Excursion in the park

Last friday our school had a field trip.  We visited Ulsan Grand park.  Here are some photos from the day:

pretending to be cupid

in love (cheesy, i know)

so adorable, as usual

he totally knew what he was doing

awesome bouncy play structure

Seoul Round 3? 4?

I recently went to Seoul for a couple days.  I went during Chuseok.  I dont know if i have mentioned this before, but I LOVE Seoul.  I feel normal there.  Usually i really like feeling unique and different, but I still feel normal.  However, when you find yourself the only foreigner in the room i think you go beyond unique.  You merely become different, the odd man out, "the foreigner."  You are your own island.  Ok thats extreme, but i dont always feel normal.  However, i do feel included at my school and i feel like i am part of the family, but outside of my school... things are a little different.

Anyways, when i go to Seoul i feel normal.  I feel like i am getting a breath of fresh air (ironic cuz its a bigger city than Ulsan).  While i was in Seoul i just kinda kicked it.  It wasnt jam packed which was nice.  I met up with two friends from college.  The one girl is Katie.  We were merely acquaintances in college, but we quickly got to know one another.  She is currently living in China doing odd jobs.  She's pretty in love with China.  And the other person is Abe.  Abe is Korean and i had a couple classes with him and studied in Italy with him and other students from MICA.  It was a lot more fun talking to him this time around because i am very aware of Korean culture and have learned SO much since the last time i saw him.  Through out the weekend we went on a river cruise, shopping in Insadon (its the handmade artsy area), ate authentic Korean food, toured the up and coming area for the late 20 somethings.  The ones who are past the (college) drinking phase.  I do enjoy Korea's cafe's and restaurant atmospheres.  They know how to put out a good vibe.  Most of the time, Abe and i would inform Katie on what Korea is like and Katie would tell us what China is like.  There are many similarities, but overall Korea is a more happy place to be where the cuteness level is out of this world.

Katie and i also stayed at a traditional Korean house that serves a hostel/hotel.  It was really simple.  You get a pillow, mat, and a blanket and you sleep in a room.  The bathrooms are communal and so is the kitchen and dinning area.  It wasnt too bad.  We met a cool German man who is probably about 5 years older than us who works in Shanghai.  Confession:  I have forgotten what a MAN looks like.  (feel free to laugh).  Im surrounded my males who wear tighter pants than i do.  Their pant are so tight that it is questionable if they are even a male.  This is scary.  And they sometimes wear make up, and they have man purses, and they wear pink, and they wear pink with sparkles, and cropped pants.  Like seriously.  I dont know what masculine is anymore.  But this German guy certainly reminded me.  ;)  We just shared small talk over breakfast.  He asked me where he should go, so i told him, but he seemed uninterested.

This is Katie. She went to MICA.  She's from CA.  She loves painting.  She has a lot of energy. She is quite sweet.

Insadon: where all the cool people are. and cool things.  

Cool things: love rings, skull rings, and bunny rings all living among one another.

You can take your pic for free and write yourself a memo and then email it to yourself.  So we are posing as hearts.  Typical Korean pose. 

This is my super cute handmade cup that i just can't get enough of!  Its perfect for my morning coffee.  On the back is says, "Angyo?" which is similar to, "Hi?"

This is Abe.  His eyes are closed.  He's Korean and currently in seminary school outside of Seoul.  He went to MICA.  He's been to Italy.  He loves painting.  He is also trying to figure out how to find a way out of going into the Korean army (every man in Korean after age 24 must serve two years in the army).

Oh, and he's awesome but he wont tell you that.  

Oh, and thats a typical Korean meal.  This is a little extreme but its very similar.  A ton of little plates of side dishes.  Then a couple main dishes.  Ive realized ive neglected Korean culture and will have to start sharing more.  

Cool store display.  the store is called: "Who.A.U"  Its supposed to CA clothes. 

Oh and this is a fish pedicure!  The fish nibble off your dead skin.  It totally tickles. 

The second day in Seoul i hung out with Katie a little longer and then showed her how to get to the airport.  Afterwards i searched for Dr. Fish and waited for some Ulsan friends to meet me there.  We found the cafe and then had a fish pedi.  it was only two bucks for 15 min!  They had small fish (the ones you see) and big fish, they were about 5-6 in long.  They were scary.  You could feel their jaw against your skin.  But it didnt hurt, it just creeped us out!  Heres a little video:

The video isnt too impressive.  The fish get really excited when you first enter the water, but since there were 6 feet in there they could spread out.  And my friend who kept saying, "Dare I?" was talking about trying the tank with the big fish.
I know it's weird, but i'd do it again, my feet felt so good afterwards.

The day(s) i became a quarter century

My birthday has come and gone.  It was pretty good considering i was here in Korea.  I really did not know what to expect.  But it all started with an awesome gift from Amy that i received a couple days before my birthday:

I opened the package early, and as i pulled back the wrapping paper i got a bit teary-eyed.  It was so exciting to see my friends faces!  Man i miss you guys!  The worst part was that i was at school and all teary eyed.  So, thankfully i can hide in my classroom.  :)  The day of my birthday i was greeted at school and some of the teachers sang me happy birthday day.  And later i received a super cute card (that every kid receives when it's their birthday).  ANd on the inside there were notes from the kindergarten class (Ginny class) and Joanne.  it was really sweet!  So cute!

Later my boss comes down the hall swinging my gift in her hand.  Her gift to me was make-up.  Really nice make-up.  So i can give myself smoky eyes.  She said "I think you would look really good with smoky eyes."  You might think i would be offended, but after being here for awhile, i get it.  Its probably a very thoughtful gift.  And maybe it will come in handy because i didn't bring any eye shadow to Korea.

After school i went to dinner with a friend, Katie.  We ate at a delicious Italian restaurant.  The best Italian food i have had in Korea.  Not better than Italy or what we can get at home, but really really good for Korea.  My boss calls me when we are about done with dinner.  She asks if she could join us.  I said yes, and she come in about 20 min later with a cake in her hands!  She also wanted to buy us a bottle of wine to share.  So thoughtful!  In Korea, i guess they drink the night away, i guess its the same in the US, but they really dont mess around in Korea.  They seriously drink the night away.  Anyways, it was really nice of her to surprise me with a cake!  

I guess my birthday lingered to Friday, since it was still my birthday in the states.  It felt nice to have an extra long birthday.

And Saturday, i asked a handful of friends to come out and have an early dinner with me.  A couple weeks ago a couple of us stumbled upon this restaurant by the sea, and the best part about it is that its a long cabin!  A long cabin by the beach might be one of the best things ever.  Oh, and its has great food, great American food.  So it ended up being all girls which was fun 

Oh ya, and one of my friends got me a crazy wig and glasses to wear.  And on the way there there was a man on stilts making things out of balloons so they made us stop and he made us a flower.  The Koreans really didn't know what to make of us ;)

Before we started eating the woman who owns the restaurant came to greet us.  She asked what the occasion was.  They said it was my birthday, and she asked if we had a cake.  We said no, so she told us ok, i will get one.  We thought she was going to make one.  But she went out and bought one!  It was one of the most delicious cakes i have had in Korea.  It seemed like it was a little expensive.  

Oh and when we paid she said it was on her.  Wow.

 

Overall it was a pretty good birthday!  Im thankful for friends in Korea and at home.  They all made it a great couple of days!

Chuseok

This weekend we have a four day weekend.  So friday our school held some fun festivities to get the kids ready for Chuseok.  Chuseok is like Thanksgiving.  Everyone goes to their home and eat traditional meals and make food together.  The men drink a lot.  Then they go visit graves of deceased family members.  So one of the things we did was play tug-o-war.  I guess that a fun family game?  Either way we had a good time.  We did teachers vs. teachers two times.  We changed the teams up and each time the team i was on won.  Apparently im a strong woman, that or Korean women don't really do strenuous activities.  At the end, one of the women came up to me and put her hand on my shoulders and told me something in Korean.  I still dont know what she said, "Good work" maybe?

And i was also welcomed to work with gifts.  I was not expecting this.  I got handed gifts from about 4 different teachers/students.  That was really nice.  So at Chuseok people give gifts.  Very thoughtful of them to included me.  One of the teachers gave me "Danish Cookies."  She has no idea how meaningful her gift is :)  It made me chuckle.

Here are our games from friday:

new kid.  new favorite.

Those are some of the other teachers cheering on the kids.

After tug-o-war we made song-pyeong.  (like son peon).  Its a rice cake.  Im sure you could have guessed that.  You put the dough in your hand and kinda knead it for awhile.  Then you make a ball, a moon.  Then you make a little bowl.  Then you put a mixture or sugar and sesame seeds in it.  Then you close it up and it should look like a half moon.  The saying goes, if you make beautiful song-pyeong you will have beautiful daughters.  Mine were not very beautiful.  Looks like i either wont have pretty daughters or i wont have daughters.  

my new favorite kid.

Everytime we do some cooking, they wear aprons.  Its so cute.

My boss demonstrating what to do.

making the moon.

filling the bowl

Me and my song pyeong. 

She had some really beautiful song pyeong.

After you make the half moon shape.  You then have to boil or steam the rice cakes so that they are ready to eat.  We ate them later that day.  They we a little dry but not too bad.  I'm  beginning to notice i have been here awhile because rice cakes are starting to not taste horrible.  Sometimes they even are a little tasty.  

Fishery

A couple weeks ago we took a field trip to a museum.  It was mostly about how people harvest seaweed, clams, and fish.  Complete with diaramas and props.  I was told it was like an aquarium so i was ready for awesome fish.  But there were only a few of those.  And as usual there were a large handful or horribly executed taxidermy animals.  But as usual the kids are super cute and they seemed to enjoy it.

age 5

age 6

how to harvest seaweed

scary goofy fish/shark, ive never seen such a fish before

hmm,  i think they lost its original jaw.

grrrrrr.

im holding a sea urchin

My boss caught a fish with her hands

the babies.  2 and 3 year olds.

4 year olds

That was our fun field trip!  Field trips are always a busy and exciting day.  They are always a little hectic and crazy too.  But i am very happy i get to be apart of them.