Ok, so first off I apologize for being such a bad blogger. I sometimes lead quite a boring life so there isn't much to share, then there are those times that I get crazy busy. The last couple of weeks have been a bit of both. Summer is in full swing here with temps in the mid to high 80s and many days with humidity over 90%. It is AWESOME! I feel like I am in a living sauna. I am learning to love sweating. haha :) The girls go on their summer break next week and I will begin summer camp. Here's a short wrap up of the last couple of weeks....
2 weeks ago the girls' all had their final exams, this led me having no classes all week. I did get to go have dinner with my guitar lesson group at a traditional Korean restaurant. Mr. Na, the guitar teacher, drove 3 of us there and we met another teacher. Now, on the way there we passed through "downtown" Pocheon and went into what I would consider a residential neighborhood. This is the building we pulled up to:
I am pretty sure this was run out of someone's house, or at least the living quarters were a part of the restaurant. At any rate, the food was very good and I had an interesting time. The non English speaking teachers really want to practice their English with me. I find it quite like a game of riddles that I am constantly trying to piece together. A combination of hand gestures, body language, and Kranglish (my new word for Korean mixed with English) help us to communicate. The meals here are surprisingly cheap. For the 5 of us, plus one bottle of Makoli (Korean rice wine that is a specialty in Pocheon) and 2 bottles of soda, the cost was around $50 USD. We had traditional kimchi, pickled radish, pickles, and other accoutrements such as marinated mushrooms (also a specialty in Pocheon). The main dish was bibimbap (a combo of rice (hot), veggies, usually an egg, and meat topped with red pepper paste). It is pretty good and easy to order when dining out and you have no idea what anything else is.
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| Guitar lesson group counter clockwise Lisa Park (one of my English co-teachers, Mr. Na, Ms. Yurina, and I do not know the young male teachers name (I am bad!) Sitting on the floor is traditional in most restaurants here. |
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| Kimchi, pickled radish, green beans, onion, etc.. |
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| Green Onion pancake... YUM! |
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| Scramble bean curd I think... at least that is what was communicated to me. It tasted like scrambled eggs. The brownish stuff is tofu soup. |
This same week I also managed a night out with more of the English Teachers of Pocheon group, some of the same people that I have been to karaoke with the week before. This time we ate and then hit up the Family Mart, which is like a Dari Mart or 7-11. It was here that I discovered the goodness of KGB, an alcoholic beverage that is NOT Soju! hahaha It is actually Australian and comes in Vodka lemon or Vodka cranberry flavors. I also tried this black raspberry wine that is tasty. As I got a taxi to take me home, I realized it was the same driver that I have had a few other times and who knows exactly where to take me. I LOVE it!! :)
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| L to R- Alyssa, May, Kyra, Lilly |
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My lunch time English Club girls and I had been planning on a swim party at my house last weekend but the weather here is about as cooperative as Oregon's. The heat and humidity have been just gross. The girls don't want to study and I don't really blame them. The rains have started in and I almost canceled the party but it was one of the girls' birthday so they decided to come anyway and play games and eat.
OMG!!! These girls can eat! I made quite a giant batch of spaghetti and it turned out really yummy. Thank you to my mom & dad who sent a care package with some spices! :) The girls absolutely loved it too! I had also purchased an ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. The girls devoured that after 2 HUGE plate fulls of spaghetti. THEN.... they also brought a cheesecake which they ate at least 3/4 of. I have no idea where they put it! They are such sweet girls. We played a card game called golf which they really enjoyed and stuck around for about 4 1/2 hours. It was really fun.
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| Alyssa | |
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| May |
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| Lilly the birthday girl |
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| Kyra | |
On a sadder note, there was a death in my family and when my co workers found out about it they were so wonderful. They were all quite concerned. I had many teachers stopping my my room to bring me candies, and drinks. My guitar group ordered pizza for dinner that night. We may not speak the same language however consoling a person no matter the barriers is pretty much the same. I am quite fortunate to have such a wonderful caring group of people to work with and some pretty awesome students!
I am pretty sure this was run out of someone's house, or at least the living quarters were a part of the restaurant. At any rate, the food was very good and I had an interesting time. The non English speaking teachers really want to practice their English with me. I find it quite like a game of riddles that I am constantly trying to piece together. A combination of hand gestures, body language, and Kranglish (my new word for Korean mixed with English) help us to communicate. The meals here are surprisingly cheap. For the 5 of us, plus one bottle of Makoli (Korean rice wine that is a specialty in Pocheon) and 2 bottles of soda, the cost was around $50 USD. We had traditional kimchi, pickled radish, pickles, and other accoutrements such as marinated mushrooms (also a specialty in Pocheon). The main dish was bibimbap (a combo of rice (hot), veggies, usually an egg, and meat topped with red pepper paste). It is pretty good and easy to order when dining out and you have no idea what anything else is.
This same week I also managed a night out with more of the English Teachers of Pocheon group, some of the same people that I have been to karaoke with the week before. This time we ate and then hit up the Family Mart, which is like a Dari Mart or 7-11. It was here that I discovered the goodness of KGB, an alcoholic beverage that is NOT Soju! hahaha It is actually Australian and comes in Vodka lemon or Vodka cranberry flavors. I also tried this black raspberry wine that is tasty. As I got a taxi to take me home, I realized it was the same driver that I have had a few other times and who knows exactly where to take me. I LOVE it!! :)
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