Happy Chuseok

Well, it looks like Sunday is my day to update lately.  I got home yesterday (Saturday 9/25) from a great trip to Busan.  The first day there, we arrived to pouring rain and strong winds so I was a bit pessimistic about the weather for the rest of the trip.  We were able to spend Wednesday afternoon relaxing at the hostel, taking in the scenery, and visiting the Busan aquarium so all was not lost.  I also got to see Mo who went to college with me since we were both staying at the same hostel, and we all went out for dinner around the Kyungsung University area.


Luckily, we woke up Thursday morning to gorgeous sunshine and milder temperatures, perfect for hitting Haeundae Beach!  Our hostel, Chan's Guesthouse, was in the perfect location, right in the middle of Haeundae Market, less than a 5 minute walk to the biggest beach in Busan.  The beaches are located on the Sea of Japan so they are not huge, and the water is super salty.  The water temperature and waves were fantastic.  It's funny because the only people swimming were foreigners who were clearly vacationing.  The Koreans on the beach were fully clothed taking pictures of themselves (per usual) or swimming in their clothes which is just weird.

First day of beautiful weather at Haeundae Beach

View from other end of Haeundae Beach

 After spending the day swimming and lounging around Haeundae, we headed to Gwangali Beach to catch sunset by the bridge and check out the fish markets.

Gwangali Beach with Gwangali Bridge in the background

Gwangali Beach starting to light up in the evening

So this is what we saw when we walked into the fish market we chose for dinner.  Jaehee from our hostel wrote down suggestions for types of fish to get so we showed the woman the paper and she dumped some fish in a bucket.

Our dinner flopping around in the bucket

Our dinner on the table

 Then, the nice lady led us upstairs with our bucket where she dumped the fish in another tank for the chef.  We were seated in an adjoining room (with traditional korean seating, on the floor) where we were served all of the side dishes.  Then our plate of very fresh (literally) sashimi came out with the fish we had chosen downstairs.  After dinner, we wandered around the little amusement park, and then headed back over to the Kyungsung area.  We went to a bar called Long Island Iced Tea which was the best decision ever because the bartenders put on shows throwing bottles and fire.  It was a solid night topped off by a little norebang (karaoke room) of course.

Our favorite bartender (Alvin?) throwing some fire

Overall, it was a fantastic trip filled with basking in the sun, swimming, spending time with friends, meeting new friends, and eating lots of delicious food.  Jaehee and Chan, the two people who ran our hostel took us all to a little Mexican stand that had the best burritos I've had yet here in Korea.  It was really authentic and local with lots of little post its written by people from all over the world who have visited for some tacos.

Post its at Taco Senora

Delicious burrito in Busan

To top off Chuseok break, we went out in Hongdae last night once we were back to Seoul.  We went to Bar Zen again and then headed over to Cocoon (after reading about it online) which also happens to be the "Sexy Party."  The place is ridiculous.  I wish I had pictures to show what it was like inside.  It's basically just a huge club inside and people are jammed in there shoulder to shoulder dancing like crazy.  It actually turned out to be a lot of fun, and I had another early bedtime of 6am.

The Sexy Lady Party at Cocoon

Well, I'm off to catch up on the new episode of Glee.  Back to school tomorrow!

One Month Anniversary

I've officially been in Korea for one month now from August 17-September 17.  It's been such a crazy month starting with the flight into unknown territory, EPIK orientation, making new friends, settling into life in Seoul, teaching for the first time, eating A LOT of food, and having a little fun in between it all.  Here's to the rest of the year being just as great as the first month.


A couple weeks ago, I had my grade 6 classes write some sentences in the past tense and draw pictures to go along with them.  What resulted were some hilarious sentences.

This one was my favorite for obvious reasons.  "My leg fell in the poo-poo basket yesterday."

FYI:  For some reason, Koreans don't always flush their toilet paper.  So, at school, there is such a thing as a poo-poo basket because, well there is poo in the basket.  I'm not sure if it is actually common to accidentally step in the basket or not, but either way, just imagine...squat toilets, toilet paper not in stall, poo-poo basket.  Not pretty to say the least.  UPDATE:  video on youtube about this exact thing.

On another note, I went to Lotte World yesterday!  Lotte World is a big indoor/outdoor amusement park inside the city of Seoul.  It's just about 35min. from my house, accessible by subway so I definitely plan on going back multiple times this year.  It's so weird that this huge amusement park is just sitting in the middle of a huge city.  We went on a ride called the Gyro Drop where you could see the whole park, a phenomenal view of the Seoul, and the surrounding mountains as well.  They have a huge indoor portion of the park with a roller coaster and ice rink as well as an outdoor part called Magic Island.  We had a great time there, and it was probably my favorite Saturday in Seoul so far.

In front of the castle on Magic Island @ Lotte World

I'm headed off to Busan this week from Wednesday-Saturday with Melissa to celebrate Chuseok.  We have off school Tues-Fri because Chuseok is like Korean Thanksgiving, and everyone goes to see their families during this time.  So we're taking advantage of our time off to explore another part of Korea and relax at the beach (crossing our fingers for good weather).  Until then, my friends!

I can't stop thinking about food

I had the best Greek meal tonight at a place called Santorini in Itaewon followed by Cold Stone of course.  I swear I eat so much ice cream here, and I'm not really sure why.  I just crave it all the time.  Hence, why I need to find a gym STAT.  I eat the school lunch every day and then I find myself famished by dinner, just day dreaming about what I'm going to eat next.


We went out in Hongdae again on Friday night to celebrate Brad's birthday.  We made it all the way to 5:30am! I'm pretty proud of us.  We were so close to staying until the subway re-opened but just didn't quite make it.


Saturday we went to the FC Seoul soccer game vs. Daegu at the World Cup Stadium.  It was "foreigners day" so there were countless white people and other foreigners which was strange to see.  Seoul won 4-0 so it was a good game.  Today, Sunday, I made the trek back out to Incheon Airport to return my rental cell phone since I will hopefully be able to pick up my actual cell phone by Weds. this week.  It took 2 hours to get there by subway which is just awesome since it pretty much took me all day to get there and back.  That's it for my weekend.  Now, the wait for next weekend begins..then Chuseok break!

girls out in Hongdae at our new fav Oversound

So, I said I would have some interesting stuff this time.  The topic:  man purses.  It is appalling how many men carry the "murse" around.  Not only will they carry their girlfriend's purse but so many men have their own purse as well!  I tried to capture some of them at the Hongik University subway one day, but these pictures don't do it justice.

Exhibit A- fanny pack as a purse?

Exhibit B

Exhibit C- the business man murse

Update: There are 2 western style toilets in each bathroom at school.  The toilet paper is still on the outside of the stall.

Week 3

"THE 20S ARE LIKE the stem cell of human development, the pluripotent moment when any of several outcomes is possible. Decisions and actions during this time have lasting ramifications. The 20s are when most people accumulate almost all of their formal education; when most people meet their future spouses and the friends they will keep; when most people start on the careers that they will stay with for many years. This is when adventures, experiments, travels, relationships are embarked on with an abandon that probably will not happen again."

Is this what I'm doing in Korea??  I like to think I will look back on this time with many of those thoughts.  So, What Is It About 20-Somethings?  Check out the whole article.  It's pretty interesting, and I have a feeling a lot of my 20-something friends can relate, at least on some level.


Well, it's now Week 3.  Although I've technically only been here in Korea for 17 days and in my apartment/room (more on that later) for one week.  It's safe to say that my sense of time is all messed up.  It feels like it's been so long already, and we're not even one month in.  


I feel like I've known the friends I made at orientation forever, and in reality, we spent less than 9 days together before we moved out on our own.  I think we are all just clinging to one another in an attempt to feel normal, which I'm certainly not complaining about.  Just for scale, after meeting Tara, we were sitting in my dorm room at orientation freaking out about whether we would be placed near each other and planning sleepovers in case we were far way.  We had met 8 hours earlier.  Yes.  Best friends for life after a wonderful medical exam and lunch in the cafeteria.  That's how it works here.  I went to dinner with some of the girls last night at a Mexican restaurant at the Yeouido stop called Casa Loca, and for a second, I felt like I was back in America, hanging out at Plaza Tapatia.  


This has been the first full week of school at Wolgye Elementary School, and I could not be happier that tomorrow is Friday.  I have semi-started teaching, but I think my co-teacher is hesitant to let me take control.  I can't blame her.  She translates pretty much everything for the students so I'm not entirely sure how this will work for me.  I think it will just be a learning game to find a sort of rhythm that works for us and a lesson planning style we both like.  I think both of my co-teachers are open to letting me come up with my own lessons because they tell me to plan something, but then one wants to see a script which I don't really plan on making.  Hopefully she'll realize that is just creating more work for the both of us.   Other than that, I think I am lucky in the sense that I will actually be co-teaching in all of my classes rather than have a co-teacher who doesn't help me at all.  I also get to teach a parent's class and an after-school reading class with only a few of the smarter students so I think those will probably end up being my favorite.


I just realized this is a super boring post, but I promise I have some interesting stuff to write about next time.  For now, here are some pictures I snapped on the first day of my tiny studio apartment/officetel.  It's definitely not spacious by any means, but it is home now.  It is beginning to feel more comfortable, and I am sure to acquire more things to make it feel like mine.

Shoe closet when you walk in.  I guess it's probably a good thing I don't have all my shoes bc they would never fit in here..  and it is a shoes off Korean household.

Bathroom door to the right of the entrance and my cushy hearts toilet seat

Sweet shower that was to be expected..hey, at least it's not attached to the sink!

Cabinet space in the bathroom..check out all that deodorant!

My kitchen.  Yup, that's it.

Desk area with a sweet pull-out kitchen table

My sad little bed.  Don't worry, I also have a trundle underneath so visitors are welcome.

My dollar store MD flag that I haven't been able to hang yet

A major downgrade from here.  Looks like I will need to do some shopping on pay day:)