Today I went to the hair salon that all the people who I work with go to, and I got a trim, and I got this thing done to it called Magic Straight. It was invented in Asia, I think either Korea or Japan, and it is like a perm, but it makes it straight, not curly! No more spending hours straightening my hair!!!!!
It took 5 hours to do!!! My appointment was at 2pm, and I didn't leave until after 7pm!!! They first put a solution in my hair, and I had to sit for maybe an hour with it in. They wrapped my hair in Seran Wrap and I felt like leftovers!!!! They also set up this heater behind me, that has to kind of blades, but they were heaters, and they slowly rotated around my head. It was crazy looking. They rinsed out the solution, and straightened my hair for SO long. They used special straighteners that are only used with Magic Straight. There were two of them working on my head, and it still took them almost an hour to do. They were VERY careful to make sure it was extra straight! Then they had it looking very beautiful, and they went and put ANOTHER solution in it!!! I almost died when they ruined the work they just did! They put these little shower cap things that are meant for ears so the solution didn't get on my ears. I felt really silly wearing them! Then they rinsed the second solution out from my hair, blew dry it, and straightened it all over again!!! Then they cut my hair and they were finished!
The hair washer man is nicknamed Magic Fingers, because he gives wonderful head massages when he washes your hair. I almost fell asleep sitting in that chair!!!
It was pretty expensive, it cost me $200. I think it will be WELL worth it if I don't have to straighten my hair again!!! My friend Jamie also got it done, and hers wasn't as expensive because she doesn't have as much hair as me so it didn't take as long.
The place we went to is called Zen, and it is also a school for training how to work on foreign hair. They train people who are already hairdressers how to do trendy haircuts as she put it. The woman cutting my hair had the left side cut to a bob, and the right side long, and the right side had some bleached streaks and some other colors and the left side was black. They all have pretty funky haircuts. She said 90% of the clients are foreign because all the hairdressers speak English, and they are on the 5th floor of a building, so they don't have a lot of Koreans who see it and walk in. And the foreigners all tell their friends about it. It was really busy all day, and I only saw one Korean woman and she was speaking English!
Now that I have this done, I can't wash my hair until Tuesday night!!! I also can't get it wet, put it in a pony tail, or tuck it behind my ears. I can wash it on Tuesday, but for a week I still can't put it in a ponytail. I'm trying my hardest to keep it flat and straight. It's hard for me not to tuck it behind my ears because that's such a natural habit of mine.
My hair feels beautiful. Tara got it done about a week ago, and I thought since it's like a perm, it would leave her hair dry and damaged like perms and dying does often, but my hair is so nice and soft and feels very healthy. Plus I won't have to straighten it anymore, and that does so much damage to my hair!
Last night we went to the Loft in Itaewon, where ladies drink for free. It was a great night, I took full advantage of the free drinks, and I'm not feeling so hot today so I'm not going out tonight. Plus since I can't wash my hair until Tuesday night, I don't really want to go out tonight because my hair will smell like cigarettes since you can smoke in the bars in Seoul, and I will have to smell like an ashtray until Tuesday!
Things are great in Korea! Work is going well. I like my preschool classes a lot. I have a few real cute kids, a few punks, and I have some really smart kids, and some kids who are realllly dumb! I think we will have a good year. On Friday I lost one of my preschoolers, Julie K. She is one of the smallest girls, so she is probably one of the younger kids, so she is probably just barely 5 years old in American years. At 11:00am the kids eat snack, and that is when we switch classes with our Korean teaching partner, and teach the other class for the rest of the morning until lunch time. While the kids eat snack, the teachers have a 10 minute break, and we go up to the office. When I went back downstairs after snack, Julie K was missing. I asked the kids and they didn't know where she was, so I went to the bathroom and called her name and no one answered. I went to my Korean teaching partner's class and asked her where Julie K was, and Jenny(my Korean partner for preschool) kind of flipped out, and we had all of the helper teachers frantically looking for Julie K. We looked in every classroom, and downstairs and upstairs and we were really worried about her. A few minutes later she came calmly walking out of the bathroom. She was there the whole time and just didn't answer when I called her name. Thank god I don't speak Korean and I wouldn't have to be the one to call her mother and explain to her that I lost her daughter!!!
It's actually good and bad that we can't talk to the parents. We don't have to deal with parents who are a pain in the ass and call every day asking if their son or daughter is a good student. But also if there is a problem with the kid, I'd love to be able to talk to a parent, but instead I have to tell my Korean teacher and she translates it to Korean and tells the parents. Who knows how it comes out after being translated....
I will take pictures of my new students soon!
I will keep you all updated on my hair in a few days when I can wash it and see if it really stays straight!!!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
I'm alive and well!!!!!
I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to update my blog. Once I was a week behind, I knew it would take extra long to write, and I kept putting it off. I realize now it's been almost two months. I apologize to my loyal fans... So I will start back from January.....
I bought a Nintendo WII in January which was pretty exciting!!! My apartment has become the newest pregaming apartment on the weekends. I don't mind, because it forces me to keep my apartment clean because people are always coming over. The WII is in Korean, but the man selling it told me if I bought this special chip, I would be able to play English games on it. The chip was an extra $80, but I thought it would be better if I could play English games on it. I assumed the chip would also change the menu options to English, but it didn't. So all of the Menes are in Korean. It took a little figuring out, and a little help from my Korean friend, Hojin, but I can use it pretty well...
One day on the way home from school I was taking the bus, and a taxi crashed into the side of the bus. It was pretty exciting. I got off the bus because I was close to home, but some people stayed on the bus. I'm not sure how long they waited around for.
I was in Insadong, a place known for touristy stuff, and there was this bathroom in the middle of the sidewalk. It's called an automatic toilet. You put in 100 won(10 cents) and the door opens, and then locks behind you. The time limit is 10 minutes,and after 10 minutes whether you are done or not, the door opens up. After you leave, the door closes and locks, and then the entire thing is sanitized and sprayed down. It's supposed to be the cleanest bathroom ever. If you are inside when it sanitizes you will die. I went in just to check it out, and once the door locks a woman's voice comes on and talks to you in Korean. It was really scary. You can open the door before 10 minutes, but if you are still in there after 10 minutes, the door opens and everyone can see you!
I joined a gym with Tara. It is inside the Homeplus that is about 8 minutes from our apartment. It was $400 for a year, so I will definitely be going regularly! Tara was a trainer at her college's gym, so she has be on a fitness schedule. One day we did a spinning class, and the girl was yelling at us in Korean to do all these different things. Luckily we were in the back row so we could follow what everyone else was doing, because we obviously couldn't understand what the instructor was saying.
In Korea, they have many many places called gim jil bangs. They are public bath houses where families go and take bathes. They have saunas and hot tubs and all kinds of strange things. I think normal gim jil bangs require you to be naked, so I never felt comfortable going, but we heard of one in Yongsan that lets you keep clothes on! Amanda and I went last Sunday and it was fantastic! When you get there you get a key with a number, a small towel, shorts, and a t-shirt. You first go to this little room where you put your shoes in a locker, so the rest of the time you walk around barefoot. We didn't know what we were doing at first, so we hung around until we saw people who were just getting there and we followed them. There is a woman's locker room filled with naked Korean women. Since I joined the gym I have noticed how they love to be naked. They just walk around completely naked, no towel or anything. I always see people blow drying their hair and putting on makeup in the mirror completely naked. So we went to our lockers and put on the shorts and t shirt(we were part of a VERY small group of people wearing the shorts and t shirts. We had on bathing suites under, but other people were naked under the clothes. Most people were just straight up naked. There was a woman's spa downstairs from the locker room, but you had to be naked to go into that part. We didn't go down there. But there was a sauna that was unlike any sauna I have ever been in. The door to get in was VERY small, so we had to duck to get in, and then we had to walk through this dark tunnel where we couldn't stand up. We got to this huge room that was made of bricks and had straw mats covering the ground. There was one single dim light bulb lighting the whole huge room, so it was SO dark and creepy. It was of course painfully hot inside. There were many old women in there kind of meditating or praying or something. But it was silent and hot and dark and creepy! After about 15 minutes we were sweating so bad we couldn't take the heat anymore, so we went to the heated outdoor pool which was amazing! In Korea, any public pool requires people to wear bathing caps. We obviously didn't have one, and no one said anything to us, but we were the only people in the pool without bathing caps. Oh well, we were also the only white people in the pool so we already stuck out!
In Korea, there are three Valentine's Days. The first is Feb. 14th, when the girl gets her boyfriend a present. Then there is White Day on Mar. 14th, where a boy buys a present for his girlfriend, and the last is April 14th, when all of the single people eat this black noodle dish, and it is supposed to bring good luck in the next year. I wonder if I will be eating black noodles next month???
I am now a full time preschool teacher, so I have the same children every day all morning. THey are 7 years old but don't speak any English. It is tough but it will be very rewarding to watch them learn soo much in the next year.
Since I am teaching preschool, I had to extend my contract until next March. So I will not be coming home in October like I originally planned. I also may extend it even past next March, because if I sign up for another whole year, I will get paid a lot more money, and get an extra bonus and an extra flight home.... I haven't decided if I want to stay until October 2010, but I think I probably will. So that means hold off on those wedding plans everyone, remember, no getting married while I'm in Korea!!! Congo Lines are not the same without me!!!!
I know some of my friends and family have been concerned because I haven't been writing updates to the blog. When I went to summer camp I didn't call home for the whole week, and my mom was nervous that something was wrong, but someone told her she should be happy that I wasn't calling home, because it meant I was having too much fun to be homesick!!! I promise I am having a blast here, and nothing is wrong! If something was wrong I would tell all of you!!! I am alive and well!!!
I miss you all!!!! I will try and be better about updating the blog!!!
I bought a Nintendo WII in January which was pretty exciting!!! My apartment has become the newest pregaming apartment on the weekends. I don't mind, because it forces me to keep my apartment clean because people are always coming over. The WII is in Korean, but the man selling it told me if I bought this special chip, I would be able to play English games on it. The chip was an extra $80, but I thought it would be better if I could play English games on it. I assumed the chip would also change the menu options to English, but it didn't. So all of the Menes are in Korean. It took a little figuring out, and a little help from my Korean friend, Hojin, but I can use it pretty well...
One day on the way home from school I was taking the bus, and a taxi crashed into the side of the bus. It was pretty exciting. I got off the bus because I was close to home, but some people stayed on the bus. I'm not sure how long they waited around for.
I was in Insadong, a place known for touristy stuff, and there was this bathroom in the middle of the sidewalk. It's called an automatic toilet. You put in 100 won(10 cents) and the door opens, and then locks behind you. The time limit is 10 minutes,and after 10 minutes whether you are done or not, the door opens up. After you leave, the door closes and locks, and then the entire thing is sanitized and sprayed down. It's supposed to be the cleanest bathroom ever. If you are inside when it sanitizes you will die. I went in just to check it out, and once the door locks a woman's voice comes on and talks to you in Korean. It was really scary. You can open the door before 10 minutes, but if you are still in there after 10 minutes, the door opens and everyone can see you!
I joined a gym with Tara. It is inside the Homeplus that is about 8 minutes from our apartment. It was $400 for a year, so I will definitely be going regularly! Tara was a trainer at her college's gym, so she has be on a fitness schedule. One day we did a spinning class, and the girl was yelling at us in Korean to do all these different things. Luckily we were in the back row so we could follow what everyone else was doing, because we obviously couldn't understand what the instructor was saying.
In Korea, they have many many places called gim jil bangs. They are public bath houses where families go and take bathes. They have saunas and hot tubs and all kinds of strange things. I think normal gim jil bangs require you to be naked, so I never felt comfortable going, but we heard of one in Yongsan that lets you keep clothes on! Amanda and I went last Sunday and it was fantastic! When you get there you get a key with a number, a small towel, shorts, and a t-shirt. You first go to this little room where you put your shoes in a locker, so the rest of the time you walk around barefoot. We didn't know what we were doing at first, so we hung around until we saw people who were just getting there and we followed them. There is a woman's locker room filled with naked Korean women. Since I joined the gym I have noticed how they love to be naked. They just walk around completely naked, no towel or anything. I always see people blow drying their hair and putting on makeup in the mirror completely naked. So we went to our lockers and put on the shorts and t shirt(we were part of a VERY small group of people wearing the shorts and t shirts. We had on bathing suites under, but other people were naked under the clothes. Most people were just straight up naked. There was a woman's spa downstairs from the locker room, but you had to be naked to go into that part. We didn't go down there. But there was a sauna that was unlike any sauna I have ever been in. The door to get in was VERY small, so we had to duck to get in, and then we had to walk through this dark tunnel where we couldn't stand up. We got to this huge room that was made of bricks and had straw mats covering the ground. There was one single dim light bulb lighting the whole huge room, so it was SO dark and creepy. It was of course painfully hot inside. There were many old women in there kind of meditating or praying or something. But it was silent and hot and dark and creepy! After about 15 minutes we were sweating so bad we couldn't take the heat anymore, so we went to the heated outdoor pool which was amazing! In Korea, any public pool requires people to wear bathing caps. We obviously didn't have one, and no one said anything to us, but we were the only people in the pool without bathing caps. Oh well, we were also the only white people in the pool so we already stuck out!
In Korea, there are three Valentine's Days. The first is Feb. 14th, when the girl gets her boyfriend a present. Then there is White Day on Mar. 14th, where a boy buys a present for his girlfriend, and the last is April 14th, when all of the single people eat this black noodle dish, and it is supposed to bring good luck in the next year. I wonder if I will be eating black noodles next month???
I am now a full time preschool teacher, so I have the same children every day all morning. THey are 7 years old but don't speak any English. It is tough but it will be very rewarding to watch them learn soo much in the next year.
Since I am teaching preschool, I had to extend my contract until next March. So I will not be coming home in October like I originally planned. I also may extend it even past next March, because if I sign up for another whole year, I will get paid a lot more money, and get an extra bonus and an extra flight home.... I haven't decided if I want to stay until October 2010, but I think I probably will. So that means hold off on those wedding plans everyone, remember, no getting married while I'm in Korea!!! Congo Lines are not the same without me!!!!
I know some of my friends and family have been concerned because I haven't been writing updates to the blog. When I went to summer camp I didn't call home for the whole week, and my mom was nervous that something was wrong, but someone told her she should be happy that I wasn't calling home, because it meant I was having too much fun to be homesick!!! I promise I am having a blast here, and nothing is wrong! If something was wrong I would tell all of you!!! I am alive and well!!!
I miss you all!!!! I will try and be better about updating the blog!!!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Christmas, Vivaldi Park, and New Years
Tara demonstrating how Koreans feel like lumberjacks in the small chairs....
Drinking on the subway
New Years Eve. Same Same
This asshole Taxi driver took us to BomBay instead of HungDae on New Years eve.... We didn't pay him.
Our room
Our room
Janique and I shared a bed, and when I say bed I mean a thick blanket used as a mattress...
The mirrors all over the mountain.
Gondola ride to the top
The ski mountain was also a golf course!
It was pretty crowded!
Hanging out in our room
Early in the morning, getting ready to go skiing!
Drinking on the subway
New Years Eve. Same Same
This asshole Taxi driver took us to BomBay instead of HungDae on New Years eve.... We didn't pay him.
Getting Day Drunk
This is the man from the hotel who drove us back and forth from the mountain.
Our room
Our room
Janique and I shared a bed, and when I say bed I mean a thick blanket used as a mattress...
I was surprised how many foreigners we shoved into one minivan!
The mirrors all over the mountain.
Gondola ride to the top
The ski mountain was also a golf course!
On the mountain!
Chairlift
It was pretty crowded!
Hanging out in our room
Early in the morning, getting ready to go skiing!
So it's been awhile since I've posted, and I do apologize for that. I will have to start all the way back at Christmas! On Christmas Eve we all went to one girls apartment and we had breakfast and hung out. It was a great time, although it did not feel like Christmas at all. It was a fun day, and we did have a gift exchange, and were all wearing our best Christmas pajamas, but it just felt like a normal day. Also, things were not closed, like they would be in America. When I was outside walking around, people seemed to be going about there business like it was a normal day. After breakfast, Jenn, who works at a different school, came to my house and we hung out, some other people came over, we ate dinner, and everyone came to my apartment and we watched movies and drank wine, and called it a night early.
Nine of my coworkers and I went on a ski trip to a place called Vivaldi Park, which is about 2 hours outside of Seoul. We left our apartments at 8:15am and took cabs to a bus stop, and then took a bus to the resort. Tara's boyfriend, Hojin, was with us, so he was able to call the hotel we were staying at and they came and picked us up. They came with a mini van and a truck, the truck was for our stuff and the van was for us. The men from the hotel brought us to a place for us to rent our equipment and snow clothes. Luckily we were able to pay for two days at once, so we were able to keep all of our stuff for the whole trip. It took quite awhile for everyone to get what they needed, and we went right back to the resort to ski before going to our hotel. The mountain was pretty big, there were about 9 chair lifts. There were mirrors all over the mountain so Koreans could check themselves out. The staff was extremely friendly. We went back to the hotel around 10pm.
The hotel was nicer than I expected. It was just a big empty room with a small little kitchen area, and a TV and a cabinet for the bedding. It had heat and although the bathroom was shifty, it had hot water!
At night we were pretty lame, because we were so tired from the day/night of skiing. We drank a little and played some Apples to Apples, a wicked fun card game. The next day we didn't go to the mountain until about 3 because we were going to be there all night. They close the mountain from 5-6 so they can re-groom and do whatever it was they did, so we ate dinner. The only places we could find to eat was BurgerKing and this cafeteria filled with kids. Everyone went to BK except Jenn and I, who decided to eat in the cafeteria. There was nowhere to pay, it was more of a buffet line than a cafeteria, and we weren't sure what to do, so we got in line and decided we would pretend to be the English teachers who were chaperoning the school trip! It didn't work, and they made us pay when we got to the front of the line, but it was a good try! The second half of the second day was the most fun, because I went with the boys, and I was able to ski on the harder trails and not have to wait for anyone, so it was a ton more fun. We also rode in the gondola to the top, and I was able to sneak a beer into it! I was looking for beer on the mountain the whole time, and at one point I asked at the cafeteria and she said they had beer, but then gave me coffee. I was very disappointed.
On the last day, we had to wait until 5pm for our bus back to Seoul, so we hung out at the resort all day. We found a bar and got a little day drunk, and then we stumbled on an underground mall. It had a bowling alley and I pool hall and an arcade. We were able to kill some time there before our bus came back. It was a fantastic, fun ski trip, Thanks Omma and Appa!
On New Years we went to Ho Bar, we usual, but they had a different menu because it was New Years, so we had to buy expensive bottles for the table, and it came with all this fruit and sliced meat. We all ended up spending a ton of money, but it was a fun night. We went shopping the afternoon before, and Janique and I bought the same dress in different colors. At midnight only the foreigners were counting down, and then they played the Korean version of Happy Birthday. I guess they don't know the New Years song... Again, it didn't really seem like New Years, except for the expensive drinks.
This weekend was our last weekend before the end of our vacation. On Friday we went to Itaewon, the part of the city with a large Foreign population. We went to a Canadian bar that had tiny chairs and tables, and Tara, who is Canadian, thinks it is so that when the small Koreans sit at the tables, they feel big like real life Canadian lumberjacks!
After the Canadian bar, we went to a bar called The Loft, where ladies drink for free all night. If it's free, it's for me! We had a bangin time there for awhile, although it was pretty empty. Later we went to Hungdae to Ho Bar, which was also very empty! We met up with some boys from SLP, and then we went home. On Saturday I slept most of the day, and then at about 8 we went to Fish and Grill and played Jenga. While we were there we saw a famous Korean comedian, who's nickname is Big Head. He is on TV all of the time. Tara recognized him, and later when our Korean friend showed up, he told the owner of Fish and Grill that we wanted to meet him. I don't think he spoke English, because he didn't come and talk to us, but when he left he looked over, smiled, and waved!!!
We went to Ho Bar, and ended up meeting some Korean friends of Tara's boyfriend. Tara's boyfriend is also friends with our boss, Danny, so the Koreans all new Danny is well. They spoke English very well, so it was easy to hang out with them. At about 2am most of the SLP girls left, but Jenn was staying out, as were some of the SLP boys, so we all went with the Korean boys to "drink Soju." That means go to a restaurant, order a bunch of soju and strange Korean food. It was a ton of fun, and at 7am they told us the restaurant was closing, so we had to go home. We went home at about 7:30, and it was a ton of fun! I slept almost allll day Sunday, until I woke up, bought some bleach, and scrubbed the crap out of my apartment! Now my apartment smells bleachy clean!
You can check out some old pictures from my last post by clicking this link:
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!!!!
It's almost Christmas, and I am missing my family and friends very much! As my Aunt mentioned, it will be the first Christmas that I have not spent with my whole family..... It is Christmas Eve in America right now, and I just realized I don't even know where my parents and Patrick are going to be today and for Christmas. I guess this year I wasn't included in the plans for obvious reasons! I will miss walking into the living room and seeing the magical arrangement of presents that Santa left, having to wait to wake up my mom and dad until I could see the cars in the driveway, and of course finding Patrick passed out with his pants down to his ankles on the shoe pile in front of the door tomorrow morning. I have so many awesome Christmas memories that I couldn't even begin to share, and being alone on Christmas for the first time in my life is VERY strange for me. Luckily, I have Snowflake, my favorite Christmas ornament since 1989, with me to keep my company!!! I will miss everyone, and I wish I could be there to spend Christmas with you! It is 3:15AM and Santa will be here soon so I must go to bed soon!!!! I love you all, and Merry Christmas!!!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Work Hard Play Hard
I had a very very busy week, and a very fun weekend!!!
Last week was the first week I subbed for the second half of morning preschool, meaning I had to be at work early. Teaching an extra 80 minute class may not seem like it would effect my week, but it really did! I got used to having my mornings free, to straighten my apartment, and catch up with emails and stuff, but this week I was getting up and going straight to work, and I missed my morning time to myself. Then to add to it, another Korean preschool teacher was sick, so Jane, my boss, asked me to teach both morning preschool classes on Thursday and Friday. It made for a very tiring day, especially my Thursday. I had to teach from 9:40am to 5:50PM straight through with only one lunch break. Then after work I went straight to my "Language Exchange" and had to speak English for another hour and a half one-on-one. I didn't get done teaching for the day until 8:00PM!
On Tuesday after work Amanda and I went to Yongsan(where the digital superstore is) and I bought a new digital camera!!! My old camera still worked, but it was starting to take pictures really really slow, and I didn't know why, and it is 4 years old, so it was time for a new one. I get enough use out of it that I was able to justify buying a new one! I bought a Sanyo camera, it is gray and beautiful! The first booth we went to had a guy who spoke perfect English, so he was able to tell me about all of the cameras. When I showed him my old camera he laughed at how big it was, the fact that it used double A batteries(apparently all new cameras use a rechargeable battery), how small the screen on the back was, and that it was only 4 mega pixels(I don't think they even make cameras with only 4 mega pixels anymore). So I found the camera I liked, and he said it would be $170 plus $10 for the 1GB memory card. I asked him to throw in the memory card for free, and he said instead he would give me a 2GB card for$10, when normally it was an extra $30. So I wrote everything down, and I said I may be back, and it was already 7:30 and the whole place closes at 8pm, so I guess he figured if we left we wouldn't be back, so he said if I bought it right then he would sell it to me for $170 with the 2GB card, and I said I would buy it for $165 plus a camera case, and he said sold! I think I got a good deal on it. When I got home I looked online and saw it for $159.99 without a memory card or case! And if you think about the exchange rate, I only paid about $125 USD. I also bought Eagle Eye, my best friend's girlfriend, and 21.
This Friday was our Christmas work party, and we were doing a Secret Santa so on Wednesday after work Amanda and I went to Dongdaemoon to look for a bookstore that sold English books, because I had to buy a present for Jess, who's contract is over and is leaving on Tuesday, and going to Cuba for Christmas. I was going to get her a travel guide of Cuba, but the English section of the store was really small and they didn't have such a thing. On the way home we stopped at Homever and I bought a DVD player! I had been using my computer to watch movies, but I hate doing that because it isn't the same. I looked on Craig's list and there was a woman selling a DVD player with 30 DVD's for $100, and I didn't know how much they would be normally, and at Homever they had one for $55 so I bought it. I felt so High Tech this week, with my new camera and new DVD player! On Thursday after work I went to Homever to get Jess a present and I got her a daily planner, and a sketch book (she is a sketcher), and a picture frame.
On Wednesday after I bought my camera, we went to Fish N Grill to meet Laura, my co worker's, boyfriend who just got to Korea that day. I nicknamed him Dream Boy because there is a very romantic story that brought him to Korea. It is a long complicated story, but I think they should write a book about the whole thing. It will make a great movie! Anyway, we met him on Wednesday. He works about 3 subway stops from us.
Friday after work we all piled onto one of the SLP buses and went to Hungdae for our Christmas party. We went to a sushi restaurant. No one was happy about it because no one liked sushi except for the Korean teachers. Most of the foreigners ate McDonald's before we went. I was pretty excited about trying it. I liked cooked sushi, like eel rolls that we used to eat on Block Island. When we got to the table there were these tiny eggs, that someone said were quail eggs. They were brown with polka dots. They were really tiny. They were hard boiled and tasted just like a regular hard boiled egg, only bite sized! I wasn't really sure what to expect going to the dinner, I didn't know if it would be like a formal uncomfortable dinner or what, but it turned out to be so fun. There was probably about 35 of us all together, including foreign and Korean teachers and our bosses and helper teachers and stuff. It ended up being very loud and so much fun. The sushi wasn't what I was expecting, it didn't come with rice, it was just raw fish sliced. There were some sauces to dip it in. It wasn't bad, and I ate it, but I wouldn't say it was excellent. It tasted exactly what you might think raw fish would taste like..... We ended up staying and drinking after dinner for a long long time. I ended up going to the Korean desk teacher table, which consisted of the Koreans who spoke the least amount of English, they answer the phones at the school. They were the most fun because they were playing Korean drinking games. They were playing this one game that involved banging chopsticks against the tables and plates while singing a Korean song, and then pointing to someone and counting. I don't understand how they determined who had to drink, but at the end someone had to drink the Soju, coke, and beer mix that I blogged about in a previous post. I ended up loosing a few times, and although I didn't want to, I had to drink it because I was with Koreans and I felt like I couldn't disappoint them. It tasted pretty delicious.
After the dinner Tara and I went to Tinpan and continued to drink there. While we were in the bar it started down pouring, so it took us forever to find a cab. Somehow I ended up taking off the sweater I was wearing, and I guess I gave it to Tara so I could go get us a cab, and she lost it. I am pretty sad about that. I didn't even find us a cab. We had to walk around in the pouring rain forever until finally we found a cab to get in. I may or may not have accidental broken a cab window while searching for a cab..... Oops!!! It was a bit of a sloppy night, but lots of fun!!!!
I woke up in the morning feeling like a HUGE bag of smashed apples; I haven't been that hungover in a long long time. Amanda and I planned on going shopping on Saturday, and although I felt like death, I went anyway. We were looking for shoes, but ended up buying dresses instead. By the time we got done shopping it was about 4, and I was really dragging and didn't think I'd be able to make it out Saturday night. I took a long, coma-like nap and when I woke up I was somewhat ready to go out. We were all meeting at 7:30 to go out to dinner for Jess's like night out. She is leaving for Canada on Tuesday. We went to a Thai restaurant that was pretty tastey. After dinner, we went to Alisha's apartment before leaving for Hungdae. The theme was ties and Fedoras, so we were all wearing ties and silly Fedora hats. Amanda and I were matching, she had pink plaid and I had green plaid. We went to a club called Catchlight, and there was a $20 cover that no one was really thrilled with, since we never pay a cover to get into anywhere when we are in Hungdae. But it was Jess's last night out so we went. It was pretty nice inside, and when we got in we found out the reason there was such a pricey cover was because there was a famous Korean rapper who was performing! We got to see him and it was awesome. His name is Drunken Dragon. Google him, he is pretty famous! We had a great night, I strolled home at about 4:00am with my tie, hat, coat, and not a single won! My dogs were barkin while we were walking to get a cab. I couldn't wait to get home and take of my stupid shoes off! As soon as a walked in the door Tara texted me saying her and her boyfriend and some of his friends were at a Nora Bang (karaoke room)right by our house and she wanted me to meet her there. Even though my feet were hurting, and I was cold and tired, I was going to throw on some flip flops and go meet her. I thought she meant it was walking distance, like one of the 10 that are in the buildings surrounding our apartment, but it was a taxi ride away, and besides having zero won on me, I was in no mood to find a cab at that hour, and try and explain to the cab diver where I needed to get, and probably end up somewhere completely different. It was already late, and I was ready to just call it a night. This morning I woke up around 1:30, and although my plan was to sleep until Monday morning to make up for all the sleep I missed during the weekend, I feel refreshed and surprisingly not that hungover.
Ahhh, the peas..... I promised I'd write more about the peas! I was telling Amanda how I had such a hard time finding peas, and she said she had seen some in Homever! She took me to them, and I was the happiest girl in Seoul!!!! I am back to eating peas in my pasta, in my chomchee, and everything else that I eat in my apartment!
It's now Monday the reason I didn't post the blog last night was because I can't get the pictures off my new digital camera!!! I have lots of good ones, and when I can figure it out I'll add the pictures in.
Today we had our Christmas concert rehearsal at the concert hall. It was a mad house like I expected, but hopefully Wednesday will go a little smoother. Jane asked me to assist John in running a raffle for the parents in between classes. We are drawing numbers and my job is to bring the presents to whoever wins. She brought me into her office today to tell me how important it is to use two hands to give the parents the presents. In Korea if you give or take something with only one hand it is considered rood. In every store, even 7/11, when they take or give you money, they use two hands. I've gotten used to it, but at first I thought it was a little strange. I try my hardest to remember to use two hands when giving or taking anything. Jane also told me to only speak English, and not try to use the little Korean that I know because the accent is so bad the parents would not understand me. I would have been insulted, except that she said the same thing to the other teachers too. Tomorrow I am teaching early morning preschool, and then teaching my super long day again. I'm going to so a little more sewing on the project I'm working on, that I will talk about when it is finished!!!
Check back for the pictures soon!!!
Last week was the first week I subbed for the second half of morning preschool, meaning I had to be at work early. Teaching an extra 80 minute class may not seem like it would effect my week, but it really did! I got used to having my mornings free, to straighten my apartment, and catch up with emails and stuff, but this week I was getting up and going straight to work, and I missed my morning time to myself. Then to add to it, another Korean preschool teacher was sick, so Jane, my boss, asked me to teach both morning preschool classes on Thursday and Friday. It made for a very tiring day, especially my Thursday. I had to teach from 9:40am to 5:50PM straight through with only one lunch break. Then after work I went straight to my "Language Exchange" and had to speak English for another hour and a half one-on-one. I didn't get done teaching for the day until 8:00PM!
On Tuesday after work Amanda and I went to Yongsan(where the digital superstore is) and I bought a new digital camera!!! My old camera still worked, but it was starting to take pictures really really slow, and I didn't know why, and it is 4 years old, so it was time for a new one. I get enough use out of it that I was able to justify buying a new one! I bought a Sanyo camera, it is gray and beautiful! The first booth we went to had a guy who spoke perfect English, so he was able to tell me about all of the cameras. When I showed him my old camera he laughed at how big it was, the fact that it used double A batteries(apparently all new cameras use a rechargeable battery), how small the screen on the back was, and that it was only 4 mega pixels(I don't think they even make cameras with only 4 mega pixels anymore). So I found the camera I liked, and he said it would be $170 plus $10 for the 1GB memory card. I asked him to throw in the memory card for free, and he said instead he would give me a 2GB card for$10, when normally it was an extra $30. So I wrote everything down, and I said I may be back, and it was already 7:30 and the whole place closes at 8pm, so I guess he figured if we left we wouldn't be back, so he said if I bought it right then he would sell it to me for $170 with the 2GB card, and I said I would buy it for $165 plus a camera case, and he said sold! I think I got a good deal on it. When I got home I looked online and saw it for $159.99 without a memory card or case! And if you think about the exchange rate, I only paid about $125 USD. I also bought Eagle Eye, my best friend's girlfriend, and 21.
This Friday was our Christmas work party, and we were doing a Secret Santa so on Wednesday after work Amanda and I went to Dongdaemoon to look for a bookstore that sold English books, because I had to buy a present for Jess, who's contract is over and is leaving on Tuesday, and going to Cuba for Christmas. I was going to get her a travel guide of Cuba, but the English section of the store was really small and they didn't have such a thing. On the way home we stopped at Homever and I bought a DVD player! I had been using my computer to watch movies, but I hate doing that because it isn't the same. I looked on Craig's list and there was a woman selling a DVD player with 30 DVD's for $100, and I didn't know how much they would be normally, and at Homever they had one for $55 so I bought it. I felt so High Tech this week, with my new camera and new DVD player! On Thursday after work I went to Homever to get Jess a present and I got her a daily planner, and a sketch book (she is a sketcher), and a picture frame.
On Wednesday after I bought my camera, we went to Fish N Grill to meet Laura, my co worker's, boyfriend who just got to Korea that day. I nicknamed him Dream Boy because there is a very romantic story that brought him to Korea. It is a long complicated story, but I think they should write a book about the whole thing. It will make a great movie! Anyway, we met him on Wednesday. He works about 3 subway stops from us.
Friday after work we all piled onto one of the SLP buses and went to Hungdae for our Christmas party. We went to a sushi restaurant. No one was happy about it because no one liked sushi except for the Korean teachers. Most of the foreigners ate McDonald's before we went. I was pretty excited about trying it. I liked cooked sushi, like eel rolls that we used to eat on Block Island. When we got to the table there were these tiny eggs, that someone said were quail eggs. They were brown with polka dots. They were really tiny. They were hard boiled and tasted just like a regular hard boiled egg, only bite sized! I wasn't really sure what to expect going to the dinner, I didn't know if it would be like a formal uncomfortable dinner or what, but it turned out to be so fun. There was probably about 35 of us all together, including foreign and Korean teachers and our bosses and helper teachers and stuff. It ended up being very loud and so much fun. The sushi wasn't what I was expecting, it didn't come with rice, it was just raw fish sliced. There were some sauces to dip it in. It wasn't bad, and I ate it, but I wouldn't say it was excellent. It tasted exactly what you might think raw fish would taste like..... We ended up staying and drinking after dinner for a long long time. I ended up going to the Korean desk teacher table, which consisted of the Koreans who spoke the least amount of English, they answer the phones at the school. They were the most fun because they were playing Korean drinking games. They were playing this one game that involved banging chopsticks against the tables and plates while singing a Korean song, and then pointing to someone and counting. I don't understand how they determined who had to drink, but at the end someone had to drink the Soju, coke, and beer mix that I blogged about in a previous post. I ended up loosing a few times, and although I didn't want to, I had to drink it because I was with Koreans and I felt like I couldn't disappoint them. It tasted pretty delicious.
After the dinner Tara and I went to Tinpan and continued to drink there. While we were in the bar it started down pouring, so it took us forever to find a cab. Somehow I ended up taking off the sweater I was wearing, and I guess I gave it to Tara so I could go get us a cab, and she lost it. I am pretty sad about that. I didn't even find us a cab. We had to walk around in the pouring rain forever until finally we found a cab to get in. I may or may not have accidental broken a cab window while searching for a cab..... Oops!!! It was a bit of a sloppy night, but lots of fun!!!!
I woke up in the morning feeling like a HUGE bag of smashed apples; I haven't been that hungover in a long long time. Amanda and I planned on going shopping on Saturday, and although I felt like death, I went anyway. We were looking for shoes, but ended up buying dresses instead. By the time we got done shopping it was about 4, and I was really dragging and didn't think I'd be able to make it out Saturday night. I took a long, coma-like nap and when I woke up I was somewhat ready to go out. We were all meeting at 7:30 to go out to dinner for Jess's like night out. She is leaving for Canada on Tuesday. We went to a Thai restaurant that was pretty tastey. After dinner, we went to Alisha's apartment before leaving for Hungdae. The theme was ties and Fedoras, so we were all wearing ties and silly Fedora hats. Amanda and I were matching, she had pink plaid and I had green plaid. We went to a club called Catchlight, and there was a $20 cover that no one was really thrilled with, since we never pay a cover to get into anywhere when we are in Hungdae. But it was Jess's last night out so we went. It was pretty nice inside, and when we got in we found out the reason there was such a pricey cover was because there was a famous Korean rapper who was performing! We got to see him and it was awesome. His name is Drunken Dragon. Google him, he is pretty famous! We had a great night, I strolled home at about 4:00am with my tie, hat, coat, and not a single won! My dogs were barkin while we were walking to get a cab. I couldn't wait to get home and take of my stupid shoes off! As soon as a walked in the door Tara texted me saying her and her boyfriend and some of his friends were at a Nora Bang (karaoke room)right by our house and she wanted me to meet her there. Even though my feet were hurting, and I was cold and tired, I was going to throw on some flip flops and go meet her. I thought she meant it was walking distance, like one of the 10 that are in the buildings surrounding our apartment, but it was a taxi ride away, and besides having zero won on me, I was in no mood to find a cab at that hour, and try and explain to the cab diver where I needed to get, and probably end up somewhere completely different. It was already late, and I was ready to just call it a night. This morning I woke up around 1:30, and although my plan was to sleep until Monday morning to make up for all the sleep I missed during the weekend, I feel refreshed and surprisingly not that hungover.
Ahhh, the peas..... I promised I'd write more about the peas! I was telling Amanda how I had such a hard time finding peas, and she said she had seen some in Homever! She took me to them, and I was the happiest girl in Seoul!!!! I am back to eating peas in my pasta, in my chomchee, and everything else that I eat in my apartment!
It's now Monday the reason I didn't post the blog last night was because I can't get the pictures off my new digital camera!!! I have lots of good ones, and when I can figure it out I'll add the pictures in.
Today we had our Christmas concert rehearsal at the concert hall. It was a mad house like I expected, but hopefully Wednesday will go a little smoother. Jane asked me to assist John in running a raffle for the parents in between classes. We are drawing numbers and my job is to bring the presents to whoever wins. She brought me into her office today to tell me how important it is to use two hands to give the parents the presents. In Korea if you give or take something with only one hand it is considered rood. In every store, even 7/11, when they take or give you money, they use two hands. I've gotten used to it, but at first I thought it was a little strange. I try my hardest to remember to use two hands when giving or taking anything. Jane also told me to only speak English, and not try to use the little Korean that I know because the accent is so bad the parents would not understand me. I would have been insulted, except that she said the same thing to the other teachers too. Tomorrow I am teaching early morning preschool, and then teaching my super long day again. I'm going to so a little more sewing on the project I'm working on, that I will talk about when it is finished!!!
Check back for the pictures soon!!!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Peas Peas Peas!!!
I just wanted to write a quick blog saying that my life is now complete..... I have found frozen peas in Homever!!!!!! They were $4 for a tiny bag, but SO worth it!!!!! I will send a picture and go into more details about them later, but I'm sooo excited to finally have peas back in my life!!!!
I have an exciting weekend ahead of me. Friday night is our SLP work Christmas party, and Saturday is Jess's going away party. I will blog again on Sunday!
I have an exciting weekend ahead of me. Friday night is our SLP work Christmas party, and Saturday is Jess's going away party. I will blog again on Sunday!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Jello Shot Party and more Korean children
I'm sorry it's been awhile since I've written a new blog. I have a lot to share with all of you and it should be well worth the wait!
One of the bars we almost always go to is called Ho Bar III. We usually start here and end here every night. There are at least three Ho Bars, and I don't think I've been to any of the other two. Whenever it is someone's birthday they turn on these fancy lights and play these strange version of Happy Birthday. Then they bring over a flaming shot of something to the birthday boy/girl. We pretended like it was Tara's birthday, and they played the song for her and then brought her over a flaming shot. In Ho Bar there are pictures of groups of people covering all the walls in the whole bar. One of the waiters came and took our picture and then photo shopped it so we are wearing birthday hats. He came over with a a few copies of the picture, and I asked him to hang one of them on the wall and he did. Everyone elses picture is like a polaroid, but ours is fancy and photoshopped! Here is the waiter hanging it up.
And there it is! We will probably be hanging on this wall for years and years!!! Next time you are in Seoul, Korea, go to Ho Bar III in hongdae and look for our picture!
This is a park that Amanda and I sat in during our break from work on Friday. We ate popcorn and people watched. We work in the building to the right in the background.
I mentioned before the exercise equipment that are in parks. Here they are. The thing in the middle is like a Tony Little Gazelle Glider, and machine to the left swings left to right, and on the right is a disk you stand on and twist left to right.
These are two twin girls in my Reach Out Bridge class. Their names are Cathy and Lisa, and they are 9 Korean years old, so 8 American years old. They are the same age as my cousins, Madison and Makenzie. I have to tell them every day to put their toys and cell phones and candy away. They always have SOMETHING they are playing with. In Korea people put up the peace sign when they are having their pictures taken and it means cute. Also, instead of saying "Cheese" they say "Kimchi," the famous Korean side dish.
This is one of my Reach Out Bridge classes. They are 9 Korean years old. the back row is Harry(who falls asleep every class), Alex, Julie, Lisa/Cathy(I can only tell who they are in their assigned seats), Jamie, Washington, Lia, Heidi(The smartest girl in the class), and Lucy. Notice how many of them are wearing glasses..... Washington wears glasses too, he just took them off for the picture. There are only 3 kids who don't wear glasses in that class. Most of my classes have similar ratios. Someone told me Korean's have bad eyes because they study and read SOOO much, even as young kids.
This is Cherry class. They are 6 Korean year old preschoolers. One of the weeks I subbed for a Korean teacher, I taught this class in the morning. I also teach them phonics every Friday afternoon. That is Sally all the way to the right. She is so adorable. She is the smallest kid in the class by far. She is like a little doll and I want to pick her up and play with her sometimes! She must be one of the younger Korean 6 year olds, so she is probably barely 5 in American years.
Some more Cherry students hard at work...
This is our office that is on the 5th floor. The classrooms are on the 4th and 3rd floor. Also in the office is the copier room, and Jane and Susan(the directors of the school) have a tiny office in the corner. There are other offices on the floor next to our office.
This is John, he sits in the desk next to mine. We share the computer and phone(although I have never used the phone).
This is my desk. Jess sits across from me, although she is leaving in December so the new teacher will sit there. To the right of my desk are two Koreans. I wonder if they put that bookshelf there so that the Koreans didn't have to hear the Americans....... Across from John is where Adam sits. The plastic bin on my desk is what I take to each class with me. It has board markers, pencils, tape, an eraser, and some other random stuff that I would need for class. I take the books I need for the upcoming class and put them in my bin too. As you can see, I have my own organization for my classes books. I know where everything is, although you might not know it by looking!
This is a bad and blurry picture, but it is of the door to our office. There is a keypad on it and you have to enter a code everything you enter.
This is the sign by the elevator. SLP is on the 3rd and 4th floor. I'm not sure what is on the 1st and 2nd floor but I'm sure something is there! Speaking of missing floors, I don't think I have written about the extra floor I have in my apartment building. I live on the 10th floor, but really it is the 11th floor. When you walk down the stairs, you can walk all the way down, and when you get to floor 2, and next floor is called The Pit, and then below that is floor 1. I think it is a business of some kind, but I don't know why they would not give it a floor number!
On Friday night I had a housewarming party. Tara had Jello in her apartment that Susie left, so I made Jello shots with Soju. They were delicious and reminded me on college and making Jello shots using our RA's measuring cups and water bottles. The party was a good time.
Amanda and I went to Dungdaemoon after work last week, and every building was all out decorated for Christmas. This one mall had a huge sign saying Good Morning 2009. Amanda and I thought it was funny and needed to take a picture of it.
When we were in Dundaemoon we saw this fancy stage and on it was this very young girl, maybe 10 years old, and she was dancing. I don't know if anything else was going on on the stage, like someone famous, but there were a lot of people gathered around watching this young girl dance on a stage.
In the subway stations there are these big cabinets that have stuff to put out a fire. This one didn't have it, but sometimes there are actually fireman suites in the cabinets. I'm not sure who is supposed to throw on the suite and the air supply and walk into the fire... Maybe the person closest to the fire? The bags on the right are in case of a flood I think.
These are the Happiness women. They work in the restaurant that is right next door to our apartment building. They make the greatest suindubu. The younger woman on the right is always so happy, and even if we aren't eating and she sees us walk by, she waves and smiles. She has a daughter in SLP.
Last weekend we went out Hungdae, as usual, and we weren't finished with a cab beers, so of course we snuck them into Tin Pan. We had to go to the bathroom to drink them, and while in the bathroom I took a picture of Janique and a random Korean girl. "KIMCHI!!!!!!!"
We were super classy drinking our smuggled mekjue(beer in Korean) in the bathroom of Tin Pan.
One of the bars we almost always go to is called Ho Bar III. We usually start here and end here every night. There are at least three Ho Bars, and I don't think I've been to any of the other two. Whenever it is someone's birthday they turn on these fancy lights and play these strange version of Happy Birthday. Then they bring over a flaming shot of something to the birthday boy/girl. We pretended like it was Tara's birthday, and they played the song for her and then brought her over a flaming shot. In Ho Bar there are pictures of groups of people covering all the walls in the whole bar. One of the waiters came and took our picture and then photo shopped it so we are wearing birthday hats. He came over with a a few copies of the picture, and I asked him to hang one of them on the wall and he did. Everyone elses picture is like a polaroid, but ours is fancy and photoshopped! Here is the waiter hanging it up.
And there it is! We will probably be hanging on this wall for years and years!!! Next time you are in Seoul, Korea, go to Ho Bar III in hongdae and look for our picture!
This is a park that Amanda and I sat in during our break from work on Friday. We ate popcorn and people watched. We work in the building to the right in the background.
I mentioned before the exercise equipment that are in parks. Here they are. The thing in the middle is like a Tony Little Gazelle Glider, and machine to the left swings left to right, and on the right is a disk you stand on and twist left to right.
These are two twin girls in my Reach Out Bridge class. Their names are Cathy and Lisa, and they are 9 Korean years old, so 8 American years old. They are the same age as my cousins, Madison and Makenzie. I have to tell them every day to put their toys and cell phones and candy away. They always have SOMETHING they are playing with. In Korea people put up the peace sign when they are having their pictures taken and it means cute. Also, instead of saying "Cheese" they say "Kimchi," the famous Korean side dish.
This is one of my Reach Out Bridge classes. They are 9 Korean years old. the back row is Harry(who falls asleep every class), Alex, Julie, Lisa/Cathy(I can only tell who they are in their assigned seats), Jamie, Washington, Lia, Heidi(The smartest girl in the class), and Lucy. Notice how many of them are wearing glasses..... Washington wears glasses too, he just took them off for the picture. There are only 3 kids who don't wear glasses in that class. Most of my classes have similar ratios. Someone told me Korean's have bad eyes because they study and read SOOO much, even as young kids.
This is Cherry class. They are 6 Korean year old preschoolers. One of the weeks I subbed for a Korean teacher, I taught this class in the morning. I also teach them phonics every Friday afternoon. That is Sally all the way to the right. She is so adorable. She is the smallest kid in the class by far. She is like a little doll and I want to pick her up and play with her sometimes! She must be one of the younger Korean 6 year olds, so she is probably barely 5 in American years.
Some more Cherry students hard at work...
This is our office that is on the 5th floor. The classrooms are on the 4th and 3rd floor. Also in the office is the copier room, and Jane and Susan(the directors of the school) have a tiny office in the corner. There are other offices on the floor next to our office.
This is John, he sits in the desk next to mine. We share the computer and phone(although I have never used the phone).
This is my desk. Jess sits across from me, although she is leaving in December so the new teacher will sit there. To the right of my desk are two Koreans. I wonder if they put that bookshelf there so that the Koreans didn't have to hear the Americans....... Across from John is where Adam sits. The plastic bin on my desk is what I take to each class with me. It has board markers, pencils, tape, an eraser, and some other random stuff that I would need for class. I take the books I need for the upcoming class and put them in my bin too. As you can see, I have my own organization for my classes books. I know where everything is, although you might not know it by looking!
This is a bad and blurry picture, but it is of the door to our office. There is a keypad on it and you have to enter a code everything you enter.
This is the sign by the elevator. SLP is on the 3rd and 4th floor. I'm not sure what is on the 1st and 2nd floor but I'm sure something is there! Speaking of missing floors, I don't think I have written about the extra floor I have in my apartment building. I live on the 10th floor, but really it is the 11th floor. When you walk down the stairs, you can walk all the way down, and when you get to floor 2, and next floor is called The Pit, and then below that is floor 1. I think it is a business of some kind, but I don't know why they would not give it a floor number!
On Friday night I had a housewarming party. Tara had Jello in her apartment that Susie left, so I made Jello shots with Soju. They were delicious and reminded me on college and making Jello shots using our RA's measuring cups and water bottles. The party was a good time.
Amanda and I went to Dungdaemoon after work last week, and every building was all out decorated for Christmas. This one mall had a huge sign saying Good Morning 2009. Amanda and I thought it was funny and needed to take a picture of it.
When we were in Dundaemoon we saw this fancy stage and on it was this very young girl, maybe 10 years old, and she was dancing. I don't know if anything else was going on on the stage, like someone famous, but there were a lot of people gathered around watching this young girl dance on a stage.
In the subway stations there are these big cabinets that have stuff to put out a fire. This one didn't have it, but sometimes there are actually fireman suites in the cabinets. I'm not sure who is supposed to throw on the suite and the air supply and walk into the fire... Maybe the person closest to the fire? The bags on the right are in case of a flood I think.
These are the Happiness women. They work in the restaurant that is right next door to our apartment building. They make the greatest suindubu. The younger woman on the right is always so happy, and even if we aren't eating and she sees us walk by, she waves and smiles. She has a daughter in SLP.
Last weekend we went out Hungdae, as usual, and we weren't finished with a cab beers, so of course we snuck them into Tin Pan. We had to go to the bathroom to drink them, and while in the bathroom I took a picture of Janique and a random Korean girl. "KIMCHI!!!!!!!"
We were super classy drinking our smuggled mekjue(beer in Korean) in the bathroom of Tin Pan.
I have been teaching the second half of morning preschool for a week now. I will be teaching it for the next 6 weeks because one of the Korean teachers is in the hospital. We have been practising the Christmas play all week and will continue to practice even more next week. The play is called the Golden Ax and it is Korean folktale. Some of the kids are good, others of them I can barely understand. The plays are on Christmas Eve. It is hard to believe that parents would send their children to school on Christmas Eve! Some of these kids have class until 8pm the night Santa comes to town! The few American teachers who are going home for Christmas have to leave Korea on Christmas Eve night, and they will get to America on Christmas Eve night because of the time difference.
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