close now.

Around 5:45 I left to take a bus into central Seoul. It took a little bit longer than I expected because it was a workday I think. I met my friend Min Kyung for dinner.We went to a restaurant that had "soft tofu stew". I went here with some adoptees way back in August (near Lotte Hotel). After dinner we went to Myeongdong for coffee. We did a quick shopping trip to see if I could find some kind of luggage strap to use for my duffel bag. Min Kyung (MK) also gave me a lot of ideas about things to see, do and eat while I am in Taiwan. She was just there a week or two ago with her mom and sister. It was good seeing MK again. I couldn't believe so much time had passed since I'd seen her last--it was before my orientation, while I was staying at the adoptee guesthouse, KoRoot!

We parted ways and we both took buses home. I took a different bus/bus route back and made it safe and sound.

Relaxing Day

Ah, Sunday's are usually so nice and peaceful. I woke up and skyped with Joe again. I had taken pictures of my students during the week and was trying to come up with a way to arrange their pictures with their seating chart to help me learn their names and recognize faces, but it was much more difficult than I anticipated. I decided I would leave it to be work to do at school since my plans are all ready for this short week (2 days for the holiday) and next week (3 days because of the school founding day and a floating holiday) and part of the following week. It's also school related work.

I was starting to get ready when I received a message from an Inje University friend!! I call him "Captain Sailor Moon"--but his English name is James. He is currently living and working in China, but is back in Korea for the holiday. I called him and we had a short window of time to meet up, so I grabbed my soccer stuff and left right away to meet him near Gyeongbok Palace. We had coffee at a Starbucks and I tried having a drink made with soy milk instead of regular milk. I'm not sure if James understood and asked for the soy or got regular, but after we met my stomach did hurt a little. So I guess I will experiment one or two more times with the soy and see what happens. We took a walk around Gyeongbok and actually down a street that leads towards the "Blue House" (where the Korean president lives). James and I were walking and talking and then we passed some police (they are everywhere in this area because of the location to the Blue House) and we were stopped by one of the guards. He asked me in Korean if I was a Korean person. Luckily James spoke to them for me and told them we were just taking a walk and that I was adopted. They let us keep going on our way. We stopped around a museum I'd been to before and had a nice view of the mountain behind the Blue House. James had a plan to meet another friend, so we had to walk back to the subway. I said goodbye to him there because if I got on the orange I'd have to transfer about 4 times to get to soccer. Instead I walked a little bit extra so I could get a line near City Hall and transfer only once.

When I was making my transfer, I spotted one of the adoptees I met last week playing soccer. He was also making his way to soccer. We chatted on the way to the World Cup Stadium. Soccer was fun this week-we had 11 people show up, so it was nice having a few more people. I didn't score any goals but did stop a shot when I had to take a turn in goal. (I was talking to the adoptee I ran into at the subway and he told me that I had been a key player on our team tonight--once I left he said the team fell apart! It was such a nice complement) Again, I had to leave early to get to church. It's so disappointing to me that my 2 favorite things fall on the same day and overlap in time. I got to church and again the 3 priests from last week said mass.

Captain Sailor Moon and Me

Color Me Rad 5k

I signed up for the "Color Me Rad" race, I think I put a link to their website earlier in the week. Some EPIK teachers from my orientation were doing it and had invited others to join. So, I got up nice and early to make the 9AM start time that my team said we were joining at. I took the subway out to Ilsan (just outside of Seoul) and it took me a little less than an hour. I was a little nervous on the way there because when the subway would come out from underground occasionally, it was raining. When I arrived and exited the subway, again it was sprinkling a little bit, but not too much.

I picked up my packet of things: a Color Me Rad tshirt, sunglasses, a racing bib and a "color bomb" (colored cornstarch). I changed into my shirt, put on my sunglasses and looked for my group. I didn't see them so I thought I would wait by the starting line. There were not many people there, so they actually combined the 9 and 9:15 start times. Still no sign of my group, so I decided I would just run anyway, not knowing when or if they would show up. It was a lot of fun--there were a few different color stations and the race workers threw the colored cornstarch at us-first yellow, then orange, pink and finally green. The finish line was a bit anticlimactic. It wasn't a timed race or anything, so it was just like...okay, you're done. No big hoopla or anything really. We were given free vitamin water (sponsors) and some tissues to wipe the color off our faces.

There was a DJ that was performing all day so I went over to the "music stage" area to hang out for a little. They were throwing blue color and also giving away free color bombs, tshirts and sunglasses occasionally. It was fun, but a little hard to enjoy alone. I was starting to decide when I would head back, when I was glancing through the crowd and I spotted my group!! I made my way over to them and found out they had just arrived. So I hung out with them while they waited for someone else to show up. Then they went for the 11:30 start time. I thought I would just go with them again; some of the group ran and some of the group walked. I stuck with the walkers. We hung out there for awhile, until everyone started getting hungry and took a bus to a location not too far from where we ran. We ate and everyone went their separate ways home via subway.

While walking back from the subway to my place, I received quite a few stares. I finally showered and rinsed off all my color, sprayed down my shoes and tried rinsing my clothes a bit (my socks are the worst!) I got ready and...then it was time to meet another group of EPIK teachers for dinner in Hongdae. I met up with Krystle, Soo, Tim and Priscilla. We went to a BBQ place, even though Krystle is vegetarian, because we saw there were a few side dishes she could have that were meatless. I realized we were quite close to where Kwangmin lives, so I sent him a message and invited him out. He joined us as we were finishing up. Tim was super sneaky and said he was going to the bathroom, but he ended up going and paying for the bill!!

We walked around Hongdae and listened to some band playing on the streets. As we were walking, Tim spotted another EPIK teacher who was supposed to be meeting up with another group but hadn't been able to find them. We invited him to join us. Unfortunately I don't remember his name, and ironically, he is also from Michigan! (Saginaw) So, we decided we would go for makgoli, which is a Korean rice wine. We also had to order some side dishes, so we had some fried and battered vegetables and meats as well. We called it an early night so everyone could manage to make it home using public transportation.

Color Me Rad!

At the starting line

Approaching the pink color station

At the end of my race

At the stage--getting blue color

I found my friends! L to R: Me, Yoongu, Cody, Grace and Grace

We're ready to run! L to R: Yoongu, Grace, Grace, me, Annie, Cody and Alfred

At the starting line! (A little blurry) L to R: Yoongu, Alfred, me, Annie, Grace, Grace and Cody

At the finish line! L to R: Me, Annie, Yoongu and Grace

All done!

Dinner!!

Tim pouring Makgoli

Makgoli! Around the table L to R: Kwangmin, Soo, Tim, Krystle, ?? and Priscilla

Long Day

Like I mentioned before, Friday's are my long day, but they don't actually seem that bad. The bad part is that I have 2 different lessons to teach--the good part is...I have 2 different lessons to teach. It's hard to do 2 different lessons because once I'm in the rhythm of a lesson it's pretty easy to run through the 40 minutes. The good part is that it breaks the day up and I'm not doing the same thing 6 times--keeps it interesting.

After school, my 3 co-teachers and I went to dinner. They picked an Italian restaurant near the school. I ordered a lasagna, but it was nothing like a true lasagna. I'm not even sure the noodles were really even pasta and there was hardly anything in between the layers, though vegetables and sauce and the best part-melted mozzarella cheese on top.

When we finished eating we went to E-mart so they could buy me a few things as a 'housewarming' gift. I helped pick out a few things I needed, like a wooden spoon, some big mixing bowls and rice. We also got some juice and plastic cups so we could have drinks back at my place. I showed them my room and we sat on the floor and chatted for a little. I showed them the pictures I brought from home and my Korean textbooks/notebooks I brought to study from. They left around 7.

I heard from my friend Kwang Min and he invited me to Hongdae area. Since it's my Grandpa's birthday, I had made plans to skype with him and my mom at 11:30pm. I told him it would be easier to meet around my area if possible. So, he came up and we went to Cafe Bene and had tea and chatted.

I was so happy to see my Grandpa and wish him a happy birthday. We chatted for about 45 minutes. I really wish I could have been in town for his birthday.

Thursdays are one of the best days of the week

Thursdays are probably my favorite day of the week. I love my 5th graders and it is easy to work with my co-teacher.

Again, nothing too exciting at work. The responses from the open-ended questions I got back from my 5th graders weren't quite as entertaining as what the 6th graders came up with. Most were along the lines of "welcome" or "please take care of us". It's hard to tell if the 5th graders are 'smarter' than the 6th graders or they are just more willing to participate and try speaking. The classes with them seem to go by so much quicker because they are talking so much and we are moving through material rapidly (where as 6th grade is like pulling teeeeth to get more than the same 2 students to raise their hands and participate).

My 5th grade co-teacher recently moved to a short-term place closer to where I live but a bit further from the school than where she used to live. So she and I walked back together. I had one of my peaches and it was actually much more "American" like than some of the other peaches I've had here, so that was really nice. I also heated up my leftovers from Tuesday. Around 6:30 I set off to meet Krystle. However, she got confused and told me to meet at 7...she really meant 7:30. I arrived at our meeting place and had to wait 30 minutes for her. In the moment, I was kind of upset, but then I figured there's nothing I can do about it, so I let it go. We went to the Paris Baguette we met at last week and tried to work out what we are going to see and how to get from the airport to our hotel. I forgot how much work it is to plan a trip when you know nothing about where you're going!