Samilwol Holiday

Today is a National Holiday called, “Samilwol” which means March 1^st. It is the first day Koreans showed public rebellion against the Japanese during the occupation. I can’t believe it is already March! Spring can show up any day now!

I met Krystle in Hongdae for lunch. I had seen a restaurant that had falafel and hummus (it was the place I went a few weeks ago and was closed on Mondays); knowing Krystle is a vegetarian I thought it would be the perfect place for us to go together. I ordered the falafel wrap and she got a sandwich (2 mini patties on buns). We also ordered a side of hummus. It wasn’t served with anything so we thought maybe we should get some chips to eat with it. I ran to a convenience store and came back, but the owner told me we couldn’t bring in other food. Boo. The hummus was pretty good, but again, it wasn’t as good as my mom’s! The sandwich was also quite good, but a little messy as it kind of fell apart as I was eating it. Krystle and I walked around Hongdae a little and ran into a kind of “event” going on. We were corralled over and made to spin a wheel. Krystle one some kind of small door prize and I got face paint. I went to the table and picked a design and had the woman paint it on my hand. Krystle and I split and I met up with Jacob to go to Itaewon.

We arrived in Itaewon a little bit early for dinner and decided we’d go to a café to hang out before going to the Greek restaurant we’d heard about and seen. While we were waiting, Jacob decided he’d look up reviews of the restaurant on the internet. We’re so lucky he did. The reviews were awful. On the way we stopped to look at the menu and saw the prices, which were quite high. I’m so glad we were able to read the reviews and save a lot of money by not eating there. Instead we tried a place called Chili King. I ordered a Philly Cheesesteak (thought they brought me the burger form instead of the sandwich) and Jacob got a spicy chicken sandwich. They were both pretty good. After dinner, we came back to my place and watched The Office before Jacob went home.

Krystle and my lunch!

Tea and Coffee in Itaewon

My Philly Cheesesteak burger

Food Day

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

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

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

Ji and Game Day

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

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

Ji and me

My favorite boys--Jacob and Ji

Soccer Game, Bora doing the kick off with Jacob

Last Day of Desk Warming

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

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

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

Yummy nachos

Cronut

Cronut cut up

Info about Schneeballen

Time with MK

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

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

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

Dinner with MK

Mundane Monday

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

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

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

Veggie Casserole

Veggies and stroganoff

Good Soccer Day

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

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

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