Phantom, Naked, and Lunch

Since my time in Korea is quickly coming to a close, my weekends have been packed with as many activities as possible. A few weeks ago I went with Charise, one of my fellow foreign ESL teachers who is from South Africa, to see Phantom of the Opera. I hadn't ever had a strong desire to see the show, but when she mentioned going I figured why not. What an amazing performance! What made it even better is that it was in English, they had monitors for the Hangul translation. The music was fantastic!

Chai,  me, Charise at Naked.

Chai (another teacher from New Zealand), Charise and myself had our last night together dancing the night away. The girls, Chai especially love a club called Naked, and no... people there are not naked, not really sure why the name. lol   We spent many a Saturday night dancing until the wee hours of Sunday morning and then going to Gecko's, a Western restaurant in Itaewon, for our brunch before heading back to Pocheon (about 2 hours north). As we took our last shot together we all got a bit teary eyed as Charise is leaving in only a couple of days. I will say that many good times were had in Hongdae and these 2 girls will be missed.!

Through the amazing wisdom of the GEPIK organization (gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education), the organization that us foreign teachers in the Gyeonggi Province technically work for, I was sent to a new teacher orientation last week. The fact I've been here a mere 11 months and will be going home in 1 month don't seem to be any concern. So, off to Anseong, South of Seoul, for a 3 day orientation. On the one hand it was a really good orientation, learning about banking in Korea, how to work with co-teachers, design lesson plans, basic Korean phrases.... you know all the stuff I've been doing for ELEVEN MONTHS... No, I'm not bitter, just a tad irritated that I didn't have the opportunity to do this when I got here. Meeting tons of new people that I will get to say goodbye to in a month. I am so good at goodbyes anyway.. ARG! Oh well, it was fun and I did meet some great new people. The Korean way of doing things just don't always make much sense, at least to me.

Lilly, Alyssa, Kyra, and May. Future Top Chefs!

In Korea the public schools get to take the day off on the day of their anniversary. Not only did I not go to work at my school for 3 days, I also had the Monday after the weekend off which made for a nice 5 days off. My lunch time students, May, Lilly, Alyssa, and Kyra had planned on coming to my house to make lunch for me. They wanted to share with me some traditional Korean foods. We had: ramyeon ddang, ha sun heon, gong galibbang, gob chang, gam- ja, Translated: raman. toasted (not boiled) then sprinkled with sugar, Korean pizza with a tortilla, cheese, garlic and dipped in honey, traditional Chinese bread, and pig intestine with vegetables and mashed potatoes with mayo then made into patties and fried. When we were finished eating they even cleaned the dishes and vacuumed the floor, it was great! I have to say all of it with the exception of the intestine were very good. I felt bad too because one of the girls' parents owns the restaurant where that dish came from. It is very Korean but I just couldn't stomach it.

I've been very blessed with meeting such amazing people that I will never forget and sharing some experiences that otherwise should maybe be forgotten! haha :) Peace!

Oh Em Gee!

I can't believe it has finally come down to the last month and a half! I have really almost made it a year here in SK. What a year it has been. Quick recap:

Such a cute boy!

November, crazy hectic month. Meeting a lot of new friends and had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving meal with friends. Even though I wasn't with family we made each other family for the day. There are several stores in Seoul, in an area called Itaewon, that are foreign food markets. Made a trip to a few of them to pick up all the trimmings to make turkey day feel like the real deal. We had turkey, mac& cheese, mashed taters, cranberry relish, the works. It was DELISH! It was also in November that I came across a Maggie look alike at one of the many shelters here in Korea. His name is Sunny, a 12 year old cocker spaniel who had lived his entire life (until meeting me) in the shelter and had been diagnosed with cancer (both lung and bone). Well me being the bleeding heart that I am couldn't leave the guy behind, so he became mine.

How can you resist a face like that?!

Before I knew it, along came December. This was actually a pretty rough month for me. I was sick for nearly 16 days. I went to the hospital 3 times, had numerous shots and who knows what kind of meds I was sent home with. Going to the hospital here in Korea is just like going to a clinic at home, it's not quite as serious as I had thought it would be. Also, being sick when your in a foreign country, with no one to clean up after you and go to the store for Sprite, well it sucks! lol  I did manage however. We also got our first snow storm that would stick around until mid February. Did I mention that it is COLD here? OMG... yeah it gets crazy cold. I would spend days walking to school where it was -15f!!!!! I would have my eyes nearly freeze together. Very crazy! I am not used to it at all. Again we had a fabulous Christmas gathering at a friend's. This was a bit smaller than Thanksgiving with only the girls. It was wonderful. Such a great little community of friends that I have made here with wonderful people. Some of them have already left and I miss them dearly. They have all touched my life in great ways! December 29th was a very sad day for me as I watched Sunny die that day. He had been back and fourth to the vet in Seoul and his  condition was just not improving, the Korean way is not to put the animal down but to let them go on their own time. That was probably the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. I will definitely miss that boy!

The crazy Christmas gals! We had to make crazy faces. <3 them!

Trying to stay warm in my room for nearly 3 months... ugh!

January and February I had very little face time with the girls, save for my 10 day winter camp. My school doesn't turn the heat on in the building that I am in when there are no students. So you can imagine that I was freezing! I have never worn so many layers. The girls came back from winter break (started Dec 29) on Jan 30 and went on spring break Feb 8. During that time I had class maybe 4 times. Then it was back to sitting in my room alone, trying to stay warm. During spring break is when the Korean teachers plan for the next year seeing as the Korean school year begins in March. As I am not returning, I didn't have much to plan for, also I have no input on what they plan! I got in a lot of movies, internet surfing, and dancing to stay warm!

During my holiday I stayed home. The blistering cold was just too much for me to deal with, trying to go on many adventures. I did however make a day of things with my friend Kim. We went to Seoul and saw a 4D movie. This is where the seats move, they vibrate, puffs of air on your neck at intense parts of the film, water mists on your face. We saw the Life of Pi and it was AMAZING! We also went to one of a few casinos here. I actually won about 500$, luckily I take after my dad with luck at casinos and not my mom! haha :)

I've spent a lot of time going to the foreign food markets in Itaewon where I finally found diet Dr. Pepper! YAY. Also lunch meats, and other foods from home. It is a good thing that they do not make shoes in a size 10 here in Korea because I would definitely be spending far more money on shoes here! 

Funny thing as much as I wanted to go home, for a brief moment I did say that I would sign on for another year. I didn't though! As much as I love my students and school, I must come home and find the next amazing opportunity. It hasn't quite sunk in that I have less than 50 days to go until I can drive again, see my friends and family and be annoyed by Maggie wanting me to throw her ball! 

Peace, love and chicken grease! :) <3

Long time no blog!

Yes, I did take quite a break from blogging. It seemed as though nothing was going on for quite some time, then suddenly quite a bit happened. I am going to try and play catch up with the bog over the next couple of weeks with picture from school activities and my very small amount of travel around Seoul. My time in Korea is finally winding down and I am quite excited to get home. My last day teaching is April 29. Annie and the rest of the staff and students are trying their hardest to get me to stay another year and while I do really like my co workers and many of my students, I just don't know that Korea wants me here another year! haha :)

I'll leave you with a couple of photos from the latest snow that fell...

My walk to school, the school is the large building in the background

Part of my school and courtyard

The driveway up to my school and the principal shoveling snow

Intersection as viewed from the bus